Search - DJ Food & Dk :: Now, Listen!

DJ Fruitopia : Now Listen!

tristanfrank | iowa city, iowa USA | 10/14/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Dj mixed compilations, what can i say. Mediocer dj's will release them in order to raise booking fees, labels fill the market with these discs to make a quick buck. Before long, an entire section of your favorite record store is filled with these. Most have one or two interesting songs, and a whole lotta filler. Usually every song will belong to a very specific genre of dance music. The actual mixing may be nonexistant, just bland songs blindly faded together. The end result is a disc that is worth less than the sum of its parts. Cheer up, this is not your average dj mixed compilation.Solis Steel is a radio show run by Coldcut, Dj Food, and DK, broadcast in London. It is known for its eclectic taste. This mix is based on the show, with DJ Food and DK mixing up a diverse selection of old, and new. The diversity of dance music is hown with the wide variety of the selection. The disc includes songs you have heard before, like the conscious rap of "Come Clean" by Jeru the Demaja, and other obscure joints such as the brazillain flavor of Dominique Dalcan's "Ritmo 2". The mix is good also, combinig the songs together, no botched beats or missed levels. Some songs are mixed togeher so well that giving them different track numbers is impossible. This is seen as the second wave ska of "Mirror in the Bathroom" is placed on top of the Roni Size produced drum-n-bass of Mask's "Square Off". The variet keeps this disc from getting boring. "Alphabetic Aerobics" by Blackalicious changes tempo from 80 to 135 b.p.m. in less that two minutes. The sixties soundtrack music from Dave McCallum may sound familiar, along with "Assembly Line" by the Commodores, it has been sampled by many artists. Here the disc gives you a musical history lesson. I could say more, but i will just tell you that evary track is good, and the interludes are great.Buy this disc if you want something truly eclectic and you cannot tune in to Solid Steel."

Another solid mix by Ninja Tune

Monkey Deathcar | Philadelphia, PA United States | 02/28/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Ninja Tune has been churning out some of the most playful and creative electronic music for years, and DJ Food is up there with Coldcut, Amon Tobin and Funki Porcini on my short list of the label's best talent.



"Now, Listen!" wasn't what I expected. I'd been following DJ Food since "A Recipe for Disaster" up through "Kaleidoscope" and I've got maybe 12 Ninja Tune releases, so I figured that "Now, Listen!" would offer more of the same - bizarre deconstructed jazz, hip hop beats, some jungle rhythms, weird samples, etc. Instead, this release starts off heavy on the hip hop with (heavily remixed) tracks by Jeru the Damaja and X-ecutioners. Not bad, but not really what attracted me to DJ Food or the label.



The disc really hits stride about midway with a brilliant mix of "Mirror in the Bathroom" by the Beat with a hard drum n' bass beat - I actually like this version more than the original (and the Beat is one of my favorite bands). From this point on, we get a nice heavy chunk of danceable house and funk; highlights include "Lucy's Song" by Flying Fish and "House of Mirrors" by David McCallum. The album veers off into spacier, ambient terrain, closing with tracks by Herbie Hancock, Art of Noise and Boards of Canada (among others).



Like a lot of continuous mix CDs, "Now, Listen!" has its highs and lows - I'm not too keen on the by-the-numbers hip hop intro, and after the nirvana of the middle act it seems a little anticlimactic to fade out on such a mellow note. Still, few records have highs this high, and I find myself replaying the disc (from Track 10 - I can't say enough about this version of "Mirror in the Bathroom!") over and over and over again ...



I would give this five stars, except that "Now, Listen!" doesn't feature a single Ninja Tune track! Maybe I got spoiled by earlier label releases, but it's a bit of a downer that DJ Food couldn't find room for a single track from a label that boasts Tobin, Porcini, the Herbaliser, Up Bustle and Out, and so many other great artists. Especially since the liner notes explain that this disc wasn't actually recorded live.



The standard-bearer in my opinion is still "Cold Krush Cuts" - two 70+ minute continuous mixes of the Ninja catalogue by DJ Krush (on one side) and Coldcut (on the other). That still is the BEST collection of its kind that I've ever heard - this one is merely EXCELLENT. FYI - If you're curious, the Amon Tobin Solid Steel entry is a tremendous letdown - I'd recommend "Cold Krush Cuts" (obviously) or "Funkungfusion" (a 2-CD Ninja Comp) over that.



Very good mix; but probably not the best introduction to a great label."

INCREDIBLE CD

Mark Flood | Maryland | 05/08/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD was pretty much my introduction into the world of Solid Steel/Ninja Tune, and it is just good. I don't really know what to say. It keeps a moderately fast pace until the end where it slows down a bit. I have been getting all the songs that this CD is made up of, and it is kind of bizarre for me to hear how little acctual composition was done by DJ FOOD and DK, but the mix is phenomenal. These guys really prove that mixing songs is an art. If you want a great hip hop CD with excellent music and beats, just buy it. This is the sort of album that can completely change your perceptions of what music is and what it should be."