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Back in 2000, I remember feeling a little disillusioned with my music purchases but I can honestly say, the purchase of Zen Cuts (ZENCD 049 X) being an earlier 3CD retrospective compilation changed my life and got my enthusiasm back.

This compilation is packed with similar quality cuts that you may have missed, even as an enthusiastic fan.

So you think you know Ninja Tune? We’ll we think we do as we’ve regularly featured some of their best releases over the years. But that’s the point, over Ninja’s 18 year tenure at the forefront of modern music, they’ve concentrated as much of what’s next on the agenda.

Getting into the 49 tracks, the ones we have loved are Roots Manuva’s ‘Seat Yourself’, Daedelus’ ‘Fair Weather Friends’, Fink ‘Pretty Little Thing’ and the happy beach boogie of Mr. Scruff’s ‘Donkey Ride’.

These guys are equally as known for the remix as anything else and there’s more than a couple of check out; Bononbo’s ‘Nitelite’ (a stand out track on Days To Come) bets d’nb’d by Zero dB and a really excellent remix by Susumu Yokota of the the killer track off Cinematic Orchestra’s Ma Fleur, ‘Breathe’.

While on the subject of Cinematic Orchestra, ‘To Build A Home’ is also included but it’s ‘Rites Of Spring’ that catches the ear, recorded live at The Barbican last year.

So while the Cinematic’s main man, Jason Swinscoe, was a former Ninja Tune employee, the label’s founders Jonathan More and Matt Black (better known as Coldcut), are known for their eclecticism from Japan’s DJ Kentaro, Baltimore’s gutter funkers Spank Rock, to the West Coast leftfield community of Ammoncontact (‘Infinity Of Rhythm’) and DJ Shadow’s ‘Bring Madlib Up’ (this album is worth it just for that track).

And they’ve supported great releases from the UK, from Ty to Loka (about time we had some new stuff from both these artists I think).

You get the idea, not a organisation that look to just follow trends, when they look to emerging genres like grime and dubstep, they look to the more innovative leaders like, Wiley and The Bug. The Bug’s ‘Jah Wars’ single of last year featuring Flowdan, was hot, but not as hot as the track here, ‘Poison Dart’ which features the brilliant Warrior Queen; definitely one to highlight (and there’s a Stereotyp remix!)

Impressively, even though Well Deep — Ten Years Of Big Dada Recordings features some of the same artists here, there’s no duplication showing how strong the back catalogue is.

And you might be asking, what’s this team-up with the NME all about? When they launched the sub-label Counter, Pop Levi was an early champion who managed to be indie and cool. CD1 includes a previously unreleased ‘Dita Dimone’ and The Heavy’s indie rock cum breaks, ‘Coleen’.

So the future? Looking brilliant as there’s a new track from Max & Harvey called ‘Thieves’ and a soulful folk by an “unknown” John Matthias, ‘Evermore’.

I know there’s lots to take in, but they also cheekily some dance cuts. You may recall Coldcut’s remix CD of ‘Atomic Moog’ of 2002 was like a mini album in itself. CD3 see’s The Qemists have another go at this one, Tiga gets onto the classic ‘Walk A Mile In My Shoes’, Montreal’s Ghislain Poirer gets done over by Modeselektor’s monkey and there’s the Orgasmic remix of TTC’s ‘Traveller’.

This release is packed with the John Peel Show spirit and you just can’t get better that. Highly recommended and then some more on top. Its more than enough to keep you enthusiastic about the future and power of music. Thank you Ninja Tune people, your work is really appreciated.

Links:
www.ninjatune.net
15th February: Strickly Kev (aka DJ Food), Jon Moore (Coldcut), Zero dB, Gislain Porter (Live), Bonobo (DJ Set), X Rabit & DMG, Plastician, The Bug, Flowdan, NME DJs, The Death Set (Live): You Don’t Know @ Electrowerkz, 7 Torrens Street (off City Road), London EC1 9.00pm — 6.00am £14.00 Tel: 0870-060-0100 Nearest Tube: Angel.