DJ Food

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DJ Food
Origin England
Genre(s) Electronica
Drum'n'bass
Trip hop
Hip hop
Years active 1992 to Present?
Label(s) Ninja Tune
Associated acts DK
Website http://www.djfood.org/

Originally produced by Coldcut on the Ninja Tune independent record label, the DJ Food project started in 1990 on the premise of providing metaphorical "food for DJs". DJ Food released the Jazz Brakes series, with Jazz Brakes Volume 3 being the most successful. The records consisted of collections of breaks, loops and samples, ideal for mixing, remixing and producing the trademark Ninja Tune blend of jazz & hip hop.

Volumes 4 and 5 of the Jazz Brakes series, co-created with DJ / producer PC transcend the breakbeat compilation format to stand as artist albums in their own right. The later DJ Food albums have developed with shades of Latin, dub, techno, ambient, and Jungle flavouring the funk.

The 1995 album, A Recipe For Disaster was a conscious move away from the Jazz Brakes volumes to form more of an identity as an artist, and a remix album of tracks from all 6 LPs, entitled Refried Food was released the following year. Their last release, Kaleidoscope, featured guest artists including Bundy K. Brown (formerly of Tortoise, Directions in Music, Pullman) and voiceover artist and jazz poet, Ken Nordine.

Contents

[edit] Members

Strictly Kev as DJ Food in London in 2008
Strictly Kev as DJ Food in London in 2008

With a seemingly single DJ name, it is often wrongly assumed that DJ Food is single person. In fact, a whole host of DJs, producers and musicians have performed under the name, so the evolutionary nature of the DJ Food sound comes as no surprise. Matt Black and Jonathan More (aka Coldcut) were responsible for starting Jazz Breaks series in the early '90s. Along the way they met Patrick Carpenter, who, being listed on the liner notes simply by his initials, was often mistakenly thought to be a Personal computer. A loose collaborative team began to form as more like-minded people arrived at the party, including Paul Brook, Paul Rabiger, Strictly Kev and Issac Elliston.

Although keeping their hand in as DJs on the albums, Matt & Jon couldn't perform DJ sets twice in one night under both aliases of Coldcut & DJ Food, so they handed the mantle of live DJing over to PC and Strictly Kev. Later, PC became so busy with The Cinematic Orchestra that he decided to quit, at least temporarily leaving DJ Food as a solo project.

In addition to The Cinematic Orchestra, PC also recorded with J. Swinscoe under the band name Neptune. Strictly Kev has recorded under the name Flexus.

[edit] Album discography

  • Jazz Brakes Vol. 1 (Oct 1990, Cat No. ZENCD 001)
  • Jazz Brakes Vol. 2 (Sep 1991, Cat No. ZENCD 002)
  • Jazz Brakes Vol. 3 (Jul 1992, Cat No. ZENCD 003)
  • Jazz Brakes Vol. 4 (Jun 1993, Cat No. ZENCD 006)
  • Jazz Brakes Vol. 5 (Oct 1994, Cat No. ZENCD 010)
  • A Recipe For Disaster (Oct 1995, Cat No. ZENCD 020)
  • Refried Food (remix album) (Jan 1996, ZENCD 021)
  • Kaleidoscope (Apr 2000, Cat No. ZENCD 047)

Refried Food was re-released in 2003 as a double CD, with additional remixes.

[edit] DJ Mix albums

  • Blech II: Blechsdottir (1996, released on Rough Trade in Germany, Cat No. RTD 126.3175.2)
Mixed by PC and Strictly Kev.
  • Plastic Apple (Oct 1996, released on Aura Surround Sounds, Cat No. SUCD 005)
Disc 1 is comprised of a 56 minute mix by DJ Food. Discs 2 & 3 are by the artist MLO
  • ColdKrushCuts (Feb 1997, Ninja Tune, Cat No. ZENCD 026)
A mix album collaboration between Coldcut, DJ Krush and DJ Food
  • Solid Steel Presents DJ Food & DK: Now, Listen! (October 2001, Cat No. ZENCD055)
Mix album for Ninja Tune's Solid Steel mix series, with producer, DK.

[edit] Internet Only Releases

  • The History of the Cut up: Raiding the 20th Century (Words and Music Expansion) link

[edit] Reviews

[edit] External links

[edit] Interviews

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