label: Ninja Tune country of origin: UK style(s): Breakbeat, hip hop, trip hop, lounge, ambient essential compilations: Zen: A Retrospective (2004, Ninja Tune) Zen: Remix Retrospective (2004, Ninja Tune)

Launched in 1994, UK label Ninja Tune established a home on the more intelligent end of the breakbeat, nu jazz and hip-hop axis. For a while Ninja also ran sub-label Ntone which allowed founders Matt Black and Jonathan More (who together record as Coldcut) to indulge their soft spot for trippy ambient. But most of Ninja's output has appeared on its main label, with a sound spanning the dancefloor to the lounge room. The two Zen releases - both double CD sets - mark the label's 10th anniversary. They cover so much ground within the realm of broken beats that the experience is both thrilling and exhausting. There's gems aplenty, but it's recommended you digest these sets one disc at a time to get the most from your purchases.

The first halves of both albums focus more on the tougher, more dancefloor-friendly examples of the label's sound than the second halves do. Coldcut, Amon Tobin and Hexstastic weigh in with instrumental examples of beat science that are variously frantic, exacting and brutal. For downtempo fans who like their melody it's the second discs of both sets that are the ones to cherish. There's moments of pure gold here including tracks by The Cinematic Orchestra, Irresistible Force, DJ Food and Ashley Beedle. The enticing combinations of stoner beats, lush strings, lo-fi samples and jazz-style improvisation prove that during the 1990's it wasn't only Kruder and Dorfmeister who were the pioneering these territories.

Any self-respecting Ninja Tune fan will already own Zen: A Retrospective and Zen: Remix Retrospective. For the new and curious, these two albums are compelling reasons to take the plunge.

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