Search - Coldcut :: Sound Mirrors

Coldcut shows a new side...

Tone School Radio | The middle of the ocean | 04/02/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I must say, I have to disagree with the two prior reviews (for the most part). I have "Let us Play!" and it's a brilliant album, but do you honestly expect them to put out another "More Beats and Pieces" nine years after the original? They have grown, matured, shifted directions, however you want to put it, and we should encourage their evolution.



This album clearly demonstrates where Jonathan More and Matt Black find themselves in their career. Having run the fabulously innovative and successful Ninja Tune label for several years now, they have embraced their roles as producers and this album is as much a showcase for fresh and versatile talent as it is an album by an independent artist. And if you'd listen to the first episode of their podcast, you'd hear them say that their studio wizardry is as strong as ever, though perhaps more conservative.



Though I'm willing to concede that this album isn't as fantastically original as their past work, I fail to see how a somber and illuminating collaboration with poet Saul Williams, or more generally, any departure from their (un)usual style, is in any way "tired". And god forbid they should drop a few danceable tracks in there. I'm a DJ, and while I appreciate some complicated auditory textures and layers in an artist's work, I have to say some of the danceable tracks on this album are super-fresh and I WILL be spinning them on the dance floor (and in my opinion, the best albums usually have a healthy balance of cerebral and corporeal tracks).



Sound Mirrors is a bit unexpected, but the old Coldcut is still there in many ways. The album still smacks of their antiestablishment beliefs and, as Mr. Funk mentioned, rather than splicing samples together, Coldcut has begun splicing artists. The album does lean a bit more towards the "mainstream" as he mentioned, but that doesn't make it bad. I've shirked my anti-mainstream ways because, let's face it, some mainstream music is actually good (albeit overplayed).



If you're interested in hearing an album that demonstrates a new facet of Coldcut's prismatic talent, buy this album. If you're open to a diverse collection of songs within a single 70-minute work, buy this album. If you want to hear bizarre, eccentric, and outlandish soundscapes, purchase a few songs from this album on iTunes and go check out the rest of the Ninja Tunes catalogue.

"

Disappointment

Steven C. Baggett | Asheville, NC | 09/15/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I've beena fan of Coldcut for sometime but this new album is nowhere near the quality of prior release. gone are the cut-ups and abstract hip hop feel. these are all traditional songs. the main problem is their choice of singers and lameness of the songs sung. An instrumental version of this cd would be much better. I listened to it maybe twice and will most likely not dig it out again. I've tried to like it but it justs sounds too much like their trying to be played on the radio."