Now, Listen!

• Artist: DJ Food & DK
• Rating:
• Release Date: September 18, 2001
• Type: Mix-album
• Genre: Electronica

Review

For those lucky few able to tune it in or dig up the session CD-R's passed from fan to fan, Coldcut and DJ Food's Solid Steel program has been, bar none, the leading light of the turntablist underground since its 1988 inception. As freewheeling as American crews like Invisibl Skratch Piklz or Beat Junkies but able to cast a much wider net over the font of musical knowledge on record, the Ninja Tune collective have blown up London's airwaves -- first on the pirate station Kiss-FM and later on BBC -- with mix after invincible mix of the broadest beats in the world. Finally, in 2001, Ninja Tune inaugurated a (hopefully long) series of Solid Steel mixes with Now, Listen!, the results of a 60-minutes-of-madness session featuring DJ Food (aka PC and Strictly Kev) plus DK. Though it wasn't recorded entirely live, the results are far too thrilling to bother quibbling over technicalities. The musical mind-melds include ska-revivalists the Beat over an early Roni Size production, the Commodores' "Assembly Line" mixed up with educational records, a Mr. Scruff track over a Motion Man rap, and Cut Chemist's ironically Coldcut-referencing "2.5 Minute Workout" of Blackalicious' "Alphabet Aerobics," plus snippets of everyone from Ray Bradbury to Herbie Hancock to Perrey-Kingsley to Man from U.N.K.L.E. star David McCallum to Innerzone Orchestra to Four Tet to David Shire's score to the 1974 heist film The Taking of Pelham One-Two-Three. No surprise -- it's also one of the best-paced mixes heard on an official release since Coldcut & PC's 70 Minutes of Madness tape from 1996. Showcasing the best in dance and groove no matter which historical or musical boundaries they obliterate in the process, Now, Listen! is one of the best mix albums released to date. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Solid Steel Theme [Deluxe Version]		DJ Food	(1:19)
Come Clean/Channel One Suite	T. Taylor, Chris E. Martin, Jason Swinscoe	Jeru the Damaja, The Cinematic Orchestra	(3:00)
Beached		Neotropic	(:50)
X1 [Underdog Mix]	K.K. Martin		(1:21)
Musica Negra [Black Music Accapella]	D. Gibson	The X-ecutioners	(1:38)
The Taking of Pelham 123 (End Title)	David Shire	David Shire	(1:46)
Solid Steel Intermission: Marionettes Inc.	Ray Bradbury	Ray Bradbury	(3:33)
Ug/The Terrorist [Acappella]	Motion Man	Mr. Scruff, DJ Vadim	(1:49)
Miles from Home [Underdog Mix]	Peshay	Peshay	(1:49)
Square Off/Mirror in the Bathroom	Dave Wakeling, Andy Cox, Dave Steele, Roger Charlery, Everett Morton	The English Beat	(2:57)
Hotel Alyssa-Soussie, Tunisia	Sabu Martinez	Sabu Martinez	(3:18)
Ritmo 2	Dominique Dalcan	Dominique Dalcan	(2:48)
Lucy's Song		Flying Fish	(3:43)
Solid Steel School Assembly: Calm Down/Assembly Line	Pam Sawyer	The Commodores, Most Wanted Boys	(1:43)
House of Mirrors	H.B. Barnum	David McCallum	(2:16)
Solid Steel School Break: Let's Play Drums		DJ Food	(1:27)
Alphabet Aerobics	T.J. Parker	Blackalicious	(2:05)
Glasshead		Four Tet	(4:35)
Nobu	Herbie Hancock	Herbie Hancock	(5:35)
Amenity		Link	(2:35)
Moments in Love	Anne Dudley, Paul Morley, Johnathon J. Jeczalik, Trevor Horn, Gary Langan	The Art of Noise	(4:23)
The Color of the Fire	Marcus Eoin, Michael Sandison	Boards of Canada	(:36)
Riding High (Lyrics)	Robert Neal Jr., Clarence "Satch" Satchell, Roger Parker, Ralph "Love" Aikens, Tyrone "Flye" Crum, Keith Harrison		(5:45)

Credits

Chief Xcel (Engineer), Four Tet (Performer), Neotropic (Performer), The Commodores (Arranger), Marcus Eoin (Producer), Jeru the Damaja (Performer), Andy Carthy (Producer), DJ Premier (Producer), Pam Sawyer (Producer), Michael Sandison (Producer), David Shire (Performer), David McCallum (Performer), The Cinematic Orchestra (Performer), Herbie Hancock (Performer), Sal Abbatiello (Executive Producer), Malachi Trout (Producer), Mr. Scruff (Performer), Blackalicious (Performer), Sabu Martinez (Performer), Gudtyme (Rap), DJ Food (Mixing), Vangelis (Performer), Reload (Performer), The X-ecutioners (Performer), Ray Bradbury (Performer), Peshay (Producer), D.K. (Mixing), DJ Premier (Mixing), E. Morris (Producer), The Art of Noise (Producer), Leonard Nimoy (Narrator), Bob Sargeant (Producer), Boards of Canada (Performer), Flying Fish (Performer), Dominique Dalcan (Performer), Most Wanted Boys (Performer), DJ Vadim (Performer)

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