Ninja Tune Vinyl & CDs

Review: James Ford is one of the most important unsung heroes of contemporary pop and rock. As a studio producer, he's helped craft and hone incredible work from Fontaines DC, Arctic Monkeys, Depeche Mode, Blur and more. As an artist in his own right, he's perhaps more incredible. So, his impact on the latest and long-awaited new addition to Black Country New Road's catalogue should not be underestimated. Nor should the result of splitting the songwriting and vocal duties between members Tyler Hyde, Georgia Ellery and May Kershaw. "It's definitely very different" said one of the trio about how this compares to preceding long form outings. We'd say it's definitely very different to most music you'll hear this week. It's folk, soft rock, experimental garage something, and none of the above, with tracks that almost seem at odds with themselves, chopping and changing, evolving and progressing, until you hear them as a whole.

Review: Tony Simon is a hugely prolific producer from New York who serve up a dazzling array of album 20 odd years ago. He found a fine home forth on Ninja Tune who are all reissuing them now on some great looking and sounding vinyl. The Music Scene once again offers up a dazzling mix of sounds and influences from across the world. Hip hop, downtempo, broken beat, jazz and more all feature in his beguiling musical brews as you jump from hypnotic lead to bristle beats and back again.

Review: Simon Greene aka. Bonobo is set to put forth yet another album from his own personal ether; 'Fragments' was born from actual sonic 'fragments' that were later repurposed into twelve full 'sonic affirmations'. A later escape into the wilds of California's deserts formed the bulk of this album's downtempo magnum opi; watch out for collabs with a foray of world-downtempo electronica acts including Jamila Woods, O'Flynn and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. One of his most heartfelt albums, expect all from lilting future garage ('Rosewood') to rave-nostalgic slow builds.

Review: Has it really been five years since Migration? Time has flown, but the evergreen appeal of Bonobo holds true as he lands back on his spiritual home of Ninja Tune with another hotly anticipated opus. Fragments finds Simon Green digging deep, having forced himself to work outside of his usual tour-centric comfort zone during the global shutdown and developing a lot of new material in the isolation of the Californian desert. While that air of solitude formed a foundation for the album, he then folded in ample collaborations from Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Jordan Rakei, O'Flynn, Joji and Kadhja Bonet, resulting in a stirring soul soup of richly developed, danceable rhythms and patient musicality with that unmistakable Bonobo touch.

Review: It's certainly true that Ma Fleur represented a pivotal moment for The Cinematics. The outfit came to fruition, or at least hit the common conscience, in the haze of late-1990s post-trip-hop comedowns, a time when we were all still going harder, faster and stronger in clubs but wanted something cosy and velveteen on the after party hifi at 10AM rather than ketamine techno. Far more innocent times to say the least.

This 2007 record broke from the well established mould of the troupe, though, landing five years after its predecessor (Every Day) and opting for a more direct approach to loveliness. A kind of grab you by the throat and make you feel nice type remit that leaves the subtleties of the past behind in favour of more traditional big room, show stopping song craft.

Review: Roisin Murphy's new album is getting plenty of deserving spotlight from Ninja Tune who have served it up on several different formats, all of which are available from Juno. Whatever ti might sound like from the title, this new album from the disco queen is not a retrospective but an all new work. The tunes have been produced by the masterful DJ Koze, the leftfield Pampa Records boss. It crosses many genre divides with plenty of sing-along choruses, thoughtful lyrics and musical hooks aplenty presented in vivid colour. Recent singles 'Cuckoo' and 'The Universe' are big ones already and many more follow here.

Review: Ninja Tune's Odesza return with a brand new album as well as a massive world tour to match. 'The Last Goodbye' is another record to heighten the band's their long-held standing in the progressive and ambient house netscene they occupy. Every end of musical history is traversed in this emotive future downtempo release which sinks you into deep to its mellifluous world of sound. The title track is emblematic of this as it straddles, samples and licenses an incredible old recording of soul vocalist Bettye LaVelle against a funking, flourishing instrumental backdrop. It is one of the many gems that make this so essential.

Review: Ninja Tune's Odesza return with a brand new album (and not to mention world tour), 'The Last Goodbye', owning their long-held standing in the progressive, ambient house netscene they occupy. Every end of musical history is traversed in this emotive future downtempo release; the title track is emblematic of this straddling, sampling and licensing an incredible old recording of soul vocalist Bettye LaVelle against a funking, flourishing instrumental backdrop.

Review: ODESZA's The Last Goodbye Tour Live is the group's Grammy-nominated live album. It marks the duo's first cohesive release of live versions and captures the awe-inspiring essence of their expansive concert experience. Produced and engineered by ODESZA (Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight), The Last Goodbye Tour Live was recorded during their groundbreaking 2022-2023 tour-the first amphitheater tour by an electronic act. Featuring some superbVIP edits, each song has been meticulously reworked for the live stage and really showcases ODESZA's creativity. The album includes the ODESZA Drumline, horn players, and guest vocalists Naomi Wild, Sudan Archives, Izzy Bizu, MARO, Mansionair, and Charlie Houston.

Review: It's incredible to think Blush is PVA's debut album. The South London band sound like they've been doing aggy, abrasive and regularly oddly beautiful cold synth wave stuff since it was invented, bringing their own edge and energy, influences and ideas to a table that - much as we love it - can often feel like it has become set in its ways. Then again, perhaps their breaking from some traditions is exactly what exposes their freshness.

Across 11 incredible sonic assaults we're dragged from pillar to post in the best way. 'Untethered' sounds like an alarm going off and panic setting in, opening the album without apology. 'Hero Man' takes things into a more rolling, wavy place, albeit wasp-in-jar keyboard lines underpin things. 'The Individual' slows us down and ups the nasty; spoken word style lyrics and grungy, grimy atmosphere making it a stand out. Meanwhile, 'Seven' drops just ahead of the finale for blissful, twisted but honest romance.

Review: Glaswegian producer Hector Barbour is nothing if not divisive: he's had more fun than anyone in recent years by dropping curveballs, baiting social media with troll tracks and generally not giving a tinker's damn. There's nothing throwaway about his new EP on Ninja Tune, though, which launches with nimble synth cut "In-Narito" which we wish was much longer. "Gas Whillis (While I Paint My Nails)" gets down to some gritty, wall rattling warehouse techno, while "ForTee" is much harder to define; a collision of kicks, warped synths and beautiful chords that ping off one another at random. Elsewhere there's more peak time club tackle, scintillating melodic house and bravely experimental fair like " Dan (wll SOME day KNOW How Special He Makes Me Feel)". Certainly, this is an EP that keeps you guessing as his famously unpredictable sets do.

Review: Leon Vynehall long again made the transition from decent tune maker to revered and unpredictable electronic artist. Now he proves why he holds that status one again with a follow up to his critically acclaimed debut long player Nothing Is Still. This time out he distils everything he has done so far in to a record with few comparisons. It is ready for dance floor deployment but never just functional. There are cavernous ambient pieces next to grainy, heavy, dubby rhythms with grand but lo-fi synth architecture as well as moments of intriguing experimentalism.