DJ Food

DJ Food
Strictly Kev as DJ Food at Moldejazz, 2009.
Background information
Origin	England
Genres	Electronica Intelligent drum and bass Trip hop Hip hop
Years active	1992 to Present
Labels	Ninja Tune
Associated acts	DK
Website	http://www.djfood.org/
Members	Strictly Kev
Past members	Matt Black Jonathan More Patrick Carpenter

DJ Food is an electronic music project currently headed by Kevin Foakes, aka Strictly Kev. Originally conceived by the members of Coldcut on the Ninja Tune independent record label, the project started in 1990 on the premise of providing metaphorical "food for DJs". DJ Food released the Jazz Brakes series, with Jazz Brakes Volume 3 being the most successful. The records consisted of collections of breaks, loops and samples, that could be used for mixing, remixing and producing.

The later DJ Food albums have developed with shades of Latin, dub, techno, ambient, and Jungle.

The 1995 album, A Recipe For Disaster was a conscious move away from the Jazz Brakes volumes to form more of an identity as an artist, and a remix album of tracks from all 6 LPs, entitled Refried Food was released the following year. The more recent release, Kaleidoscope, features guest artists including Bundy K. Brown (formerly of Tortoise, Directions in Music, Pullman) and voiceover artist and jazz poet, Ken Nordine.

Members

DJ Food started as a Coldcut side project from Jonathan More and Matt Black,. Along the way they met Patrick Carpenter, who was listed on the liner notes by only his initials. A loose collaborative team began to form including Paul Brook, Paul Rabiger, Kevin Foakes aka Strictly Kev and Issac Elliston.

Although keeping their hand in as DJs on the albums, Black and More couldn't perform DJ sets twice in one night under the aliases of both Coldcut & DJ Food, so they handed the mantle of live performances over to PC and Strictly Kev. Later, PC became so involved with The Cinematic Orchestra that he decided to quit DJ Food, leaving Strictly Kev as the sole director of the project. He has since contributed three remixes to the The Shape of Things that Hum EP in 2009.

Album discography

• Jazz Brakes Vol. 1 (Oct 1990, Cat No. ZENCD 001)
• Jazz Brakes Vol. 2 (Sep 1991, Cat No. ZENCD 002)
• Jazz Brakes Vol. 3 (Jul 1992, Cat No. ZENCD 003)
• Jazz Brakes Vol. 4 (Jun 1993, Cat No. ZENCD 006)
• Jazz Brakes Vol. 5 (Oct 1994, Cat No. ZENCD 010)
• A Recipe For Disaster (Oct 1995, Cat No. ZENCD 020)
• Refried Food (remix album) (Jan 1996, ZENCD 021)
• Kaleidoscope (Apr 2000, Cat No. ZENCD 047)
• The Search Engine (Jan 2011)

Refried Food was re-released in 2003 as a double CD, with additional remixes.

DJ Mix albums

• Blech II: Blechsdottir (1996, released on Rough Trade in Germany, Cat No. RTD 126.3175.2)

Mixed by PC and Strictly Kev

• Plastic Apple (Oct 1996, released on Aura Surround Sounds, Cat No. SUCD 005)

Disc 1 consists of a 56 minute mix by DJ Food, discs 2 & 3 are by the artist MLO

• ColdKrushCuts (Feb 1997, Ninja Tune, Cat No. ZENCD 026)

A mix album collaboration between Coldcut, DJ Krush and DJ Food

• Solid Steel Presents DJ Food & DK: Now, Listen! (October 2001, Cat No. ZENCD055)

Mix album for Ninja Tune's Solid Steel mix series, with producer DK

• Solid Steel Presents DJ Food & DK: Now, Listen Again! (March 2007, Cat No. ZENCD123)

Internet Only Releases

• The History of the Cut up: Raiding the 20th Century (Words and Music Expansion) link

Reviews

• ContemporaryTalks.com - 'Cosmic Travels at Pure Evil Gallery'
• Scaruffi.com

External links

• Official website
• DJ Food at Ninja Tune website
• DJ Food discography at Discogs
• Cosmic Travels at Pure Evil Gallery – review of exhibition on ContemporaryTalks.com
• Kaleidoscope review on Pitchfork Media

Interviews

• ContemporaryTalks.com - In-depth Interview with DJ Food
• Radio Feature, The Some Assembly Required Interview with DJ Food's Strictly Kev