Daedalus

If Ninja Tune does indeed equal break-beats, then this is perhaps their ultimate album, brought to us by the L.A.-based one-man band Daedalus. Making fresh a style that has seemed a bit stale in past years, this nonetheless sounds like 2006, with that slightly electro-fied synth sound that’s on practically every record made now but also with that wacky "sample-tastic” Ninja Tune legacy. Any fan of boom-bap beats would like "Lights Out,” which kicks ass, sounding like what game show theme music would sound like in a parallel universe where there was no other type of music than hip-hop. A record that spins madly out of control and seems born of more than just the one guy, this is by great leaps and bounds the best Ninja Tune release in some time.