DJ FOOD

by Sean Cooper
DJ Food is a collaborative project between Coldcut/Ninja Tune duo Matt Black and Jonathan More, and second-half PC (born Patrick Carpenter) and Strictly (Kevin Foakes). Although the moniker originally referred only to Black and Mores several-volumed series of stripped-down breaks records designed for deck use (i.e., food for DJs), club booking demands for the assumedly proper-named DJ Food dictated the pair make an ongoing project of it. Adding PC and Strictly to spice things up (and differentiate DJ Food from Coldcut when they played the same bill), the quartet released a series of 12 singles in various combinations starting in 1994 (including Freedom/Consciousness), with their proper debut full-length, A Recipe for Disaster, appearing the following year. The quartet also toured Europe, Canada, and America as DJ Food (mainly DJing) and regularly mashed it up side by side on Coldcuts weekly KISS FM show Solid Steel. PC and Strictly were also hired on by Warp Records to compile and mix a series of releases entitled Blech drawing from the influential experimental techno labels back catalog. More and Black continued to split their time between DJ Food and Coldcut, as well as the day-to-day operation of their immensely popular Ninja Tune and Ntone labels. DJ Foods second production album, Kaleidoscope, appeared in April of 2000 to warm reviews. A year later, the pair inaugurated a Solid Steel CD series with the mix album Now, Listen!