Matt Black and Jonathon More are the lively, hyperactive, acid-jazzed, funk duo behind Coldcut. If life could be so simple and talents so constrained, we would be able to define Coldcut by its irresistible shredded turntable mixing and by its ability...
[more]Matt Black and Jonathon More are the lively, hyperactive, acid-jazzed, funk duo behind Coldcut. If life could be so simple and talents so constrained, we would be able to define Coldcut by its irresistible shredded turntable mixing and by its ability to "sample everything and see how it grooves." But how can we forget that these artists have also brought to life one of the most influential record labels of the 1990s? Alas, things are more complicated and talents much more profound.
Coldcut made its debut in the late '80s with a series of groovy samples taken from old-school hip-hop songs and retooled with a British sensibility. They eventually latched onto a new subtlety of sounds, a charm and personality brought to the art of recycling. They also saw the dawn of new musical forms like acid jazz and trip-hop. Acid jazz remains one of the group's trademarks: a mix of fast funk beats, with a little bit of hip-hop fused with the whaling inflections of jazz. Coldcut serves up cheeky listening music on a warmed-up plate. The duo also exhibits a pioneering approach to what kinds of sounds can be used as music. Full-length albums like "Let Us Play" (1997) typify this musical texturing -- funk beats are layered with political rants from ex-Dead Kennedy Jello Biafra, poetry recitations, odd television sound bites, and other spoken-word samples.
But Coldcut's truest artistic legacy lies with the duo's Ninja Tune label, founded in 1990. Since the two used everyone else's work to create their own sound it only made sense to "try their hand at production." The result: a small London label that now boasts names like Funki Porcini, the Herbaliser, Chocolate Weasel, Amon Tobin, and DJ Vadim. In fact, the Ninja Tune name has become virtually synonymous with progressive trip-hop.
But perhaps "trip-hop" is too narrow -- really, the label promotes chill, intelligent breakbeats of all persuasions. Ninja Tune has allowed Black and More to branch out into more arenas; most notably, they paired up with PC and Strictly to release a series of works under the moniker DJ Food. (Black and More have since left DJ Food in the hands of their collaborators.) Albums such as "Recipe for Disaster" (1994) offer cut-and-paste ditties of catchy, old-time instrumentation, gritty breaks, and minimal downtempo hip-hop. Here Black and More show their most playful qualities, with experimentation often veering toward silliness and bad puns. Jonathon More sums up Ninja Tune eloquently: "It's a relaxed, spliffed-out, doped-out hip-hop world spirit that comes through having had the shit kicked out of you by a bunch of nutters."
Coldcut, in its search for the Holy Grail of sampling, has given truth and acceptance to the vinyled of the world. It's proved that sampling can indeed be an art and not mere musical shoplifting.
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