Loka – ‘Passing Place’ album out now

I saw this shower the other night at the 100 Club (just joking – they’re a lovely bunch of people), amazing performance and this is an amazing album, just released on Ninja Tune. I never thought I’d hear a brass band mix so well with jazz, rock, female vocals and radiophonic-esque electronics, but it does.

Also the whole album was mixed by Thighspaulsandra, known for his work with Julian Cope and Coil among others and it sounds gorgeous. Having remixed the track ‘As The Tower Falls’ for Loka’s digital Temporary External single, I can tell he had his work cut out for him and this is one band that likes to use a lot of parts in an arrangement. Check out the beauty of the 12 tracks over at the Ninja shop. Even though I was lucky enough to hear most of this last year the album easily makes my top 10 albums of 2011.

Posted in Music, Ninja Tune. | 4 Comments |

DJ Food in Record Collector magazine

After months of ‘will it be in this issue?’, I’m finally in the Christmas issue of Record Collector magazine (with Led Zeppelin on the cover), in ‘The Collector’ article and it was worth the wait. For the first time I can remember they’ve gone from the usual two pages to three to accommodate the ‘Wall of Sound’ photograph Steve Cook took specially (full image above).

I’m so pleased with this and I get a chance to show off some prize pieces from my collection. Several items mentioned aren’t shown because of space but I’ll be posting some of them in the ‘Originals’ posts on this site all week.

Posted in DJ Food, Magazines, Photography, Records. | 11 Comments |

‘The Search Engine’ limited book/CD & flexi disc

Limited comic-sized 48 pg booklet / CD / flexi disc version of the DJ Food album ‘The Search Engine’. Available to pre-order at the Ninjashop for just £12 for a limited time.

The booklet features artwork by Henry Flint and Openmind, photography by Will Cooper-Mitchell, lyrics and more, the flexi disc will only be available with this package.

Posted in Books, DJ Food, Flexi Discs, Ninja Tune, Openmind designs. | 4 Comments |

Kraftwerk ‘Computer World’ poster

This lovely design was made by Stefanie Posavec, showing the length of cassette tape needed to record Kraftwerk‘s ‘Computer World’. Originally made as a one off for a friend’s club night she’s finally made them for sale.

It’s available as a 915 x 700mm 2-colour litho print (the yellow is fluorescent) on 300gsm, on Challenger Offset paper in a signed edition of 200. You can get it here and 25% of the profits go to the Ganet’s Adventure fund that helps a small primary school in Milawi.

Posted in Design, Kraftwerk, Poster / flyer. | 2 Comments |

The Search Engine launch party at The Planetarium

This has been under wraps for a while but I can finally reveal…

Three 45 minute sets (due to limited spaces in the Planetarium) of a specially reconstructed version of the album including exclusive material. I’m currently working with the astronomers at the Observatory, building a bespoke show for their 360 degree hemispherical screen. Tickets are very limited, only 82 for each show, so be quick if you want to see this http://ninjatune.net/shop/tickets

Posted in DJ Food, Event, Film, Latest Designs, Music, Poster / flyer, Solid Steel. | No Comments |

The Search Engine launch party at The Planetarium

This has been under wraps for a while but I can finally reveal…

Three 45 minute sets (due to limited spaces in the Planetarium) of a specially reconstructed version of the album including exclusive material. I’m currently working with the astronomers at the Observatory, building a bespoke show for their 360 degree hemispherical screen. Tickets are very limited, only 82 for each show, so be quick if you want to see this http://ninjatune.net/shop/tickets

Posted in DJ Food, Event, Film, Music, Ninja Tune, Poster / flyer, Solid Steel. | No Comments |

Marshall McLuhan ‘The Medium Is The Massage’ reissue

And here it is! After at least 18 months since I supplied a quote to Noah Uman for his reissue of ‘The Medium Is The Massage’ celebrating 100 years of McLuhan‘s record of the book, it finally dropped through the letterbox this morning. It’s gorgeous, full deluxe mini LP style CD sleeve, 40 pg booklet and all in the style of the original (check my copies of the LP and books below).



I’m sharing page space with some pretty esteemed commentators too: Warhol, Woody Allen, Steinski, Don Joyce, Jello Biafra, DJ Spooky… The CD is out on Five Day Weekend (who also have releases from Edan, Mr Chop and the ’80 Blocks From Tiffanys’ DVD) on December the 12th. Well worth it, a unique record, history, literature, social commentary, cut and paste and comedy all rolled into one.

Posted in Art, Oddities, Packaging. | 15 Comments |

Solid Steel Music Video podcast at No.1 on iTunes!

I’m very proud to announce a new first for Solid Steel, we made No.1 in the iTunes Music Video podcast charts this week with DJ Cheeba‘s new mix after the previous best of Hexstatic‘s at No.3 a few weeks back. 
In the 90’s the idea of an eclectic mix show with minimal presenting and lashings of spoken word was pretty unique thing, today it’s par for the course. I’m glad to say we’re still pushing the envelope but this time with extremely high quality video mixes – check out any one of them on our Vimeo channel.

Posted in Uncategorized. | No Comments |