Ninja Tune started out of exasperation 25 years ago in London. Ninja founders Matt Black and Jonathan More - who still perform together as Coldcut - were unable to put out the music they wanted to on a major label, so they created monikers and their own label to create and release music freely. Since the electronic music label's inception, it has planted itself on American soil by forming a partnership with Flying Lotus’s Brainfeeder label. Ninja serves as a distributor for Flylo’s venture, and in 2013, Ninja opened its own L.A. office, headed by Jamie Collinson.
The legendary independent label has and will be hosting a few more exclusive shows to celebrate their 25 years. The label has gone from covering trip-hop, UK hip-hop, IDM and breaks with their earliest acts like The Food (AKA Coldcut, founders of the label), Roots Manuva, Luke Vibert, and The Cinematic Orchestra, to being right in tune with the present with acts like The Bug, Daedelus, FaltyDL, and Machinedrum.
In honor of 25 game-changing years, we've thrown together a short list of our favorite Ninja Tune tracks.
The Invisible - Easy Now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iQstscccjg
Blockhead - The Music Scene
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NhheiPTdZCw
Max Graef & Glenn Astro - Magic Johnson
https://youtu.be/SbAFFJVnloY
DJ Food - Dark Lady
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfutyCCjTbg
Kid Koala - Basin Street Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8ys3B2q_2k
Wagon Christ - Reciever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PZ7iozF5qU
Daedelus - Airglow Fires
https://soundcloud.com/daedelus/airglow-fires-daedelus-pacific
Lee Bannon - DAW In The Sky For Pigs/Disney Girls
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkZOlrSJO4Q&list=PLYVGrDapR5IczeDs2XmYKkwjOOhvucls1
The Cinematic Orchestra - The Man With The Movie Camera
https://youtu.be/vvTF6B5XKxQ?list=PL-Sa0y_pQ-C0R1gBUF_mjNFkBc0yBfikn
Bonobo - Eyesdown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qmVNB4nalk