Ninja Tune was established in London in 1990 by Matt Black and Jonathan More, the pair behind electronic duo Coldcut. The founders, unhappy with their major-label experiences while touring Japan around 1990, set it up as an independent home for their own recordings and work by like-minded left-field artists, giving them an outlet beyond major-label arrangements. Early releases, largely produced by Coldcut, drew on instrumental, sample-based music. The label’s sound combines jazz, hip-hop and funk, and its releases also include drum and bass and other electronic music. Among its early releases were the first five volumes of DJ Food’s Jazz Brakes.
The label has issued albums by Bonobo, Amon Tobin and The Cinematic Orchestra, and supported Amon Tobin during its early years. The Qemists’ single Stompbox came out on Ninja Tune in 2007. Its roster has also included artists working across a range of styles, while its distribution has covered Big Dada, Brainfeeder, Werk and Girls Music. Ninja Tune’s offshoots include Ntone and Counter Records, and it has partnered with Brainfeeder on worldwide release, promotion and distribution. Besides its London base, it has a satellite office in Los Angeles.
Big Dada began in 1997 as a UK hip-hop label and relaunched in 2021 under the leadership of Ninja Tune staff members from Black, POC and minority ethnic communities. Ninja Tune’s club night Stealth was named NME’s Club of the Year in 1996. The label received the Gilles Peterson Worldwide Award for Label of the Year in 2016 and the Association of Independent Music’s Independent Label of the Year award in 2018.
