Two years after DJ Food (aka Strictly Kev) managed to blow minds and leave jaws on the floor with his 2006 return Solid Steel engagement alongside regular collaborator DK ‘Now, Listen Again’, this latest solo mix for Ninja Tune arguably sees him getting even more ambitious.

Designed to act as a companion release to Ninja Tunes’ sprawling 3CD ‘You Don’t Know’ label overview; itself intended to dissuade impressions that they’re still dominated by the ‘stoner beats’ aesthetic (not an impression I would have imagined still existed), DJ Food’s ‘1000 Mask’ mix sees him mashing together an intimidating 39 tracks in just 44 minutes, complete with all of his usual sample and edit trickery firmly in evidence. What follows is easily one of the most technically impressive and downright enjoyable mix sessions I’ve heard in the last year.

After winding proccedings open slowly with a mash-up of samples bemoaning the modern-day major-label focus on the ‘youth’ market and rock records, Kev starts things off on a leftfield hiphop-centred trajectory that takes in tracks from the likes of Roots Manuva, DJ Shadow, King Gheedorah and Kid Koala, before The Bug & Warrior Queen’s room-destroying anthem ‘Poison Dart’ signals a rapid acceleration into grime and junglist rhythms courtesy of Zero Db, Ghislain Poirier (nicely remixed by Modeselektor) and Wiley, before things completely explode with The Qemists’ devastating dnb reworking of Coldcut’s classic ‘Atomic Moog.’

While things appear to retreat into calmer waters with the likes of Pop Levi, Loka and Fink offering up more placid grooves, Bigg Jus’ ‘Say Goodbye’ proves to be something of a false ending, shortly before Cadence Weapon and TTC accelerate things into fluid Baltimore-centric electro/hiphop, something beautifully followed up by the broken fidget house of Switch’s inspired reworking of Spank Rock’s ‘Bump’ and Tiga’s eerie electro-house dubbing out of Robert Owens’ soul vox on his mix of Coldcut’s ‘Walk A Mile In My Shoes.’

Brilliantly jaw-dropping stuff, the likes of which we’ve certainly grown accustomed to from DJ Food – this is easily one of the best mixes I’ve heard this year.