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DJ FOOD - THE SEARCH ENGINE [ALBUM]

Ninja Tune

by AdamTogether, January 10th, 2012 and has been Read 1656 times.
Last Edited by: Ffion Davies January 12th, 2012.

It’s hard to believe it’s been eleven years since Ninjatune released a full length album bearing the DJ Food moniker (2000’s Kaleidoscope). Originally a project started by the turntablist duo Coldcuts, DJ Food was a venture in releasing “food for DJ’s” in the form of the Jazz Breaks LPs volumes 1 to 5 which were made up of collections of drum loops, samples and breaks that DJs could cut and paste together to form their own creations.

The project then evolved into something more substantial with the release of stand-alone albums and the involvement of producers PC and Strictly Kev . Perhaps one of the main reasons the releases have slowed down in the past decade is because eventually Strictly Kev became the only one of the collective to be responsible for the DJ Food brand. He is also responsible designing much of the artwork for the various artists on the Ninja Tune label, so it’s understandable that The Search Engine has taken so long to materialise. (He's also done a stellar piece of work for the album's cover)

Having said that the new records is not made up of completely new material either, but a collection of best cuts from 3 previous EPs (One Man’s Weird Is Another Man’s World – 2009, The Shape of Things That Hum – 2009 and Magpies Maps and Moons – 2011) which have been polished and remixed into one continuous 12 track album, with each track blending effortlessly into the next.

As can be expected with any DJ Food release, or any release on Ninja Tune, the listener is treat to an eclectic collection of well crafted, intelligent and progressive hip-hop, funk and trip-hop.

The Search Engine opens with the out of this world ‘All Covered In Darkness (part 1)’ which blends an array of raw and splashy drum loops, sampled spoken word excerpts of a deep, rich voice talking of time and space, before an almost Beach Boys-esque vocal harmony kicks in. It is all over the place but the skills of DJ Food have managed to blend it together into a coherent yet slightly bonkers brew.

This fades into one of the standout tracks on the album, a re-working of The The’s ‘Giant’ which features original vocalist Matt Johnson lending his talents to his own song and sounding just as good 30 years after the original was released. The DJ Food take on the song has stayed pretty true to the original melody, the main difference being that he seems to have loosened and opened up the taut, electronic beat of the original and by letting it breathe he’s injected a new found soul into the song. The drum solo/middle section is absolutely stunning too, as DJ Food has replaced the epileptic stabs of 808 drum loops with a tribal, organic rhythm section that sounds like it could have been recorded at a STOMP show.

Other standout moments on the album include the psychedelic garage rock of ‘The Illectrik Hoaks’ (feat. Natural Self) and the dark, menacing groove of ‘Sentinel’ (feat. DJ Food veteran partner in crime and label mate DK); which brings to mind the rumble of Leftfield 's ‘Phat Planet’ or Rob Smith’s ‘Tru Rub’.

LISTEN: 'Giant'

As well as these quality, hook filled tunes to get you nodding your heads to, the album also has elements of progressiveness and introspection. Strange soundscapes weave in and out of eerie samples from old sci fi movies and science documentaries. There are certain themes that run throughout the album; the perception of sound and light as waveforms, interstellar travel and robots.

Like any good cut and paste DJ, Food is a dab hand at blending the futuristic electronic sounds created with samplers and synths with more organic and natural sounds by sampling live drums and piano lines from old records. The drums throughout have that splashy loosness to them which gives the whole thing a rawness which contrasts perfectly with the distorted bass and synth sounds. 'Percussion Map (Pt.1)' is a perfect example of this.

Perhaps one of the most eye-opening moments on The Search Engine is the 11 minute epic 'Magpie Music' feat. 2econd Class Citizen which is actually cut and pasted together from snippets of 9 different songs from the previous 3 EPs.

The whole thing is rounded off nicely with the serine soundscape of ‘Colours Beyond Colours’, which is all ethereal strings and the sampled voice of Credo Mutwa.

There probably won’t be much point purchasing this album if you already own the 3 EP’s from which it is comprised. That said it is still interesting to hear how it has been put together, and I’m sure any vinyl collecting DJ Food fanatics will rush out to get it, the vinyl also coming with a collectors edition comic designed by Kev himself. And fans of the other “thinking man’s hip hop” DJ’s such as DJ Shadow, DJ Yoda and Ninja Tune in general will find this a more than enjoyable and engaging listen. It’s one of those albums that gets better with every play, as you begin to notice all the slight nuances and subtle sound effects that Strictly Kev is so good at. He’s obviously been practicing in the 11 years since he last released an album!

Track Listing:
1. All Covered In Darkness (part 1)
2. Giant feat. Matt Johnson
3. intermission - a new language
4. The Illectrik Hoaks feat. Natural Self
5. Sentinel (Shadow Guard) feat. DK
6. Prey feat. JG Thirwell
7. In Orbit Every Monday
8. outermission - sheer fiction
9. Percussion Map (part 1)
10. Magpie Music feat. 2econd Class Citizen
11. A Trick of The Ear (Album Edit)
12. Colours Beyond Colours