You Don’t Know: Ninja Cuts (Disc Two)
Ninja Tune
Even as an experienced Ninja Tune fan and listener, disc two of You Don’t Know: Ninja Cuts took me for a bit of a loop inside my bouncy rubber-sided head. As mentioned in the previous review that the listener can never know exactly what to think and expect from any Ninja Tune release—part two is way different than I anticipated.
While disc one had more of an ethereal and eclectic vibe, disc two offers a decidedly darker tone with a few surprises thrown in. More hip-hop elements surfaced with a rare Mike Ladd cut “Blah Blah,” and a DJ Shadow produced track “Bring Madlib Up.” Throw in a dubstep dancehall banger “Poison Dart” by The Bug, and even a taste of drum n’ bass on “Drop Audio” by The Qemists (featuring MC ID).
Other diverse tracks include the spazz-electro-punk Baltimore group TheDeathSet with the fun “Around the World,” Wiley’s grime-infused “No Qualms,” and a couple of rare and remixed Coldcut tunes from their 2006 Sound Mirrors release in “Just For The Kick,” and Tiga’s mix edit “Walk A Mile In My Shoes.”
Big Dada artists’ cLOUDDEAD appear with “Physics Of A Unicycle,” and a crazy Orgasmic remix of French rap trio TTC’s “Travailler” round out the downright bizarre combination of music Ninja Tune devised for the second disc.
Disc Two of You Don’t Know: Ninja Cuts does present the stronger of the first two discs. Check my review of disc one, and next week I’ll review the final installment, disc three, featuring Kid Koala, RJD2, and DJ Kentaro.
