Cyclic Defrost Magazine

Mr. Scruff – Ninja Tuna (Ninja Tune / Inertia)

Posted: 25 Jan 2009 10:08 PM CST

Mr Scruff

In the six year gap since the release of Mr. Scruff’s last album, 2002’s ‘Trouser Jazz’, Manchester-based dj/producer Andy Carthy has become something of a savvy entrepreneur, his distinctive ‘potato people’ designs (see the sleeve art above for an example) adorning clothing and umbrellas, while his accompanying range of specialty teas continues to apparently do good business. Not perhaps, then the sort of interests you might expect from say, Eric Morillo, but then again Carthy’s always maintained a persona located well away from the ‘big name’ DJ bacchanalia. Emerging after a prolonged production absence broken only by a Solid Steel mix session and the re-release of his debut ‘Mrs. Cruff’ outing, this fourth album from Mr Scruff ‘Ninja Tuna’ sees Carthy offering up what’s perhaps his most well-rounded and accessible effort yet. It’s also his most collaborations-packed effort to date, the guestlist here including Alice Russell, Quantic, Roots Manuva Danny Breaks, and current UK soul vocalist to watch Andreya Triana.

Throughout, hiphop remains a predominant influence here; see the DJ Premier-flavoured boom-bap opening track ‘Test The Sound’, but in this case the clattering beats manage to smoothly incorporate themselves into more retro soul-oriented moments such as the Alice Russell-fronted ‘Music Takes Me Up’, adding a welcome rhythmic bite that saves things from getting too placid and coffee table-oriented. Elsewhere, there’s a rich, visceral sub-bass presence familiar from the booming ‘Sweetsmoke’ days present on highlights such as dubstep-centred instrumental track ‘Whiplash’, with its rapid-fire horn samples, and the seismic bass swells of dark and bleepy digi-dub Roots Manuva collaboration ‘Nice Up The Function.’ Those leaning towards the more house-centred side of things are also nicely catered for here, with the awesomely titled ‘Hairy Bumpercress’ and ‘Get On Down’ offering up plenty of funk-infused, 4/4 fuel, the latter throwing in some distinctly Italo centred bass accents. All in all, ‘Ninja Tuna’ sees Carthy honing his eclectic style further rather than really ripping up the rulebook – an approach that’s likely to be welcomed by his sizeable fanbase.

Various Artists - Fabric 43 Metro Area (Fabric/Inertia)

Posted: 25 Jan 2009 03:44 PM CST

The Fabric series is, for mine, easily the most consistent DJ mix series. Artists are free to follow their own noses and mix whatever they like, with no genre restrictions, while quality control is kept high. For my part, this has lead to me listening through to mixes of music I might not have otherwise sought out - in many cases, as documented in this magazine, to my great pleasure.

Metro Area head straight for the early to mid 80s. It sometimes veers horribly close to mainstream 80s funk (Skratch - ‘You Should Have Known Better’, Five Special - ‘Leave Us Alone’) but generally navigates through more electro, late-disco and proto-house moods. As such, there’s a lot of space (particularly as the duo tend to prefer dub mixes rather than vocal ones) and the tempo remains leisurely. Apart from a Devo track to round out the mix (’Freedom Of Choice’) and Heaven 17 (’Penthouse And Pavement’), the tracklisting is devoid of any big names, Metro Area heading for the more obscure tracks in their collection. In amongst all the space are large slabs of 80s digital percussion workouts, and some truly squelchy bass sounds. This is not the agit-punk-funk version of the 80s which has been endlessly mined for inspiration/exploitation over the last five years or so, but rather the seeds of the kind of electronic sounds that would take over the mainstream later in the decade. While that means that every now and then you can hear the inspiration that led to Stock, Aitken and Waterman, groups like Play By Numbers, Midway, Dreamhouse and Atmosphere are still raw and creative enough to keep things interesting.

This is not my favourite Fabric mix, but that’s no doubt more to do with my feelings of ambivalence towards this kind of music from this era than its actual quality. There is an issue which could be explored of a mix album, being presented as new, which features only two tracks (and those only very briefly) less than 20 years old. It’s nice to hear actual vinyl crackle in a mix, but maybe it should be marketed as a retro set if the label is to be honest. It’s an enjoyable mix, but hardly groundbreaking (unless it’s accurately predicting the target of the next wave of post-modern appropriation!).

Adrian Elmer