Some magic has come out of the Ninja Tune forum, like minded musicians, DJ’s, experimenters have gathered, talked, exchanged ideas. This is the joy of the digital realm, global projects become a reality, and this is one such project.
The idea was great tracks of any style and tempo, with only one rule, it has to be 64 bars.
Boundaries is a stylish and diverse selection from the competition, you may recognize a few names, but many are new to me. I was an avid Ninja Tune listener in the early period, with only a few recent releases making me pay attention, and this is one project to check out, and follow the string of EP’s, and remix projects as they evolve in coming months. Check out this collection on Ninja Tune.
Day Of Vengeance strike a cord straight away, cavernous, creepy dub, nimble live drums and soundtrack textures. DJ Kovas modulates and overloads a bunch of synths, with the ghost of rave fed through the rhythm blender, subtle and infectious. Remdog offers more audio graffiti, dramatic marching drums, sublime keys, and nail-gun electronic beats, managing to be hard yet soft, dark yet bright… Has to be my favorite Remdog track so far. Bobby Corridor gets DJ Food to nicely re-edit his blinder of a track, crossing so many styles it’s almost like a mini-mixtape. Proof Of Concept provide the ambient interpretations, beautiful and shiny, melancholic, building piano lines on a wash of electronic detrius. Kelp also keeps things beatless, just a sea of hi hats to carry the rhythm, over dark shards of submerged dub. Kobra Audio Labs build on a frenetic rhythm with jarring wailing guitar and ghostly shadows slowing building in the mix, another favourite due to its originality and sonic depth. AGT Rave Cru resurface with a stab of pure rave hell, if nothing else this makes me smile and think of some past times, but they do have a gift for chopping it all up and reassembling for today, this sounds fresh as well as nostalgic. The 13th Tribe have been causing a stir with main instigator Khevin de Leon’s All Day Everyday project for the year, giving us freshly fused sounds from far flung corners of the globe. Keep an eye on his Soundcloud page for some truly epic collaborations, experimenting heavily with the moombahton sound, but the more you listen, anything goes, not many have the art of fusion, I urge you to check this out.
The project has flowed onto the digital release of a Kelp Clear Off EP, as well as remix of the remix Chinese whispers style EP (similar in theory to the DOT compilation Endlessnessism for all you who remember 1998), Ocean Drift all available through bandcamp. I look forward to hearing what comes next from this modern day melting pot of future sounds.
Wayne Stronell
