Originally produced by Coldcut on the Ninja Tune independent record label, … Read Full Bio ↴Originally produced by Coldcut on the Ninja Tune independent record label, the DJ Food project started in 1990 on the premise of providing metaphorical "food for DJs". DJ Food released the Jazz Brakes series, with Jazz Brakes Volume 3 being the most successful. The records consisted of collections of breaks, loops and samples, ideal for mixing, remixing and producing the trademark Ninja Tune blend of jazz & hip hop.

Volumes 4 and 5 of the Jazz Brakes series, co-created with DJ / producer PC transcend the breakbeat compilation format to stand as artist albums in their own right. The later DJ Food albums have developed with shades of Latin, dub, techno, ambient, and Jungle flavouring the funk.

The 1995 album, A Recipe For Disaster was a conscious move away from the Jazz Brakes volumes to form more of an identity as an artist, and a remix album of tracks from all 6 LPs, entitled Refried Food was released the following year. Their last release, Kaleidoscope, featured guest artists including Bundy K. Brown (formerly of Tortoise, Directions in Music, Pullman) and voiceover artist and jazz poet, Ken Nordine).

With a seemingly single DJ name, it is often wrongly assumed that DJ Food is single person. In fact, a whole host of DJs, producers and musicians have performed under the name, so the evolutionary nature of the DJ Food sound comes as no surprise. Matt Black and Jonathan More (aka Coldcut) were responsible for starting Jazz Brakes series in the early 90s. Along the way they met Patrick Carpenter, who, being listed on the liner notes simply by his initials, was often mistakenly thought to be a Personal computer. A loose collaborative team began to form as more like-minded people arrived at the party, including Paul Brook, Paul Rabiger, Strictly Kev and Issac Elliston.

Although keeping their hand in as DJs on the albums, Matt & Jon couldn't perform DJ sets twice in one night under both aliases of Coldcut & DJ Food, so they handed the mantle of live DJing over to PC and Strictly Kev. Later, PC became so busy with The Cinematic Orchestra that he decided to quit, at least temporarily leaving DJ Food as a Strictly Kev solo project.

In addition to The Cinematic Orchestra, PC also recorded with J. Swinscoe under the band name Neptune. Strictly Kev has recorded under the name Flexus.

Album Discography

* Jazz Brakes Vol. 1 (Oct 1990, Cat No. ZENCD 001)
* Jazz Brakes Vol. 2 (Sep 1991, Cat No. ZENCD 002)
* Jazz Brakes Vol. 3 (Jul 1992, Cat No. ZENCD 003)
* Jazz Brakes Vol. 4 (Jun 1993, Cat No. ZENCD 006)
* Jazz Brakes Vol. 5 (Oct 1994, Cat No. ZENCD 010)
* A Recipe For Disaster (Oct 1995, Cat No. ZENCD 020)
* Refried Food (remix album) (Jan 1996, ZENCD 021)
* Kaleidoscope (Apr 2000, Cat No. ZENCD 047)
* Quadraplex EP (Febr 2001, Cat No. ZENCDS 091)
* One Man's Weird is Another Man's World EP (July 2009, Cat No. ZEN232)
* The Shape Of Things That Hum EP (Dec 2009, Cat No. ZEN252)

Refried Food was re-released in 2003 as a double CD, with additional remixes.
DJ Mix albums
Quadraplex was recorded on the same session as Kaleidoscope and is it's accompanying EP.

* Blech II: Blechsdottir (1996, released on Rough Trade in Germany, Cat No. RTD 126.3175.2)
Mixed by PC and Strictly Kev.

* Plastic Apple (Oct 1996, released on Aura Surround Sounds, Cat No. SUCD 005)
Disc 1: a 56 minute mix by DJ Food. Discs 2 & 3 are by the artist MLO

* ColdKrushCuts (Feb 1997, Ninja Tune, Cat No. ZENCD 026)
A mix album collaboration between Coldcut, DJ Krush and DJ Food

* Solid Steel Presents DJ Food & DK: Now, Listen! (October 2001, Cat No. ZENCD055)
Mix album for Ninja Tune's Solid Steel mix series, with producer, DK.

* Various - Raiding The 20th Century - Words & Music Expansion (Jan 2005, Ninja Tune, Catalog No. none)
Originally aired January 18th, 2004 by Strictly Kev on XFM's The Remix show in London, Raiding the 20th Century is an attempt to catalogue the history of cut up music - be it avant garde tape manipulation, turntable megamixes or bastard pop mash ups.

Shortly after he had played it, Strictly Kev read Paul Morley's Words & Music and was amazed how certain chapters mirrored parts of his mix. Apart from the fact that the title, Raiding the 20th Century, was coined by Morley 20 years before for a future Art of Noise project, he also featured Alvin Lucier, who - purely by chance - was sampled on the opening track of the mix.

Kev thus decided to expand his idea and make it a defnitive document on cut up music, including many other parts formerly omitted by the constraints of the original radio session. After months of research, he tracked Morley down and they recorded passages from Words & Music specially for the mix in an attempt to marry the two and finish something that neither of them actually started. A year to the day of the original airing, the newly expanded version was ready, gathering 167 tracks in a 59 minutes long DJ mix.

*DJ Food & DK - Now Listen Again (Ninja Tune ZENCD123, 2007-04-02)
Solid Steel mix album.

(2) DJ Food is a collaborative project between Coldcut/Ninja Tune duo Matt Black and Jonathan More, and second-half PC (born Patrick Carpenter) and Strictly Kev (Kevin Foakes). Although the moniker originally referred only to Black and More's several-volumed series of stripped-down breaks records designed for deck use (i.e., "food" for DJs), club booking demands for the assumedly proper-named DJ Food dictated the pair make an ongoing project of it. Adding PC and Strictly to spice things up (and differentiate DJ Food from Coldcut when they played the same bill), the quartet released a series of 12" singles in various combinations starting in 1994 (including "Freedom"/"Consciousness"), with their proper debut full-length, A Recipe for Disaster, appearing the following year. The quartet also toured Europe, Canada, and America as DJ Food (mainly DJing) and regularly mashed it up side by side on Coldcut's weekly KISS FM show Solid Steel. PC and Strictly were also hired by Warp Records to compile and mix a series of releases entitled Blech, drawing from the influential experimental techno label's back catalog. More and Black continued to split their time between DJ Food and Coldcut, as well as the day-to-day operation of their immensely popular Ninja Tune and Ntone labels. DJ Food's second production album, Kaleidoscope, appeared in April of 2000 to warm reviews. A year later, the pair inaugurated a Solid Steel CD series with the mix album Now, Listen! The years that followed found More and Black contributing less thanks to their Coldcut obligations, while PC would find success with his Cinematic Orchestra project, so much so that he resigned as a full-time member. Strictly Kev revived the project in 2011 and released The Search Engine in 2012. PC would make an appearance, joining J.G. Thirlwell and The The's Matt Johnson on the album's long guest list. ~ Sean Cooper, Rovi

The Ageing Young Rebel
DJ Food Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

DJ Food
Kaleidoscope
The Ageing Young Rebel (Gentle Cruelty)
(feat. Ken Nordine)

An Ageing Young Rebel
Called What's His Name
Wanted to be different

while he stayed the same
The he couldn't
he just couldn't
No matter what he would try
Told be his mother
An aging old thing
You better go see clever
You give clever a ring
Which he did
Called him up
Just so Mommy wouldn't cry

Clever hear his story
About different and the same
You crazy
This some silly game
Oh no
Like Mommy said
I gotta straiten up my head
Clever is so clever
Is cleverness enough
Can you help this ageing rebel
Do you really have the stuff
Bet you don't have
Bet the bread that you'll pass the buck instead

Clever sends our hero
To a funny darken room
Where a crowd of cunning listens
Giggles in the gloom
That's you problem aging rebel
Don't you really know the score
You crazy think your going to change this crazy world
Better see your self a shrink
Cunningly the argue about our boy
Whose breaking down the door

Now he's running down the dark
Diabolical awaits
Grabs him by the ankle
Ani't it just like fait
Diabolical laughs
In an alley full of suit
Forget the same
you'll be different now
Somewhat shorter on one side
Let go
Oh no
Would you diabolical inside
Panic in his brain pulls and gets away
Losses him a foot it's a dark and evil day

See him running limping blood
Something soft is just ahead
Something soft is gentle
He's fallen at her side
She comforts him with kisses
He dreams of suicide

Gentle is so gentle
Grabs the trouble by its root
Bandages his stump
Cuts off his other foot

So you see it seems to me a gentle kind of cruelty
Ageing rebels older a little wiser maybe too
Gentleness has fixed him
Does he look like me and you
Footless and fancy free
Think how happy Mom will be

Footless and fancy free
Think how happy Mom will be

Overall Meaning

"The Ageing Young Rebel" is a vocally driven song that tells the story of a person who wants to stand out and be different, but struggles to do so. The singer is referred to as an "Ageing Young Rebel," which suggests he is someone who is growing older, but still clinging to a youthful mentality. He wants to be different from others, but is unable to achieve this aim, prompting his mother to send him to see a man named Clever, who might be able to help him resolve his conflicting feelings. Clever listens to his story and sends him to a dark room where a crowd of people giggles at him. The people argue about him, but he breaks down the door and runs into the street.

The singer is then chased by Diabolical, who eventually catches him and takes him to an alley. Diabolical tries to force him to accept his fate, but the heroine Gentle appears, and she takes pity on him. She bandages him up and cuts off his other foot. The ending of the song suggests that despite undergoing a traumatic experience, the singer is now "footless and fancy-free," free from the burden of expectations and able to live his life on his terms.

Line by Line Meaning

An Ageing Young Rebel
A person who is getting older but still holds onto their rebellious nature

Called What's His Name
The singer does not give the name of the ageing young rebel, making him seem anonymous and generic

Wanted to be different while he stayed the same
The ageing young rebel wanted to stand out and be unique, but ultimately couldn't change his fundamental nature

The he couldn't he just couldn't No matter what he would try
Despite his efforts, the ageing young rebel couldn't overcome his inner nature

Told be his mother An aging old thing You better go see clever You give clever a ring
The ageing young rebel's mother advised him to seek help from someone smart and knowledgeable

Which he did Called him up Just so Mommy wouldn't cry
The ageing young rebel followed his mother's advice to avoid making her upset

Clever hear his story About different and the same You crazy This some silly game
The person referred to as Clever thinks the ageing young rebel's ideas are foolish and unrealistic

Oh no Like Mommy said I gotta straiten up my head
The ageing young rebel recognizes that he needs to change his ways and act more mature

Clever is so clever Is cleverness enough Can you help this ageing rebel Do you really have the stuff
The artist questions whether Clever is truly capable of helping the ageing young rebel change his ways

Bet you don't have Bet the bread that you'll pass the buck instead
The artist does not trust that Clever will follow through on his promise to help the ageing young rebel

Clever sends our hero To a funny darken room Where a crowd of cunning listens Giggles in the gloom
Clever sends the ageing young rebel to a strange and unsettling place where he is met with mockery and ridicule

That's you problem aging rebel Don't you really know the score You crazy think your going to change this crazy world Better see your self a shrink
The ageing young rebel is criticized for being naive and unrealistic, and advised to seek professional help

Cunningly the argue about our boy Whose breaking down the door
The singer observes that the people in the room are discussing and debating the ageing young rebel

Now he's running down the dark Diabolical awaits Grabs him by the ankle Ani't it just like fait
The ageing young rebel is pursued by something sinister and ultimately falls victim to it

Diabolical laughs In an alley full of suit Forget the same you'll be different now Somewhat shorter on one side Let go
The singer paints a grim picture of the ageing young rebel's fate - he has lost limbs and is forever changed

Oh no Would you diabolical inside Panic in his brain pulls and gets away Losses him a foot it's a dark and evil day
The ageing young rebel is tormented by fear and agony as he tries to escape his attacker. He ultimately loses another limb

See him running limping blood Something soft is just ahead Something soft is gentle He's fallen at her side She comforts him with kisses He dreams of suicide
The ageing young rebel finds solace in a soft and gentle presence, but is still consumed by despair and thoughts of death

Gentle is so gentle Grabs the trouble by its root Bandages his stump Cuts off his other foot
The singer describes the gentle presence as being able to address the ageing young rebel's problems at their source, and even causing him to lose the other remaining limb

So you see it seems to me a gentle kind of cruelty Ageing rebels older a little wiser maybe too Gentleness has fixed him Does he look like me and you Footless and fancy free Think how happy Mom will be Footless and fancy free Think how happy Mom will be
The singer suggests that the solution to the ageing young rebel's problems was cruel in its gentleness, but has ultimately left him changed for the better (although still without limbs). The ending notes the prevalence of societal pressure to conform and make parents happy, regardless of personal cost

Writer(s): Morris Lincoln Gould, Kevin Foakes, Ken Nordine Copyright: Third Side Music Inc. O.B.O. Just Isn'T Music

Contributed by Josiah N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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