The longtime British label Ninja Tune is promoting a new set of Zen retrospective collections, consisting of a DVD, a full-length hits album, and a remix set. The Disquiet.com Downstream presents, in conjunction with Ninja’s ninjatune.net portal site, four free MP3 downloads (all compressed at a generous 192 kbps) and three streaming videos — past (Coldcut, DJ Food), present (Jaga Jazzist) and future (Skalpel). The MP3s are also available as streams in the Real and Windows Media formats. The videos come as Real and Windows streams.
1. Blockhead‘s “Carnivores Unite” (MP3, Real Audio stream, Windows Media stream). The former producer for Aesop Rock submits his debut full-length, Music by Cavelight, from which this stretch of sedate instrumental hip-hop is drawn.
2. cLOUDDEAD‘s “The Velvet Ant” (MP3, Real Audio stream, Windows Media stream). Taken from Ten, the second album from cLOUDDEAD (has anyone else tried to pull off a name like this since fIREHOSE?), the track is a glitchy bit of deadpan indie-rock hip-hop nonsense.
3. DJ Food‘s “Dark Lady” (MP3, Real Audio stream, Windows Media stream). According to Ninja, the song was featured in the NBA Street video game, and its deeply funky bass line was lifted by Bomb the Bass for its better known “Bug Powder Dust.”
4. Coldcut‘s “Atomic Moog” (Cornelius Mix)” (MP3, Real Audio stream, Windows Media stream). A classic anthem of slapdash DJ histrionics by the duo who founded the Ninja label, remixed by Cornelius (aka Keigo Oyamada), Japan-born colleague of Money Mark, Pizzicato Five and the Avalanches.
Also available, three Ninja videos, all streaming:
5. Blockhead‘s “Insomniac Olympics” (Real Video, Windows Media). More like slacker Olympics. Downtempo hip-hop with a touch of psychedelic rock accompanies this humorously widescreen footage of bachelor boredom.
6. Skalpel‘s “1958” (Real Video, Windows Media). Polish act cuts ‘n’ pastes fiery jazz loops to black ‘n’ white clip-footage. 7. Jaga Jazzist‘s “Day” (Real Video, Windows Media). Retro-interstellar visuals liven up a caffeinated slab of jazz-infused drum’n’bass.