The first-ever number in Ninja Tune’s storied catalogue belongs to an act with the dubious name of Bogus Order. 26 years after the fact, they are coming out with another slab of big beat vinyl for the old school heads. The Bullnose Step EP is slated for release September 16, but we have the pleasure of premiering the symphonic downtempo glory of “Ex Voto” right now.
In case you ain’t heard, Ninja Tune is one of the greatest independent record labels in music history. On paper, its story began in 1990 with a modest vinyl EP called Zen Brakes by the aforementioned Bogus Order, allegedly produced by the so-called Bogus Authority, but its origin and impact extends well beyond that.
One of many, Bogus Order was a pseudonym for Ninja Tune’s founding partnership, Matt Black and Jonathan More. Under the name of Coldcut, that production duo changed the face of popular music in the UK from the outside in, helping to popularize hip-hop in the union in the late 1980s, among other things. With Ninja Tune, they have spent much of their creative existence at the cutting edge of the arts and technology, deeply impacting the spread of plunderphonic trip-hop and electronic music worldwide. However, due to a spat with Arista, Coldcut’s name would not be able to appear in print for several years after the label’s founding. Unperturbed, the duo released a stream of influential breaks records under the guise of DJ Food, as well as various singles under names like Euphoreal, Roots, Gideon, and, of course, Bogus Order.
Although, in an act of creative anachronism, The Bullnose Step EP will not actually be released on Ninja Tune, but rather on Ahead Of Our Time. Longtime fans will recognize that name as being the imprint where Coldcut first made waves, fostering the talent and vision that would eventually become Ninja Tune. It’s that kind of playful attention to detail that has made this label one of the most fun, challenging, and rewarding labels to follow over the decades, along with the obvious yet staggering imaginative abilities that are never more apparent than in the music and style of this long-awaited Bogus Order release.
Slip into the spaced chill of “Ex Voto” below, and know in your heart that you need to pick up The Bullnose Step EP as soon as you can, before it charges proudly back into the underground.
More about: Bogus Order, Coldcut, DJ Food
