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Dj Food - A Profile
Post-festival feedback from DJ Food's Strictly Kev...Did you enjoy your set?
The set was great after a couple of minor technical problems, the crowd
were amazing and considering the size of the tent and expectation I
wasn't nervous at all. It was like playing to a group of mates which
sounds cliched but in a tent that size it wasn't scarey at all. The
crew back and onstage were excellent and the whole festival seemed to
be far better run than most, certainly the most thought had been put in
than any other UK festivals.
What did you think of the festival
It was very good, despite the increasing size the atmosphere is still
very relaxed, I had a great time and Sean Rowley's Guilty Pleasures on
Sunday was a highlight for me. Only two down factors in the whole
thing: the news that some tents had been robbed on parts of the site, I
hope this isn't an omen of things to come. Also, the near total lack of
phone reception because of the location made it very difficult to meet
up with friends.
What are you up to now?
There's a new Dj food website under construction at www.djfood.org.
There's also a new Solid Steel website makeover at solidsteel where you can hear Solid Steel stream weekly for free from the radio page, check new mix CD releases and find out where we are playing around Europe on the club page.
Strictly Kev - Biography
The stalwart Ninja who stepped out of the shadows after years of steady DJing with Coldcut on numerous club gigs and their weekly radio show 'Solid Steel!' Kev met Matt Black at the 'Telepathic Fish' ambient parties of the early 90's, started designing artwork for Ninja Tune and paired up with PC to form the public 'face' of DJ Food on 4 decks in clubs around the world. After working on various Food and Coldcut related studio projects with PC (Recipe for Disaster, Journeys by DJ, ColdKrushCuts and the Blech mix compilations for Warp) he is preparing the next course...
Now working on the next DJ Food album himself, expect more of the same from the man who penned tracks like i`Nevermore and i`The Riff, among others, from the last album eNKaleidescope, and is responsible for the incredible i`Raiding the 20th Century - A History of the Cut-Up mix (so popular it crashed boom selection's server when posted on the premier bootleg site).
History lesson.
DJ Food has been many persons, of who we will come to in a moment. DJ FOOD is best described as Food for DJs, simple as that, just flip it around and it begins to mean something entirely different.
Originally produced by Coldcut the DJ Food project started in 1990 with the release of Jazz Brakes. Jazz Brakes Volume 3 being the label's most successful early album. Not only are they effective collections of breaks, loops and samples ideal for mixing, remixing and producing - but also fine collections of funky jazz & hip hop tunes, that cut it just as well on the discerning dancefloor as in the safety of your own home... Since the growth of the abstract hip hop scene recent years the Jazz Brakes albums have proved to be ahead of their time Jazz Brakes Volumes 4 & 5, co-created with DJ/producer PC, are collections of finely crafted tunes that transcend the breakbeat compilation format to stand as artist albums in their own right. These latter DJ Food albums have developed with shades of latin, dub, techno, ambient, tribal, african and jungle flavouring the funk. The October '95 album entitled 'A Recipe For Disaster' was a conscious break from the five Jazz Brakes volumes to form more of an identity as an artist, and a remix album of tracks from all 6 LPs 'Refried Food' was released Feb '96. A new Studio album is being prepared by PC and Strictly Kev in various top secret kitchens across London as you read this. They are collaborating with various guests on this including Bundy K. Brown (ex-Tortoise, Directions in Music, Pullman) and Ken Nordine (60's word jazz poet).
But who makes this food then? We know that Matt Black & Jonathan More (aka Coldcut) were responsible for starting the DJ FOOD series of Jazz Brakes back in the early 90's, and along the way they met Patrick Carpenter (PC) who was commonly misconstrued as the computer that they made the tracks on for a while. A loose collaborative team began to form as more like-minded people arrived at the party; Paul Brook, Paul Rabiger, Strictly Kev and Issac Elliston to name a few.
Whilst keeping their hand in as DJs, Matt & Jon couldn't and didn't want to DJ twice in one night under both aliases of Coldcut & Food so PC & Strictly stepped up to represent the Food club-wise. This was the score for some time, until PC became so busy with his involvement in the Cinematic Orchestra that he decided to depart to concentrate on that, leaving Strictly Kev to carry the mantle and really come into his own.
The Present Day
Kev now DJ's out regularly, travelling all over the world and creating a stir wherever he plays! He is amazingly versatile, both in the variety of tunes and his skills on the decks, playing a mix of jazzy, funky breaks, bootlegs, hip hop and usually building the set to a drum & bass crescendo that has the crowd going nuts.
He has also becoming reknowned for his soundtrack performance to the Monkees insane surreal movie eNHead. An astonishing 90-minute three-deck real-time rampage through 60's psychedelia, soundtracks, humour, military bands and other crazy tunes, he shows exactly how it should be done in terms of balance, timing and sheer accuracy of deck craftsmanship.
The man is a joy to watch and great fun to dance along to - look on ye mighty DJs and despair!
www.djfood.org
Ninjatune Artists - DJ Food
Written: 25th May, 05
Read: 3237 times
