Ninja Tune. Man, where to begin?<\/p>\n
I guess for me it all started when I was spinning at WMFO<\/a>. Each week, an hour or two before my show, I\u2019d go through all the new CDs and records to listen to what tracks I might want to play when I went on air. Whenever something particularly special came in I\u2019d check out what label it was on for future reference. As the months, then years went by, I could help but notice that some amazing stuff was consistently coming out from this label called Ninja Tune<\/a>.<\/p>\n There are certain record labels that develop a distinct personality by their roster of musical artists. A classic example would be Motown Records<\/a>. Back in the 60s, Motown represented a staggering collection of mind blowing talent such as Stevie Wonder<\/a>, Marvin Gaye<\/a> and Diana Ross & The Supremes<\/a>. Motown developed a reputation for putting out such insanely great music that if a new album came out by, say, the The Jackson 5<\/a>, you could virtually bank that it was going to be great. And if a record came out by someone on Motown you didn\u2019t know you could take it on faith that it was probably going to be good.<\/p>\n This has happened time and time again and most relevant to me are the indie\/hardcore record labels that came out in the 80s like Dischord<\/a>, SST<\/a> and TAANG!<\/a>.<\/p>\n Which brings us to Ninja Tune.<\/p>\n NInja Tune also has a flavor all its own. The sum of all the artists on Ninja Tune makes it sexy and aggressive, gives it a wry sense of humor, and moody and menacing. Ninja Tune skips from drum and bass to abstract hip hop to nu jazz and chillout and on and on\u2026 The thing is, some how all these different artists and different artists belong together. They all feel as if they are part of the same cloth.<\/p>\n