Ninja Tune were always one of my favourite labels back in the late nineties when Coldcut and company were busy on the various compilation albums that kept my evenings long and rather dazy (or lazy you could say). When I think about Ninja Tune, I think about creativity in the whole package, the production of the music, the artwork, the gigs, the online innovations, video etc. Ok I’ll get off their dick in a second – but really, this is one label that does it well, very well for me.

When I first listened to DJ Food’s latest offering, "The Shape of Things that Hum EP", I was expecting some dirty trip hop-esque beats (I hate the trip hop word but hey… it’s a genre whether we like it or not). Forgetting that I’ve had my head in the clouds for the past ten years or so I was unsurprisingly surprised if that makes sense.

The first track ‘Sentinel (Shadow Guard)’ got me a little bit worried on my initial listen. The haunting harps on the intro work well and then it all goes a little bit psycho with Solid Steel producer DK working the knobs to cinematic effect. Its kind of like a rather active chase scene and not something you really want to be hearing if in any way prone to paranoia…trust me.

’Extract from Stolen Moments Too’ has some spoken words in the intro telling me I’m about to be getting into some “deep stuff” no less. Needless to say this guy is pretty much bang on about the deepness. Here we revert to what I’d call more familiar fayre for DJ Food and it reminds me why I first liked DJ Food from back in ’99 when I received one of the best DJ mixes on the front cover of any magazine…ever. Still feeling slightly creepy, but mister Food always killed it with spoken word samples and this is another good example.

‘Brother John’ is one of the standouts here. Dedicated to the late John Rydgren; a pastor from the Lutheran church who subtly blended the word of God with the music of the day back in the 60s and 70s via his radio shows. Weighing in at just under three minutes it’s a bit of a shame, but great things come in small sizes… sometimes anyway.

‘Giant’ makes up track number four and for me it is probably the dullest moment in an otherwise cracking EP. We can all write ostinato’s right? I’m joking, but honestly… this isn’t my cup of tea to be fair. It’s an instrumental version of ‘Soul Mining’ by ‘The The’ for those that know.


If you buy the 12” and get the ace free A2 poster then this next track is to be your last, you vinyl junkie you. ‘Sentinel (Lunar Defence)’ has me salivating for some kind of DJ Shadow bomb beat to kick in off the opening guitar licks, but it just doesn’t happen. That doesn’t necessarily kill it for me though as I find this one of the most listenable tracks of the eight that I have been so kindly supplied. There’s a hidden beauty to this song which seems to relate to the fact that the samples he uses here really shouldn’t go together when you decipher them down and listen to them individually. But somehow they do, and that’s the genius of it.

Now if you’re one of those types that pays for downloads or still buys those mug protectors (aka CDs) then you can go ahead and listen to composition number six. In fact you can go mental and listen to an extra three tracks from six to eight that are all remixes of ‘All Covered in Darkness’ by sometime Cinematic Orchestra member Mr P. Ken Nordine who should get props for his vocals here whilst The Dragons provide the harmonies. I don’t think they’re Welsh just for the record. The drums, with strings accompaniment are pretty sweet and sooth the soul on track six. Track seven then hits you with a fairly different instrumental version but it’s the aptly titled Mr P Beats remix that probably wins by a whisker for me out of the three remixes on offer here.