Coldcut Sound Mirrors - Videos and Remixes LP
2006 has no doubt been Coldcut’s year – resurfacing with a new album after an 8 year break, continuing to build their Ninja empire and touring extensively worldwide with a new show which really pushes the boundaries of audio-visual entertainment up to a new level. But then again you would hardly expect less from the duo who helped revolutionise the concept of VJing since the late 90s. The album itself, ‘Sound Mirrors’, wasn’t the highlight of my year – however the remixes which came with the singles which preceded and followed it quite definitely raised a few eyebrows and caught the attention of fans and critics across scenes.
Coldcut, and Ninja Tune as a label, have always had the knack for commissioning and releasing quality remixes – flipping tracks from one style to the next. And this new release is no different with Coldcut providing 14 of the best remixes as well as 11 videos from the album in a nice CD/DVD package.
The tracks offer a varied diet – grinding sweaty funk courtesy of Spank Rock (‘True Skool’), high bpm, straight for the dancefloor drum n bass from the Qemists (‘E.I.U.C’), Sway’s grimey flip of ‘True Skool’ with Roots Manuva, Kentaro’s turntable reworking of ‘E.I.U.C’, house and breakbeat minded refixes from Tiga (‘Walk a Mile in My Shoes’), Switch (‘True Skool’) and Casuals (‘People Hold On’) and downtempo electronica and glitch from Daedelus (‘Man In A Garage’) and Lemon Jelly’s Nick Franglen (‘Man In A Garage’). So there’s plenty there for everyone and a nice mix of styles that should also help to convince some listeners to try something different. Personally the Spank Rock, Sway and Kentaro remixes really stand out for me, as well as some of the dirtier electronic ones.
The DVD boasts all the videos which Coldcut commissioned for the album and live shows. Anyone who’s caught them this year will no doubt be familiar with a few of them, who generally got a pretty heavy visual refix on stage. So it’s nice to have all the originals on one DVD. There’s some pretty arresting videos on there too – such as ‘Aid Dealer’ and with Coldcut’s and the label’s long history of use and commissioning of videos it’s no surprise that this is a quality package, sure to please any audio-visual fan. The only thing is if you didn’t like the album first time round, this might not be enough to convince you.
Coldcut finish the year on a high, with a package that for me is definitely more interesting and grabbing than the original album it all comes from. Recommended especially if like me you were a bit disappointed first time round.
A package that for me is definitely more interesting and grabbing than the original album it all comes from
- Kper
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