For the second straight year, Halifax is going to get another dose of DJ bliss as Ninja Tune send some of their finest troops to Eastern Canada for the DJ Olympics. Along with Strictly Kev of DJ Food and Fink, Halifax will be able to take in the hip-hop soaked sounds of Jonny Cuba and the Loop Professor, better known as Dynamic Syncopation. Not unlike label mates the Herbaliser (Jonny Cuba played a role in the production of "Another Mother" and "(A Mother) For Your Mind," a Ninja classic), Dynamic primarily weaves instrumental hip-hop with a slew of MCs. This blend also recently landed one of their tracks (a remix of "The Plan") on the video game Knockout Kings 2001. "It's a much more bangin' mix and it's more in your face," says Cuba. "I can see why they wanted it for a boxing game." This featured boxing track also led to a DJ session at Muhammad Ali's most recent birthday.
The London duo had the opportunity to play the DJ Olympics last year as well something that surely must be appreciated by a city that usually gets ignored when top acts tour Canada. "I think they wanted Amon Tobin originally," Cuba laughs. "So we were like, you know, he gets [to play] Canada all the time. Get some other people out there." And with that marks only the second time Dynamic will have played on Canadian soil which is a shame considering that their most recent release, Dynamism, was an album that was slept on by Ninja Tune followers and lovers of hip-hop both.
This second appearance at the DJ Olympics also marks the first time the city has experienced an all-Ninja showcase. "The promoters wanted to do a sort of generic Ninja night in Halifax because they've never had one," notes Cuba. "These shows are usually varied in styles of music in one evening and I think they wanted to provide that. Fink is a really cool DJ and provides a good foil to our hip-hop, four-deck mix with some more up-tempo stuff and I think DJ Food is a group that [Halifax] has been anxious to see." During Dynamic Syncopation's last run at Halifax, they pretty much befriended and made contact with the entire DJ fellowship. "I was happy to see how tight of a community they were as opposed to London, where there are more individual groups. Halifax DJs are really supportive of each other, which you can understand because there's fewer of them. They've got to support each other to keep the movement going."
The London duo had the opportunity to play the DJ Olympics last year as well something that surely must be appreciated by a city that usually gets ignored when top acts tour Canada. "I think they wanted Amon Tobin originally," Cuba laughs. "So we were like, you know, he gets [to play] Canada all the time. Get some other people out there." And with that marks only the second time Dynamic will have played on Canadian soil which is a shame considering that their most recent release, Dynamism, was an album that was slept on by Ninja Tune followers and lovers of hip-hop both.
This second appearance at the DJ Olympics also marks the first time the city has experienced an all-Ninja showcase. "The promoters wanted to do a sort of generic Ninja night in Halifax because they've never had one," notes Cuba. "These shows are usually varied in styles of music in one evening and I think they wanted to provide that. Fink is a really cool DJ and provides a good foil to our hip-hop, four-deck mix with some more up-tempo stuff and I think DJ Food is a group that [Halifax] has been anxious to see." During Dynamic Syncopation's last run at Halifax, they pretty much befriended and made contact with the entire DJ fellowship. "I was happy to see how tight of a community they were as opposed to London, where there are more individual groups. Halifax DJs are really supportive of each other, which you can understand because there's fewer of them. They've got to support each other to keep the movement going."