Various - Journeys By DJ: Coldcut - 70 Minutes Of Madness

Music Unites/Journeys By DJ™ LLC: 1995/2002

It’s rare that a DJ mix series is hijacked by a contributor to such a degree, they become solely associated with it. For sure you have game changers, as James Holden and Joris Voorn did with the Balance series. Or some jocks become synonymous with a series due to endless entries into its canon (the forever Nick Warren & Deep Dish show that Global Underground became). Journeys By DJ already had six volumes under its belt by the time Coldcut came along with their seventy minutes of madness, including entries from John Digweed, Paul Oakenfold, DJ Rap, and Danny Rampling. Heck, even Judge Jules beat More and Black to the “30+ Tracks Set” when he put out his mix for the series. Yet these days everyone always assumes Journeys By DJ was a Coldcut one-off, future entries by Gilles Peterson and Jay Chappell even less remarked upon. So impactful was this mix, that it alone received the re-issue treatment in 2002. Oh come on, Billy Nasty’s set wasn’t bad, was it?

Still, you can’t knock the result, 70 Minutes Of Madness easily earning its Classic Status as a DJ mix CD for the ages. They didn’t just rinse out a pile of similar tunes, but studio-mashed tons of disparate sounds, styles, and genres into a megamix of their super-deep crates. Junior Reed hangin’ with Newcleus! Harold Budd pallin’ about with Photek! Plastikman getting funky with Jedi Knights! Air Liquide trippin’ balls with Bob Holroyd! The Dr. Who theme just being all awesome-sauce no matter who’s around it (Red Snapper, The Sabres Of Paradise, and Jimmy Cauty, if you must know). Not to mention a shit-ton of breaks, beats, pieces, scratching, cross-cutting, and acapella action littered throughout. Coldcut were already regarded as masters of the one-n-two, but typically translated their skill into producing DJ tools and sample-heavy songs. This was the first time they got into the studio for a commercial mix CD showcasing their DJ trade – well, second, if you count Tone Tales From Tomorrow a year prior – knocking it out of the park so hard, they practically abandoned this particular market forever after. A shame, as I’d love to hear what another 70 Minutes Of Madness might entail with over two decades worth of gathered new weapons within their coffers.

Possibly the most outrageous thing about this set is how it bucks conventional set construction. The opening salvo including The Truper (Photek), Wagon Christ, and Funki Porcini (with Dillinja on the rub) features some of the most frenetic ragga jungle you’d ever hear in 1995, all within the first ten minutes! You’d think the set could only go down in energy from there, but tons of acid, funk, and breakin’ action maintain an even keel for the most part. Even with sporadic downtime throughout this set, Coldcut never lose the plot, coming back with a new avenue of music to explore. Throw in a final forty seconds of the needle riding out the last record grooves? Yeah, vinyl bliss.

Coldcut - Tone Tales From Tomorrow Too

Ntone: 1996

This is one damn weird CD. For sure you can glean that just from the cover art, a bizarre bit of ‘90s CGI that looks like something out of a SNES fever dream. But did you know this is a Coldcut DJ mix? Seeing as how More and Black don’t often dip their fingers into the realms of mix CDs, you’d think Tone Tales From Tomorrow Too would get more attention. Heck, this came out just a year after 70 Minutes Of Madness, a set many hail as one of the finest mixes committed to disc of the ‘90s. Their mighty successful album Let Us Play! was also just around the calendar corner. For all intents this little CD was on the market at peak Coldcut prominence, so shouldn’t it be talked up just as much? Yeah, maybe if it’d been marketed through Ninja Tune, that might have been the case. Rather, Tone Tales From Tomorrow Too was a showcase of sub-label Ntone, in fact the second of a short-lived promotional series. Because the “Too” is supposed to be “Two”, get it? Hell, if you think the title’s strained alliteration is something else, you should read the inlay blurb.

Naturally, I knew none of this going in. Tone Tales From Tomorrow Too was one of my earliest ‘underground’ purchases, joined with the knowledge drop of Techno Nights – Ambient Dawn and taste-changing One A.D. Thus I had no clue who Coldcut was, much less any of the other names on the tracklist. My only requisite for a buy was cool-strange cover art (check!), and a ton of unknowns I could discover. Names like Neoptropic, Hex, Transcend, Spacetime Continuum, and Alien Community certainly fit the bill, all with abstract future-sounding song titles like 50cc, 2003, Dubmunculus, and Alien Community. Why, this must be one of those Very Important Albums in my musical journey then! Maybe, if it wasn’t such an odd collection of tunes.

Ntone was essentially Ninja Tune’s outlet for leftfield music: druggy trip-hop, dubby techno, and dreamy stoner ambient, which Tone Tales From Tomorrow Too delivers in full force. It was all a bit much to take in for Teenage Sykonee, a larger leap into the underground than he was ready for. It didn’t help matters that the entire mix is a single index, so if I wanted to hear more of that wicked-awesome sci-fi electro of Alien Community or Spacetime Continuum’s Pressure, I had to play out most of the CD to get there. Heck, for the longest time I thought these were the same track, though the stylistic similarities make sense given Jonah Sharp is behind both aliases (Alien Community was a pairing with Pete Namlook).

Why would Coldcut do such a thing? Their mix isn’t filled with lengthy layered blends, most tracks transitioned as per normal for a chill set. It’s because of that CD-ROM app, isn’t it; the clunky turntable mixer with samples from various tracks? Aww, I thought the extra media was gonna’ be trippy CGI videos.

Coldcut - Sound Mirrors (2015 Update)

Ninja Tune: 2006

Click here to read my original TranceCritic review.

Here we are, nearly a decade since Coldcut dropped what thus far looks to be a final album. They still may make room for another – Sound Mirrors and their previous LP, Let Us Play!, had a similar gap – but I guess their muses haven't needed an indulging of the production console lately. Did they turn jaded their Big Issues Album didn't garner much impact? All the Important Messages and sloganeering amounted to one big 'meh' from club culture, to say nothing of disinterest from the rest of the music world. Not that they had much chance. Green Day couldn't do it. Dixie Chicks couldn't do it. Hell, if even Neil F'n Young couldn't get folks riled enough to impeach the President, Coldcut sure ain't gonna' turn the tide in the face of such overwhelming apathy. But ooh, look at the glowing pyramid those Daft Punk robots made. Oooh, such shiny, much jangly!

Maybe we should have listened though. Playing this ten year old collection of music and lyrics again, my God how did we ever survive the ‘00s? The world was in total collapse, decaying before our very ears as heard in A Whistle And A Prayer. Corporations were running amok, controlling our every whim (Man In A Garage), providing us absolutely soulless escapism in canned mainstream music (Just For The Kick). Government spies and spooks lurked everywhere (Boogie Man), obviously controlled by higher powers above, abroad, underneath, and ether-wheres (Everything Is Under Control). Even those who proclaim doing good in the world are shady fucks, milking and bilking the wretched for personal gains (Aid Dealer). Dear lord, no wonder poor ol' Mr. Nichols wanted to jump from a building – either all of society was doomed, or you had to flee to the outbacks and live your life as a dirty hippie, essentially isolated and in denial of global issues.

Obviously, that isn’t an accurate portrayal of the haughty Aughties. Hell, I'm sure many would argue that we're worse off now than in that cheery year of 2006, what with crippling recessions, rapid climate change, increased racial strife, and endless sectarian violence. Pity Mr. Nichols if he decided the things worrying him weren't enough to end his life. Are things truly so dire though? We got problems, no doubt, but an abundance of protest music there doth lack in our current climes. Maybe artists only get riled up when there's a Republican President.

Or perhaps with global shrinkage comes greater understanding of the world we live in. A better track off Sound Mirrors, the Robert Owens featuring Walk A Mile In My Shoes, is one of the few times the album provides an actual solution to solving issues instead of just ranting about all that’s wrong. While it may not be possible to literally live the lives of others, social media certainly gave us more access to understanding the people in such positions. And more knowledge will only help the march of progress for all. (weee! Soapboxing is fun!)

Coldcut - More Beats + Pieces (2014 Update)

Ninja Tune: 1997

(Click here to read my original TranceCritic review and DJ Mag rant.)


Oh, that ‘review’. I almost feel obligated making a 2014 Update about the status of the DJ Mag poll over anything Coldcut related. But no, that’s not what these updates are about. They’re re-examinations of releases years from when I first reviewed them: how they’ve held up, whether a trend they were a part of is still relevant, and adding new thoughts and ideas about the music given the benefit of gained knowledge and wisdom. Also, if the original review was shite, I can make amends with a better one! So no, I will not be going on another DJ Mag tirade in this update. That settled, let’s see what’s new about Coldcut’s More Beats + Pieces EP, what tidbits of info I’ve gleaned all these years later.

Um… well… Let’s see, there’s… Oh, did you know there was a live version of More Beats + Pieces that’s even better than the one on here? Wait, you do know that? Ah, right, Masters Of 1 & 2. Then how about that… thing about… the stuff regarding Coldcut where, uh, you know, did things. Alright, there’s nothing worth adding to a fifteen year old EP that I hadn’t already exhaustively covered. And no, I’m still not listing all the samples. It’d ruin your trainspotting fun.

DJ Mag, then? Fine, DJ Mag, although there’s little to add here either. Some names have changed, but my rant of 2005 holds about as true as it did then - come to think of it, Armin’s fans are still whining when he’s not number one, including this past year’s results. The biggest change that occurred with the poll was running it through Facebook, thus diluting the trance-cracker purity it’d maintained throughout the ‘00s. As a result, David Guetta won, knocking Armin out of top spot and producing one of the all-time hilarious, saddest celebrations of a DJ winning an award ever witnessed. DJ Mag almost always has footage of it removed from YouTube, but if you do stumble upon it, enjoy the mirth.

In general though, DJ Mag’s relevance continues to dwindle despite all their efforts suggesting otherwise. A singular popularity poll no longer carries the weight it once did when Twitter followers, YouTube watches, Soundcloud downloads, and Facebook Likes are a better gauge of what DJ or producer is currently bankable. Sasha hasn’t been on the poll for two years running, yet I highly doubt his stock as a DJ has dwindled in that time.

What’s adorable about all this is DJ Mag knows how bullshit the results are (jokingly exemplified here). Despite running a poll that paints them as curators of EDM’s cheesiest, corporate interests, the editors insist they maintain a culturally relevant rag about electronic music as whole. Perhaps, but are you willing to shell out a few bones monthly to find out? I sure don’t give a rat’s ass what their articles have to say. Why should I, what with such a goofy poll their ongoing legacy?

Various - Life: Styles - Coldcut

Harmless: 2004

It's a shame the Life: Styles series didn't last long. There was a clever idea going for it among all the other 'electronic producers show off their record collections' market, in that it featured personally influential songs that weren't specifically themed (afterhours, chill-out, early crate exposures). Right, mixtape action then. That’s fine, but apparently not much of interest in the overstuffed compilation market of the '00s. And now that online playlists, mixtapes, and podcasts offer much of the same, CDs like Life: Styles are all but good as dead. Damn it, I was kinda hoping to find more of these someday.

If their tracklists are anything to go by, they'd make for handy bluffer's guides to funk, soul, jazz, and '70s curiosities. Coldcut are no exception, though as the duo from Ninja Tune had a raging hard-on for all things break-beat orientated, you can expect some interesting funk choices for their contribution to Life: Styles. For instance, More and Black claim they picked up Betty Harris' There's A Break In The Road for the sole reason of the title. Yep, in their never-ending pursuit of new 'breaks' to sample and use in their DJing, they went into a slice of soul-jazz blind, thinking a fresh drum solo could be found within. Boy, have I ever done that kind of shopping before, though almost entirely based on covers rather than titles.

There’s about eight other funky tunes on here, though likely only the last two will be immediately familiar to most (The Temptations’ Power and Otis Clay’s The Only Way Is Up). I’m more interested in the funk-fusion numbers, like Chowen Few’s Do Your Thing (reggae!) and The Galylads’ Soul Sister (um, soul?), but they’re all cool tunes regardless.

There’s also quite a bit of French connection music on offer too. Richard de Bordeaux & Daniel Beretta drum up some psychedelic francophone rock in La Drogue (he, he, I think they said “hashish”), Axel Krygier goes down the trip-hop road in Taxi Nocturno (yeah, it’s not all old musics here), and early jazz ‘n electronics dabbler Bernard Estardy shows up under his La Formule Du Baron guise, though La Gigouille’s a straight-up funk jam in this case.

And now for the oddities! Well, okay, T La Rock & Jazzy Jay’s It’s Yours isn’t odd in the slightest, but the Def Jam classic sure stands out as odd in a compilation filled with music other than hip-hop – guess Coldcut wanted to show the ‘breaks’ connection? The track preceding it, Cornershop’s The Easy Winners, is certainly an odd one, a sort of future electro-funk offering from what Lord Discogs claims to be an indie rock band. Ah, they bandwagon jumped during the ‘electronica’ boom, didn’t they. But no, the real highlight for goofy nonsense is none other than Archie Bleyer’s Hernandoz Hideaway, something of a minor hit in the mid-‘50s, and all tango-camp. I guarantee once you hear that hook (even in sampled form), you’ll have it stuck there forever after.

Coldcut - Sound Mirros (Original TC Review)

Ninja Tune: Cat. # ZEN CD 115
Released February 21, 2006

Track List:
1. Man In A Garage (3:27)
2. True Skool (3:34)
3. Just For The Kick (5:06)
4. Walk A Mile In My Shoes (5:08)
5. Mr. Nichols (5:46)
6. A Whistle And A Prayer (5:55)
7. Everything Is Under Control (3:36)
8. Boogie Man (3:49)
9. Aid Dealer (4:13)
10. This Island Earth (4:14)
11. Colours The Soul (4:19)
12. Sounds Mirrors (5:59)


(2010 Update:
As tediously bulky as this review is, it really isn't all that bad of a read. Could probably have shaved 1000 words off though, and still come out fine. Heh, I even realized how large it was getting midway through. The unfortunate thing is, though this album has held up quite well (musically anyway), I probably gave it more attention than most others did. By the end of 2006, few folks could even remember that Coldcut had a new album out. Quite a shame, really.)


IN BRIEF: Refresher in the Coldcut ethos, in case you missed it this past 20 years.

As a duo who’ve garnered many plaudits, you can be rest assured there would be a plethora of reviewers jumping at the chance to cover Coldcut’s latest full-length, Sound Mirrors. Every music critic with a not-so-humble opinion, after all, undoubtedly would love their word to be the first and final say regarding a new release from one of electronic music’s seminal tastemakers.

Since a couple months have passed since this was released, I decided to quickly scour the net for such reviews before I tackled it myself (for no better reason than to make sure I wouldn’t end up repeating what’d already been said). Unsurprisingly, good ol’ Google returned plenty of results. What struck me as odd, however, was the source of many of these reviews: a high percentage of them came from rock, indie, or mainstream outlets. Either the EDM media’s reviews were greatly overshadowed, or it just didn’t care as much.

Actually, I can see both reasons being somewhat related. Let’s face it: Coldcut are old... in EDM terms, anyway. Many of their original fans have grown into the establishment, and those who write about them have managed to worm their way into reputable rags. However, with the advent of more and more splinter scenes causing tunnel vision in the new cats, and the fact Coldcut really haven’t had a hit in years, their exposure seems to only be relegated to the oldest of old schoolers and Ninja Tune disciples... and boy do those reviews show it.

Ratings for Sound Mirrors thus far have been all over the map. Some have proclaimed this is the return of Coldcut everyone’s been waiting for. Others have stated the album sounds like Jonathon More and Matt Black have run out of innovative ideas, considering they had nearly a decade to produce something new. A few still don’t quite understand the big deal of over-indulgent ‘cut ‘n’ paste’ production, and still a few more seem to have just been exposed to it and think it’s genius. I’ve read a couple which seem to state more about the respect Coldcut deserve, giving the material just rewards for past achievements; oppositely, some believe the duo shouldn’t be given a bye for any missteps, letting the music speak for itself. And yet a couple-

Wait a minute! Am I here to review Sound Mirrors, or review other reviewers’ reviews of Sound Mirrors? I’ll stop now.

What we have here with Coldcut’s latest is More and Black bringing in a whole wack of collaborators, giving them each a unique musical backdrop, and, as is quite trendy right now, throwing political messages into the mix.

Okay, Coldcut have always had a few political songs in their prior releases, but normally mixed in with good ol’ party music to lighten the atmosphere. In Sound Mirrors though, even the fun tracks have messages in them (if at times minute) and are massively outnumbered by the melancholy numbers. All well and good to get some activism going in a generally apathetic crowd but with so many musicians doing this lately, it begs the question whether Coldcut’s messages will be poignant enough to get a few off their asses, or if it will just sound preachy and cliché. Let’s find out!

First up is Man In A Garage, a sort of folksy acoustic tune with electronic rhythms and effects burbling about. John Mattias provides the lyrics, an individual I only know as the butt end of jokes regarding khaki-sporting warblers. He doesn’t seem to have much to say in this case, repeating lines like “slide over” and “I just dialed this number, won’t you help me please?” It may be an allegory towards the repetitiveness of corporate operations but Mattias sounds too cryptic to be sure. Still, Man In A Garage is a decent, if odd, opener.

The always reliable Roots Manuva drops in for some speechifying with True Skool, essentially reminding us to keep shit real and not buy into false hype. I seem to hear this from him a lot but his Metaphor Well has yet to run dry, so it still sounds fresh. Musically, Coldcut don’t do much, keeping the arrangements sparse so Manuva can carry the song. Hand claps, 808 bass booms, a looping scratched-up sample, and Indian tablas and chants make up the bulk.

And with gaudy ‘electro’ house being all the rage these days, you just knew More and Black would have a go at it as well. Of course, they drop a message into the track, describing the very thing wrong with this music: its lack of musical ingenuity, settling for overly simple rhythms and hooks. Mind, they don’t blame the producers for this, but our complacent, self-absorbed society for being content with it and not demanding better. Yeah, it’s nothing original; we’ve heard Miss Kittin alone say the same thing for over half a decade now. Track’s alright though.

Walk A Mile In My Shoes brings house legend (and liquid funk favorite) Robert Owens in for a little soulful rendition over scattering rhythms and orchestral swells. The message? Try living a less privileged life, Mr. Well-Off! Heh, okay, it isn’t really that cynical. It’s more about getting the upper class to at least understand the situation of the poor rather than callously ignore them. And it helps that Owens’ passionate delivery gives this song honest-to-God sincerity.

Now we’ve arrived at the turning point of Sound Mirrors: Mr. Nichols. The album’s atmosphere totally changes from here: whereas the first few tracks were content to just be songs, Coldcut’s Big Messages begin to take larger precedent over the music with Mr. Nichols onward. The music in this track is practically non-existent, allowing Saul Williams’ spoken poetry to carry things over muted acoustic strums and jazzy noodlings. In addition, I’ve noticed opinions on this album tend to directly correspond with what you get out of Mr. Nichols. The storyline revolves around some Corporate McCorporateson, having been disillusioned by the capitalist system failing him, contemplates suicide. Saul’s spoken words offers Nichols an alternative, suggesting he let go of the corporate shackles and seek spiritual comfort. What does he decide? I don’t know. The song never seems to reveal that answer. Although there’s a specific story to this track, it’s just as much about the disillusionment many go through as the futures we dreamt of don’t quite pan out. As such, I can see how many could relate to this track, undoubtedly having gone through similar scenarios. Those who haven’t would probably interpret Mr. Nichols more literally, and be turned off by the pandering towards a corporate shill who never had the fortitude to break free before.

Shit, that was a big paragraph. Let’s get back to the album, eh?

As mentioned, the dynamic of Sound Mirrors does take a drastic change in tone with Mr. Nichols, and A Whistle And A Prayer carries on in similar fashion. This is an absolutely desolate track; I feel like I’m in the middle of some post-apocalyptic landscape, remnants of an ancient playground scattered about where the foundations are flaking off in the wind. The addition of a little folksy whistle tune only adds to the sense of innocence lost. It’s very cinematic, but quite dreary so be prepared.

In an attempt to lighten the mood again, Coldcut get all faux-cock-rock in Everything Is Under Control. It’s a cute novelty track, but nothing unique or enduring. The message in this one is every organization has control over each other and the world at large by means of corrupt manipulation and power-hungry overseers. No, really? What shocking news! I’m glad Coldcut is here to tell us this; I’d already forgotten since I last read it on an indie blog just two hours ago, much less in every post-9/11 liberal rant.

Boogie Man is a straight-forward ‘cut ‘n’ past’ dubby bit of broken beat. As usual, More and Black scrounge up some deliciously wicked ancient funk breaks and infuse them with a balanced mix of studio trickery. The lyrics could be interpreted as being spoken by a C.I.A. spook, but I’d rather just go with it being a guy who just likes to boogie. Why should everything have a political slant on here? It’s not like we don’t have enough of it already.

Like in Aid Dealer. This track opens with the title being repeated endlessly, and annoyingly gets stuck in your head. Then over one of those many sub-genres of UK garage (dubstep? grime? sublow? sub-grimestep??? I haven’t a clue), Sowento Kinch lays out the corruption in those charity organizations for Third World countries. Wait, even those seemingly nice people, who advertise on TV with several doe-eyed malnourished children and host mega charity concerts are just as slimy as capitalist pigs? My God, is there no decency left in this world!? Mind, this might have been shocking news to me had I not heard this rant from a sock puppet on Canada’s music station a few years before. Aid Dealer has a message to tell, but like these other highly political songs, it’s nothing we haven’t heard in the last five years from several other artists and activists. Music’s pretty good though.

This Island Earth also has a message to tell, this time about how we have to take care of our planet. Fortunately, Mpho Skeef’s diva delivery is quite nice for this track’s garagey backings, so it doesn’t come across as heavy-handed as some of the others. Oh, and that bass! It’ll definitely get the sub-whoofer fanboys’ pants wet.

Two instrumentals close the album out. Colours The Soul has some nice orchestral samples but is a pretty bland bit of acid jazz. However, Sound Mirrors uses a quirky looping sample of... um, I’m not sure what it is actually. My best guess is a strangled recording of a Japanese folk song, but given Coldcut’s intense music archiving, I could be way off base. Anyway, Sound Mirrors adds additional layers of a wide assortment of sources, each loop playing off the initial once. Eventually, big orchestral swells build into the peak of the track, then everything is cut back, letting the initial loop fade off. It’s actually quite the nifty sonic experiment, and dare I say the best thing on this whole album. Why? For that answer, check my closing thoughts below.

Let me first address my main gripe: the political nature of a number of these songs. I’m not against their messages but, unfortunately for Coldcut (whom are always sincere when it comes to politics), nothing new is added to the plate. Had this been released before or even shortly after 9/11, perhaps their words would hold more impact, but even Top 40 acts have managed to worm in similar activist slants. Besides, a great deal of Coldcut’s fanbase are already boned up on these issues anyways, so it just comes off as preaching to the choir if you’re a long-time fan.

All this wouldn’t be the problem with Sound Mirrors it is if it weren’t for the fact so many songs are vocal driven. It’s no surprise to me the better songs on this album are where we get to hear Coldcut do what they do best, namely produce music that creates a collage of disparate sounds. This just doesn’t happen enough though, and a number of songs are bland or uninteresting when the lyrics seems to be the focus. The end results sound like they could have been made by any number of artists.

I’m not saying Coldcut shouldn’t have done what they did with Sound Mirrors. They’ve been in the game for over two decades, and having nothing to prove; More and Black have earned the right to do whatever they want with their music. It’s just something of a letdown they instead decided to add yet another unnecessary voice to an already noisy activism crowd. We’ve always known where they stood on the political spectrum, so re-hashing the same speeches when everyone else is doing it now just sounds redundant.

Sound Mirrors is still an above average album though. Even if they don’t do as much as I’d have hoped, the music production is top notch, and you can’t beat the creativity or the variety to be had in the soundscapes Coldcut has crafted here. If you don’t mind a little (okay, a lot) of activism in your music, then do check this release out. There’s not much else out there that sounds quite like Sound Mirrors.


Score: 7/10

ACE TRACKS:
Walk A Mile In My Shoes
Boogie Man
Sound Mirrors


Written by Sykonee. Originally published 2006 for TranceCritic.com. © All rights reserved.

Coldcut - More Beats + Pieces (Original TC Review)

Ninja Tune: Cat.# ZEN CDS58 

Released 1997 

Track List: 

1. More Beats & Pieces (Daddy Rips It Up Mix) (4:03) 

2. More Beats & Pieces (John McEntire Tortoise Mix) (6:05) 

3. More Beats & Pieces (Obsessive Behavior) (4:20) 

4. More Beats & Pieces (I Miss You Blobula) (3:13) 

5. More Beats & Pieces (Meet The Weasels) (6:05) 

6. More Beats & Pieces (Beans & Pizzas Strictly Kid Teeba Jam) (7:06) 

(2010 Update: Er, yeah. I'm definitely grinding an ax here. Probably not the best idea to shoehorn an overlong rant into a review of a Coldcut single, but TranceCritic didn't really have a separate outlet for such bloggy editorials, so I went with this. Definitely is dated though -man, remember when the DJMag poll actually seemed relevant?) 

IN BRIEF: DJing: proper. 

Well, another DJ Mag poll has gone by, with Paul van Dyk fans rejoicing, Tiësto fans lamenting, and Armin fans still outraged with the results. Everyone else in the EDM spectrum couldn't give a rat's ass, especially many DJs. The fans of the Mega Trance Brigade seem to feel the fact their idols are ranked the highest in a DJ poll is a vindication that they do enjoy the best DJs in the world, and that those who say the DJ Mag poll is nothing more than a popularity poll aimed for the club kids are just jealous that their favorites didn't rank higher (or even make the list). 

However, these naysayers are, in fact, right. When it comes to, say, movies, which award ceremony has the most prestige? The Academy Awards, of course. Why? Because these are selected by a panel of judges whom have poured over countless movies in their lives: studied film techniques, acting techniques, production techniques, and the whole shebang. We trust their opinions because they are experts in their field. On the other hand, the MTV Movie Awards are voted by the fans: the popular choice. You would think this would garner just as much respect amongst their peers, but you will very rarely, if ever, see a movie claiming MTV's Best Movie Award in its promo spiel (unless its targeting MTV's crowd, of course) or an actress putting “MTV's Best Supporting Actress: 2003” on a list of amazing achievements in their craft. Oh, it may look nice to the producer to see that such an actress is obviously bankable, but it's always the Oscar folks in that profession are proudest of, not the MTV Popcorn. 

 To throw this analogy into the EDM world, the DJ Mag poll is the equivalent of the MTV Movie Awards: awards voted by the fans. As such, while a number of folks in the DJ communities may say it's nice to see a respected individual make the cut, very rarely will they give much respect to the poll itself for one main reason. It may sound elitist, but fact of the matter is many who vote in these polls are not experts. They have not spent countless hours immersing themselves into the whole spectrum, meticulously studying subtle techniques and tricks of the trade, digesting all there is to possibly know. Most will pick a genre they like (usually trance) and follow the more popular names thanks to the massive amounts of promotion such names get, ignoring everything else the DJing world has to offer. How can one make an expert opinion on DJing with that kind of dedication? 

Of course, this isn't completely DJ Mag's fault, as it's merely filling in a niche that seems to be lacking in the EDM community at large. Aside from the DMC Championships (which tends to promote turntablism techniques for the most part), there really isn't any kind of syndicate of EDM followers who are universally considered 'the experts' on DJing (and, no, I'm not saying TranceCritic is that either... yet *evil chuckle*). Granted, many publications have tried (indeed, some still do), but because DJ Mag managed to get its winners and runner-uppers to promote their list as the authentic one, it's the one that seems to get the most publicity - in trance circles, anyways. I doubt the jungle heads, techno heads, hip-hop heads, breaks heads, and ambient heads care one way or the other, as they have their own DJ polls to run. Yeah, the reason why there is no all-encompassing EDM poll is pretty apparent, isn't it. 

So, what does this have to do with Coldcut's More Beats & Pieces? Come on, you can't be that thick, can you? Coldcut (comprised of Jonathan More and Matt Black) is one of the most respected duos in the world of DJing. Like all masters of the craft, they can take damned near any snippet of a song and manipulate it with others to create fresh new tracks. They make a weary, overplayed track sound brand spankin’ new within the context of a set. They're diggers of rare and obsolete gems, scouring the landscapes for that one last, undiscovered northern soul 7" that everyone else somehow missed. They epitomize everything a true DJ strives to be when he first picks up those two Technics. And they are never voted into the DJ Mag Top 100. 

Really, that's fine and dandy by them and their peers. While I'm sure they wouldn't be upset at being picked the #1 in such a list (after all, who doesn't like to be the most popular?), it doesn't matter to them one way or the other, as they get into this music for the love of it, completely and utterly. Fame and fortune is not the drive; the essence of musicianship is. 

More Beats & Pieces takes the art of DJing as far as Coldcut can take it. Using a bunch of pre-pressed drum loops and samples, the daddies of sonic stupidity throw them down and get wild, keeping everything moving and grooving with funky fusion. I could not even begin to list how many drum breaks, guitar cuts, and sonic samples are used. There's probably more songs mixed in the four minutes this runs than Tiësto plays in an In Concert set. I can ID a few of them, and some sample credits are provided, but More Beats & Pieces really isn't for the trainspotters (however much fun they may have with it). 

Of course, this would all sound like crap if Coldcut weren't the sonic geniuses they are. It's one thing to mash random drums and samples together, but to create an irresistible piece of unique, catchy music in the process is a skill it seems very few DJs either use or possess. This is turntable trickery, DJ remixing, and expert track selecting taken to the extreme, and a far, far cry from the perfunctory beatmatching witnessed by your usual Dutch suspects. 

Not to be outdone, the Coldcut crew gave the custom vinyls to a few of their peers to do their own live turntable remixes. Kid Koala's Obsessive Behavior version makes more use of the original drum breaks rather than the synthesized ones, speeding and slowing them down throughout as vocal cuts get tortured through meat grinders. At one point during Koala's more indulgent bits, a worrisome cut goes, "I don't think I can dance to this." Yeah, I tend to agree since there's a lot of stop-and-go scratching going on. 

Q-Bert's own I Miss You Blobula mix is even more indulgent with the scratching. For sure, it sounds wicked cool (where'd that dialogue come from, a cheesy Fantastic Four reading?), and there's some definite funk to be had, but you aren't going to find any immediate hooks in this. Of course, that's not really the point to these two turntable jams, but considering how irresistible Coldcut's opening version was, Kid Koala's and Q-Bert's own versions seem a little lackluster overall. 

Beans + Pizzas is a live turntable jam session done with six turntable and various Ninja Tune jocks, including DJ Food, Kid Koala, and The Herbaliser. A little less manic than the original Coldcut version, there's definitely more flow in here as drum loops, vocal snippets, and melody samples get more playing time while the DJs fiddle with all their various tricks overtop. It may not be as thumping as Daddy Rips It Up, but Beans + Pizzas is still energetic nonetheless. So, I guess you’re wondering why I've gone out of order with these tracks. Well, I figured I'd get the turntable mix versions out of the way first, as they segue nicely together for the sake of this review. Hey, review writers can be DJs too! *snicker* 

Of course, DJing is about the remix just as much as it is the turntable, and Coldcut gave the 12" to a pair of producers to give their own re-rubs on them. The John McEntire Tortoise Mix is a slowed down groover of dubby bass and electro trip hop arrangements. There are a few bits and pieces (hohoho) of More Beats & Pieces scattered about but they bare little similarity to the original source. In contrast, T Power's Meet The Weasels mix makes use of some of the more atmospheric elements of the original to create a dark, moody bit of drum 'n' bass. Both remixes are quite good, and unique enough without distracting from the source material to make them worthwhile additions to this EP. 

And, as with many Coldcut releases on CD, there are some additional CD-Rom goodies, including a video and detailed descriptions of the process that went into making these tracks. 

I guess you'd think after the general slagging of mainstream DJs I gave and overall respect gushed upon these turntable technicians that I absolutely despise the beatmatchers over the scratchers. Eh, not so, to be honest. To think pure DJing is just about fancy tricks and quick cut-ups is just as bad as thinking DJing is just about laying down anthem after anthem. DJing encompasses a great deal, and, to be fair, for the first many years of DJ culture, all they could do was quick fade transitions; it was the track selections of many that would make or break a DJ. 

The thing that irritates me about these DJ polls is only one aspect of what makes a DJ is usually considered when people vote. As Coldcut proves on this single, when you have amazing skills and great track selection, your presentation is taken to a level seldom seen in those who stick to only one aspect. They bring the whole package together whereas your usual popular suspects only cater to a specific niche. And, until these DJing polls quit catering to such niches and start considering names based on every attribute a DJ is capable of, they most likely won't garner much respect from the DJ communities at large. 

To draw upon the acting analogy from earlier, it's like comparing Adam Sandler to John Malkovich. One may be far more popular, and even quite adept in his chosen field of expertise, but when bringing all the abilities that make up the profession head to head, Malkovich would bury Sandler in a heartbeat.

Score: 7/10 

Written by Sykonee. Originally published 2005 for TranceCritic.com.© All rights reserved.