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February 10, 2004
Ninja Tune
2
After 2000's incredible 3-disc set Xen Cuts, Zen delivers another journey into turntablism as only a label like Ninja Tune can provide. With such wildly creative artists spinning under their banner, it's no wonder the label loves a good compilation. Artists like Coldcut, Kid Koala, and The Herbalizer compose in their sleep, dreaming of wax like the rest of us do sheep. Zen focuses on those dreams, cherry-picking some of the more ambient breaks for a mix that hovers over the decks, like a ghost, sampled and spun along with the music. The tracks here are a bit overly-familiar; Amon Tobin's "Get Your Snack On," brilliant though it is, has been included on comps like this once too often already. Still, the 2-disc set has a plan: Disc 1 is the smooth one, the yin to Disc 2's yang, which cuts and scratches with more edge and "street" experimentalism. Sometimes, the smooth and the edgy tangle up, like Sarah Jones' eyes-wide-open rhyme in DJ Vadim's otherwise sleepy "Your Revolution." Those looking for an introduction to such turntable jumbles would do well to start here. --Matthew Cooke - Amazon.com
