Released on Friday 29th March, the brilliant “Ninja Tuna” is the latest Mr. Scruff album to get a fancy makeover. Originally released as a CD in 2008 it’s now available for the first time on vinyl as a deluxe triple LP with bonus tracks, pressed on biovinyl with an “infinity peelable” tuna sticker on the cover.
“Everything came together really well for this album,” reflects Scruff looking back fondly at the times spent composing and recording “Ninja Tuna”. “Some amazing collaborators (Roots Manuva, Andreya Triana, Alice Russell, Quantic, Danny Breaks, Skuff & Inja, Pete Simpson, Jon Thorne and Kaidi Tatham), old friends in the studio (multi-instrumentalist Andy Kingslow and my long time engineer Phil Kirby), and fat sonics that took the chunky and playful spirit of my early productions forward. We were on a roll and recorded enough material for a full album and a bonus CD. ‘Kalimba’ was a surprise success after being included on the Windows 7 music (thus intruducing many new ears to my music), and ‘Music Takes Me Up’ has been a highlight of my DJ sets since its release. Though many 12” singles were released, the album never came out on vinyl. 15 years later, I am really happy that it is finally getting a hefty triple vinyl release.”
From the breaksome soul-jazz of “Music Takes Me Up” (featuring the golden lungs of Alice Russell), through the cartoonish tail-swishing of “Donkey Ride”, on into the monstrous bass parps of “Whiplash,” past a superb cameo from Roots Manuva (“Nice Up The Function,”) and across the bit where the bass comes back and is Stronger And More Dangerous Than Ever (“Bang The Floor” with Danny Breaks), this is an album which just keeps on growing on you. Every tune has been road-tested at Scruff’s all night club sessions, and it shows on the disco-builder “Get On Down”, the muddy funkster “Hold On” (featuring Andreya Triana), the utterly massive “Give Up To Get” and a latino finale held together by “Kalimba” and the endearingly ramshackle “Stockport Canrival”. As is customary, Scruff is in total command of the dancefloor and gives the bassbins a comprehensive workout from beginning to end.
Bolstering this new 3LP edition are no less than 6 bonus tracks. The record opens with an extended version of ‘Test The Sound’ and also included are the delightfully squelchy and functional instrumental of Scruff’s ‘Nice Up The Function’ remix, the glorious 10+min keyboard workout that is ‘Bunch of Keys’ (featuring Mssrs. Kaidi Tatham and Andy Kingslow on outstanding form), plus ‘Rocking Chair’, ‘Fix That Speaker’ and ‘Zen’ featuring UK rap mainstays Skuff and Inja.
Mr Scruff’s combination of taking his music very seriously while managing not to take himself too seriously has made him unique in British dance music. “Ninja Tuna” moves with all the power and grace of a fifty ton whale deep below the ocean, its cavernous belly packed with happy, partying potato people.
