A new compilation from Ninja Tune – You Don’t Know: Ninja Cuts – is filled with 50 tunes that map the sonic territory the label has explored during it’s 2 decades in the biz and adds sonar imagery of what lies ahead. The 3 CD set features tracks all the way 1998 reppin for the label’s early days (Mike Ladd’s rare classic “Blah Blah”) and big hits from every year since plus 9 tunes slated for release later this year! (Yet-to-be-dropped tunes like John Matthias’ fragile and ethereal “Evermore”, The Bug’s toxic dancehall slayer “Poison Dart”, and Pop Levi’s superb, princely “Dita Dimone”…) To celebrate such an amazing audio history, the Ninja Tune extended family is hosting a 3-room banger at Electrowerkz this month that features many of the artists on the 3CD collection!
([More →])

Every time I see an amazing lineup for live music, like this one for Ninja Tunes’ record release party or the Bang Face Weekender, I have to ask myself an important question: Do I live on the wrong side of the pond? When every flyer and lineup that I drool over is happening in or near London, it gets more and more difficult to understand why I stay in the US, with the ever-weakening dollar. This is the time of year where party people in the UK and Europe start to promote major music festival weekends that have me gazing at my passport with longing. Next up is a Ninja Tune extravaganza at Electrowerkz in London. On 15th February, a massive posse of premier musicians will take over 3 whole floors of the Electrowerkz nightclub to celebrate the new release of YOU DON’T KNOW: NINJA CUTS – one floor for each CD in the monster compilation! (There’s a whole post about the Ninja Tune compilation too, so scope that next.) ([More →])

Ninja Tune is releasing an epic compilation album called You Don’t Know: Ninja Cuts that drops March 11th. It weighs in at 3 CDs, stacked with 50 Big Tunes from 1998-2008, from Mike Ladd to Pop Levi and from Roots Manuva to Wiley! Last year, HearingTest featured a few of the tracks that made the cut:

The version of “Free” by DJ Kentaro on You Don’t Know: Ninja Cuts is actually an “Armani XXXChange Remix” and the version here is the original edit from Kentaro’s Ninja Tune LP Enter. (I don’t have the remix yet)

Digging through the ([HearingTest]) audio archive for the Top Rankin Tunes of 2007, I discovered that most of my favorites could be summed up as shotta anthems. So, I pulled out 10 tunes for Top Rankin Shotta Anthems of 2007. These selections are from the archive of tunes featured on ([HT]) over the last year: ([More →])

Pull up Selecta, let’s hear those tunes one more time! Here are my selections for the Top 10 Tunes and 15 Albums Released In 2007… Tune in again tomorrow for a REWIND of the Biggest Tunes Published On ([HearingTest]) in ‘07! ([More →])

When asked to describe the sound of The Bug, Kevin Martin responds, “Beats, Bombs, Bass, Weapons, Congestion, Space, Concussion and Seduction.” !!Sounds Beautiful!! Martin [the man behind the bug] has refined an arsenal of tuff tunes (with Flowdan and Warrior Queen passing the mic) and wicked remixes (for Ghislain Poirier and Thom Yorke of Radiohead) into dangerous dubplate killahs! Perhaps the don of toxic dancehall finished construction on his urban-legendary soundsystem and now makes distorted ragga dubs on a barricade of bassbins instead of a pair of studio monitors! “Poison Dart” is The Bug’s most recent weapon of choice: a staggering riddim made razor-sharp by Warrior Queen’s defiant tongue. It’s a heavy tune that aches to be played BiG and LouD in an open space where the bass can unfurl into the wide wobbling synths that decay into long echoes.

HearingTest has the brand new video for “Poison Dart” and details on the remixes by Skream, South Rakkas Crew, Stereotyp and a Flowdan version that will accompany the originals to be released in December. I’ve even posted Warrior Queen’s lyrics for “Poison Dart” which aim Warrior’s wisdom at young shottas inna de dance. If your native tongue is more patio than patois, these subtitles might help. ([More →])

Ghislain Poirier – Montreal’s instigator of electronic mayhem – has a new album called No Ground Under. Ninja Tune released the LP in Canada, but it won’t be released in the US until early 2008. The first single off No Ground Under is the ragga/dancehall tune “Blazin” featuring Face-T. The EP single includes the original album edit and remixes by The Bug and DJ C. In the meantime, here are 2 different remixes of the same song that are not part of either release: a Modeselektor remix and a second remix from DJ C that’s more of a mashup. ([More →])

A few of ragga and dancehall’s most prolific powerhouses have teamed up with the urban dub/hip hop/electronic music label Metatronix to create a bumpin album of hybrid remixes. Dominated by the vocal talents of Anthony B, Sizzla and Capleton over furious music production by The Bug, High Priest, DMX Krew, Eliot Lip and more, this album is going to be bumpin trunks in urban neighborhoods worldwide. ([More →])

Ninja Tune is planning another fantastic weekend of electronic mayhem for the Montreal area! On September 28th, they will have their Ninja Tune Clockout monthly with Ninja Tune artists from the UK vs. Ninja Tune artists from Montreal – plus “exceedingly special guests!” That’s all they are revealing at this time, but you can try to guess based on the following two days of festivities… ([More →])

What’s this? A good-old-fashioned soundclash for the betterment of humankind? It must be a Dubraizer! Thursday (tomorrow), Londoners get a chance to hear amazing dubstep while making a difference in the community. Corsica Studios is hosting Dubraizer! to benefit an urban youth group – CJ S Media Workz – that are working to build an arts and media academy for disadvantaged kids. Think Beat Street and get over there tomorrow to get down with your city. You won’t find such a lineup of professional bass scientists anywhere else for a mere £5! ([More →])

Fans of extreme music, experimental electronica, ragga and grime – I have a fantastic treat for you! There is an excellent interview with The Bug over on the french DubStep website. Kevin Martin (The Bug) talks about everything – how he first got involved in music, his time spent working with Justin Broadrick (Napalm Death, Jesu) as Techno Animal, his brief stint with Warner Brothers, and a whole lot more that has led up to him being a brilliant pioneering musician that blends ragga, breakcore, dubstep, dancehall, electronica, and extreme noise into totally original music. ([More →])

Last week I mentioned that Ninja Tune and Big Dada would present an event curated by Mary Anne Hobbs in London on the 7th of July. I received more info about this event, so I want to share them with folks who will be in the London area that week.

Ms. Hobbs states that her desire for the lineup she has chosen is, “To bring together dark exotic underground textures of sound from the UK and internationally..”

You Don’t Know Lineup

Downstairs
Mary Anne 9:00 -10:30
dj’ing all the experimental sounds in her record crate
Ben Sharpa & Konfab 10:30-11:30
South Africa’s hottest hip hop duo. formerly known as SA’s best underground hip hop act, they’ll have to drop the underground tag now that they have received so much attention and radio play. They were recently added to the mega-huge Glastonbury music festival.
Oris Jay 11:30 -12:30
ever-extending the limits of grime and dark garage sounds
The Bug 12: 30 – 1:30
best live dancehall mashup madness you can get! if you don’t already know about The Bug, check out his music$pace page, and Ninja Tune which recently signed him onto the ninja squadron… On this particular evening, The Bug will be assisted by Ricky Ranking (Roots Manuva) and Ras B pon di mics.
Virus Syndicate 1:30 – 2:30
extra-London grime and dubstep, great stuff, original ragga influenced dubstep styley
Vex’d 2:30-4:00
Vex’d will be unveiling some new tracks from their upcoming album on Planet Mu.

Upstairs
DJ Red 6
The Sandals Of Justics

This event will be the last YDK at The Big Chill House in London. Ninja Tune/Big Dada/Counter Records will be busy with other projects over the summer months, and then will relaunch the monthly club night in October in a new venue.

LINKS

Ninja Tune
YDK music$pace
Mary Anne Hobbs on BBC Radio1

3 big parties with some very major players: Barcelona is already in party mode for this weekend’s SONAR Festival. Just about the time the post-festival fog clears, Wiley and Boy Better Know Crew will be throwing down at Wiley’s retirement party in London. Come July, The Bug and Vex’d come proper along with Virus Syndicate thanks to Big Dada, Ninja Tune and Mary Anne Hobbs.

BBC Radio 1 At SONAR Festival

The big one is of course, the SONAR Festival this weekend. So many great bands are going to be showcased and mingling in the leisurely Barcelona sun, including, but not limited to the Beastie Boys, Devo, Sunn O))), Wolf Eyes, Modeselektor, Richie Hawtin, FM3 and on and on and on…. For complete details refer to the Sonar Festival Lineup posting on HT and the SONAR website.

As promised, Mary Anne Hobbs has curated a showcase for BBC Radio 1 at the SONAR Festival:

RADIO1 UK DUBSTEP SHOWCASE

SONAR Festival, Barcelona, Spain

June 15th, SonarLab stage 12-3am

Skream
Oris Jay
Kode 9 and The Spaceape
Mary Anne Hobbs

Oooh ooh oooooh, I am SO jealous! I want to go melt away in the Barcelona sunshine with the sounds of Skream and Kode 9 and The Spaceape washing over me!

Instead, I laid in bed last night, listening to the sounds of Kode 9’s wonderful mix for the SONAR Festival that they are featuring on their website. It’s a stream, so you can’t keep it, but while you are there, you can find many other audio streams from featured artists.

SONAR’s website also featured a great article about Dubstep music, with Mary Anne Hobbs and Oris Jay. If you are curious to see what it’s all about, that’s one place to start.

Wiley’s Retirement Party

Or rather, Wiley’s record release party for Playtime Is Over in London:

WILEY Live (Playtime Is Over Album Launch Party)

@ Cargo, Rivington St, London – Thursday 21st June
10 Quid advance
Wiley, Live
Boy Better Know Crew (including JME, Skepta)
Loefah
Illa Man

My two favorite quotes thus far about the new album are:

“Snare-ripped tsunamis through to solipsistic mediations on lost friendships, all battered into shape though Wiley’s soopa-tight vocal style. Immense.” -Clash

“Playtime is Over is so important, not just to him, but to the future legacy of grime, and what it might mean in 10 years time.. Brilliantly grime, fuelled with anthems and sing-alongs and deserves to go down as his greatest work to date.” -Independent Music Magazine

BOH! Big UP the WILEY! Big Up the Boy Better Know Crew! Big UP the SPIRAL!

Finally (for today anyway), in July:

Ninja Tune And Big Dada Night: Curated by Mary Anne Hobbs

Saturday July 7th @ The Big Chill House.. Kings X.. London

The Bug + Ricky Ranking + MCs
Vex’d
Oris Jay
Ben Sharpa & Konfab from Capetown
Virus Syndicate
Mary Anne Hobbs

9-4am… £5… Funktion One soundsystem & heated roof terrace :)

For anyone who is a regular listener of Mary Anne Hobbs’ show on BBC Radio 1, you are already familiar with Ben Sharpa and Konfab, and recognize what a treat it is for them to be visiting the UK for this show. If you don’t know who they are, be sure to check out both of their music$paces. These boys are HOT! and spit fire into the microphone! Capetown was lucky enough to become the new stomping ground for D Planet who has a studio there, and records music, like what you hear these boys chatting over. Fine, deep, dubsteppy stuff. Check out D Planet’s music$pace as well…

LINKS

Ben Sharpa
Konfab
D Planet’s music$pace