Enter a male student bedsit in Britain in the late 1990s and you'd likely be confronted by a copy of the Alex Garland novel "The Beach," posters of the movie "Trainspotting" on the wall and a bunch of albums from independent dance-music record labels like Skint, Wall of Sound and Ninja Tunes spread around the CD player.
Since then, while its rivals seem to have fallen by the wayside or been swallowed up by the majors, Ninja Tunes has continued to find an audience, nowhere more so than in Japan, where its artists often play to sell-out crowds.
The London-based label will bring a posse of its first-string producers and DJs to Osaka and Tokyo this weekend for a tour titled "Solid Steel." One DJ to watch out for on the night is Jason Swinscoe, the composer/multi-instrumentalist behind electro-jazz outfit The Cinematic Orchestra. Swinscoe's set coincides with the release of his band's fourth album, "Ma Fleur."
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