From NinjaTune.Com:

The Ninja Tune XX box set contains the following stuff which is 100% exclusive to the set and unavailable anywhere else in the world:

- 2 x CDs + 6 x 7″s featuring new tracks from Mr Scruff, Toddla T, Kid Koala, Wagon Christ, Jaga Jazzist, King Geedorah, DJ Food, Kyle Hall, The Heavy, The Qemists, King Cannibal, Blockhead and unreleased archive tracks from The Cinematic Orchestra and Roots Manuva AND new remixes from Modeselektor, Cut Chemist, Zomby, Scuba, Dorian Concept, EL-P, The Bug, King Jammy, Matthew Herbert, Rustie, Prefuse 73, cLOUDDEAD, 808 State, The Orb, Tom Middleton, Gold Panda, JME, Alix Perez, Joe Goddard (Hot Chip), Doomed (Richard Russell) and Roots Manuva.

- Membership of Ninja Tune VIP, which entitles you straightaway to two FREE 12″s (delivered to your door) which are not for sale and unavailable to non-VIP members containing unreleased tracks (tracklists below) and access to a free download of King Cannibal’s landmark mix album ‘The Way Of The Ninja’ featuring over 250 Ninja Tune tracks. Membership also entitles you to free music and promotional goodness in the future and early bird prices on new releases, gig tickets, merch and all sorts of other Ninja-related stuff.

- Hardback edition of the new Ninja Tune book – ‘Ninja Tune – 20 Years Of Beats & Pieces’ (Black Dog Publishing, 192 pages)

- Ninja Tune ‘Family Tree’ poster and Ninja Tune artwork poster

The box set also contains all the Ninja Tune XX CD releases that are available to the general public:

- Two double CD compilations ‘Ninja Tune XX Vol.1 Two Decades and a Mixer’ and ‘Ninja Tune XX Vol.2 20 yrs of Beats and Pieces’ featuring mostly new and all killer music from Amon Tobin, Roots Manuva, Toddla T, Mr Scruff, Dorian Concept, Daedelus, Zomby, The Bug, Floating Points Ensemble, Eskmo, Lorn, Fink, Shuttle, Bonobo, Andreya Triana and more. Remixes from Benga, Seiji, Autechre, Flying Lotus, Four Tet, Mark Pritchard, The Cinematic Orchestra, Micachu, Diplo, Daedelus, Joker, Rustie, Metronomy, Dan Le Sac, Todd Edwards, Hot Chip, Gaslamp Killer Mala, (the) King Jammy and Slugabed.

At last count that is 106 tracks in the box set, all housed in limited edition hi-spec packaging designed and conceived by Ninja artwork legend Openmind. Only 3500 Ninja Tune XX box sets have been produced, a lot of which are already sold. You can pre-order a copy from the Ninjashop.

Tracklist:

CD1

* Two Fingers ‘Fools Rhythm’ *
* Roots Manuva ‘It’s On’ *
* Toddla T ‘Want U Now’ (feat. Ms Dynamite) *
* Dorian Concept ‘Her Tears Taste Like Pears’ *
* Zomby ‘The Forest’ *
* Offshore ‘Jen At The Station’ *
* Emika ‘Double Edge’
* Toddla T ‘Sky Surfing’ (Benga Remix) *
* Big Dada Sound ‘Signs’ *
* Coldcut & Hexstatic ‘Timber’ (Seiji Remix) *
* Andreya Triana ‘Lost Where I Belong’ (Flying Lotus Remix)
* The Bug ‘Catch A Fire’ *
* The Bug ‘Tune In (Version)’ *
* Eskmo ‘Cloudlight’ *
* Daedelus ‘LA Nocturne’

CD2

* Roots Manuva ‘Dub Styles’ (Micachu’s M.A.T.H.E.S. Remix) *
* Diplo ‘Summer’s Gonna Hurt You’ (Diplo 2010 Remix) *
* The Heavy ‘How You Like Me Now?’ (Joker Remix)
* Stateless ‘Ariel’ (Rustie Resmak) *
* Diplo ‘Newsflash’ (Metronomy Remix) *
* PRDCTV ‘Metropolis’ (Dan Le Sac Remix) *
* Dark Sky ‘Leave’ *
* The Long Lost ‘Woebegone’ (Flying Lotus’ Like Woe Remix)
* Spank Rock ‘What It Look Like’ (Todd Edwards Remix) *
* Shuttle ‘Lion’ *
* Poirier ‘Get Crazy’ (Mark Pritchard Dub) *
* Jammer ‘One Over Me’ *
* Fink ‘This Is The Thing’ (EL-B Digital Edit) *
* Amon Tobin ‘Lost & Found’ *

CD3

* Lou Rhodes ‘One Good Thing’ (The Cinematic Orchestra’s New York Quartet Version) *
* Bonobo & Speech Debelle ‘Sun Will Rise’ *
* Grasscut ‘Blink In The Night’ *
* Bonobo & Andreya Triana ‘Wonder When’
* Quincy & Xen Cuts Allstars ‘I Hear The Drummer’ (Tunng Edit) *
* Yppah ‘Never Mess With Sunday’ *
* Jaga Jazzist ‘Endless Galaxy’ *
* Cougar ‘$64k Rainbow’ *
* Amon Tobin ‘Eight Sum’ *
* DJ Vadim ‘The Terrorist’ (Gaslamp Computer Killer Remix) *
* Roots Manuva ‘Witness’ (1 Hope) (Slugabed Remix) *
* Andreya Triana ‘A Town Called Obsolete’ (Mala Remix) *
* Coldcut ‘Man In A Garage’ (King Jammy Vocal) *
* Lorn ‘Soft Room’ *
* Loka ‘The Beauty In Darkness’ *
* Paris Suit Yourself ‘I’ll Let You Know’ *
* Jono McCleery ‘Tomorrow’ (Edit)
* Floating Points Ensemble ‘Post Suite’ *

CD4

* Eskamon ‘Fine Objects’
* The Bug ‘Skeng’ (Autechre Remix) *
* Emika ‘Drop The Other (Daedelus Fragments Into A Thousand Little Pieces) *
* Amon Tobin ‘Bloodstone’ (King Cannibal Remix) *
* Amon Tobin ‘Foley Versions’ (Kronos Quartet Interpretation) *
* Anti-Pop Consortium ‘Volcano’ (Four Tet Remix)
* DELS ‘Eating Clouds’ *
* Mr Scruff & Kirsty Almeida ‘Pickled Spider’
* Jaga Jazzist ‘Toccata’ (Grasscut Remix) *
* The Death Set ‘Impossible’ (Shuttle Remix)
* Daedelus ‘Trouble With A Capital D’ *
* Roots Manuva ‘Let The Spirit’ (Hot Chip Remix)
* Mr Scruff ‘Believe’ *
* Bonobo ‘Eyesdown’ feat. Andreya Triana (Floating Points Remix)
* Shuttle ‘Tunnel’

CD5 (all music only available in the box set, except track 1 also on forthcoming 12″)

* Floating Points Ensemble (Almost In Profile) *
* The Cinematic Orchestra ‘Familiar Ground’ (Solid Steel version) *
* Bonobo ‘Stay The Same’ Welder remix *
* Bonobo ‘Eyesdown’ (feat. DELS) *
* Coldcut ‘Sound Mirrors’ (Grasscut Dub) *
* Jaga Jazzist ‘Synchronise Your Watches’ *
* Kyle Hall ‘Golden Moments’ *
* Roots Manuva ‘The Falling’ (Doomed remix) *
* The Herbaliser ‘Something Wicked’ (Roots Manuva’s Haunted House Dub) *
* Roots Manuva ‘Shake Your Money Maker’ *
* Fink ‘See It All’ (Scuba Remix) *
* DJ Food ‘African Rhythms’ (Tom Middleton Remix) *
* Coldcut ‘This Island Earth’ (Joe Goddard Remix)
* The Qemists ‘Don’t Lose It’ *

CD6 (all music only available in the box set)

* Roots Manuva ‘Witness’ (1 Hope) (Modeselektor’s Troublemaker Rmx) *
* Coldcut ‘True Skool’ (Zomby Remix) *
* The Bug ‘Poison Dart’ (Prefuse 73 Broke Moog Version) *
* DJ Food ‘Dark Lady’ (Alix Perez Remix) *
* Blockhead ‘The Music Scene’ (EL-P Remix) *
* DJ Food ’20/20 Rhythm’ *
* Clifford Gilberto ‘Deliver The Weird’ (Dorian Concept Remix) *
* Shuttle ‘Rotten Guts’ (Gold Panda Remix) *
* DJ Food ‘Dark Lady’ (808 State Remix) *
* Coldcut & Hexstatic ‘Timber’ (Super Sargasso Orb Mix) *
* King Cannibal ‘The Grind & Crawl’ *
* Wiley ‘My Mistakes’ (JME Remix) *
* DJ Vadim ‘Yea Man They Listening’ *
* Roots Manuva ‘Join The Dots’ (Cut Chemist Remix) *
* Blockhead ‘Ugly Brown’ *
* Cedell Davis ‘Been Through Some Stuff’ (cLOUDDEAD Remix) *
* Kid Koala ’3 Bit Blues’ *
* The Heavy ‘What’s So Good Bout Goodbye’ *

6 x 7″ singles: (all music only available in the box set)

1. Bogus Order ‘Chillin With My Zen’
Bogus Order ‘Zen Bones’
2. Kid Koala ‘Skanky Panky’ (Wrongtom Dub)*
Coldcut ‘Boogieman’ (King Jammy Dub) *
3. King Geedorah ‘Snakecharmer’ (feat. Kurious as Biolante) *
Daedelus ‘Impending Doom’ (Rustie Remix) *
4. Two Fingers ‘Bad Girl’ (The Bug Dub) *
Spank Rock ‘Sweet Talk’ (Matthew Herbert Remix) *
5. Mr Scruff ‘Wriggle’ *
Toddla T ‘Pum Pum’ *
6. Wagon Christ ‘Sloth Gets Paid’ *
Coldcut ‘Not Paid Enough’ (DJ Kentaro Turntable Mix)*

PLUS box set owners will receive the following 12″ singles for free (in the post):

ZEN160XX1

* a. Roots Manuva ‘Witness’ (1 Hope) (Modeselektor Remix), Coldcut ‘True Skool’ (Zomby Remix), Stateless ‘Ariel’ (Rustie’s Pentagram Remake)
* b. DJ Food ‘Dark Lady’ (Alix Perez Remix), The Herbaliser ‘Something Wicked’ (Roots Manuva Dub)

ZEN160XX2

* a. Pop Levi ‘Blue Honey’ (A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Mix by The Amorphous Androgynous)
* b. Coldcut ‘More Beats & Pieces’ (United States Of Audio Remix), Flanger ‘Psy Sound’

Providing the backdrops for Aesop Rock’s early releases got Blockhead through the door, leading to his own solo career as an instrumentalist. Comparisons to DJ Shadow were inevitable, as Block employed a similar brand of moody atmospherics, vintage samples, and heavy drum samples found on Shadow’s Endtroducing. But while Shadow seemed to abandon that style to experiment with different sounds on later releases (for better or for worse), Blockhead has ran with it, carving out now four albums in arguably the same style. By now, Blockhead has created his own signature sound, and comparisons to Shadow at this point in the game seem lost and forgotten.

The Music Scene is Block’s fourth magnum opus with Ninja Tune, carrying on tradition created with his first three releases. Like Uncle Tony’s Coloring Book before it, Blockhead isn’t afraid to increase the tempo this time around, as songs like “It’s Raining Clouds” and “Only Sequences Change” are faster than the standard 80 BPM fare, yet don’t lose the emotional impact of his slower selections. The more paced songs are here as well, as the irrelevantly titled “Which One Of You Jerks Drank My Arnold Palmer” plays like the soundtrack to the closing of a smokey club in 1960′s Paris, then evolving into something else midway through the track as morning rolls around.

As far as experimenting with new sounds, it’s definitively Blockhead all the way through, there are no curveballs or excruciating attempts at changing his style. There are a few new styles employed here, however. The “Tricky Turtle” plays like an Al Green sample that RZA had his eyes on, but then got snatched up by Blockhead to be transformed into a bohemian dancefloor banger. “Four Walls” actually finds Block using autotune (!), but done in the most brilliant way possible – think Daft Punk, not T-Pain.

The only fault that could be brought up here as that Blockhead has not significantly evolved as an artist over the course of his last few albums. While this makes the tracks on The Music Scene interchangeable with any of his other albums, to many this may be a strength, as the old “if ain’t broke…” adage applies. But if we are going to get nitpicky, longtime fans of Block will be able to predict the rhythm and count he’s gonna hit that horn sample.

For a completely instrumental artist, it’s hard for Blockhead to make any kind of definitive statement through his music, but one track speaks louder than the others. The title track features a vintage sample that sings “the music scene has got me down / cause I don’t want to be a clown”. Couple this with the brilliant album cover that features a desolate flooded wasteland with only animals left roaming the once bustling downtown area, and the words The Music Scene stamped across the top, his statement is clear. Despite the hardships that have fallen on the industry, Blockhead continues to do what he does best, with no regrets. – DJ Pizzo

]]> http://www.hiphopsite.com/2010/01/07/blockhead-the-music-scene/feed/ 0