Ninja Tune celebrates 20 Years of Beats n' Pieces

  • Published
    Tue, May 11, 2010, 16:00
  • Words
    Resident Advisor
  • Share
  • The prolific electronic label will release a massive box set and a new book later this year.
  • Ninja Tune celebrates 20 Years of Beats n' Pieces image
  • 20 years after their first 12-inch hit stores, London-based label Ninja Tune are ready to release a comprehensive box set, featuring six CDs, six 7-inches and an illustrated hardcover book, plus the usual assortment of posters and stickers. Ninja Tune was founded by Jon More and Matt Black, two young musicians whose disillusioning experiences in pop music left them determined to set up their own independent label. As Coldcut, the pair amassed a healthy body of production work and mixed the seminal compilation Journeys By DJs, while at the same time releasing records by dozens of other artists on Ninja Tune, including Kid Koala, Roots Manuva, DJ Food and The Herbaliser, and later The Bug, Daedelus and The Cinematic Orchestra. Today, their catalog boasts a rich and eclectic blend of left-field electronic music, ranging from techno to hip-hop to full-on experimental. The new box set comprises a huge amount of new and old material, split into a set of three different cases. The first two cases hold six CDs and six 7-inches, which include exclusive new tracks by Amon Tobin, zero dB, The Bug and Bonobo among others, plus new remixes by Autechre, Mark Pritchard, Zomby, Gaslamp Killer, Kronos Quartet, Cut Chemist, Henrik Schwarz, Matthew Herbert and many more. Meanwhile, the third box holds Ninja Tune: 20 Years of Beats and Pieces, a 192-page book by NME scribe Stevie Chick, complete with interviews, photographs, flyers and the like. Ninja Tune XX doesn't hit stores until the fall, but in the meantime you can tide yourself over with downloads from the official Ninja Tunes website, where the label will give away a rare and obscure selection from their archives every week for the next few months. And to whet your appetite even more, here's a quick teaser trailer for the box set: Ninja Tune will release Ninja Tune XX on September 20th, 2010.
RA