Coldcut

The partnership between former art teacher Jonathan More and programmer Matt Black began in the mid-eighties. Matt walked into Reckless Records in London to buy a bootleg of “Across the Tracks” by Maceo & The Macks and Jon was at the register; soon they began to banter. Little did they know the impact their future musical relationship would have on electronic music.
Soon, the pair teamed up and produced the UK’s first sample-built record, “Say Kids, What Time Is It?”, which was released in 1987. That same year the duo invented the term ‘remix’ on Eric B and Rakim’s “Paid in Full.” They sampled the vocals of Israeli singer Ofra Haza in a then-unknown method of cutting, pasting and sampling. Such methods are common today but in 1987 this was groundbreaking.
Coldcut’s early works were later regarded as some of the most influential pieces of dance music. In 1990, they were awarded the British Phonographic Industries “Producers of the year” award and their first album “What’s that Noise?” went silver.
Soon the duo grew weary of major labels and created their own independent label, Ninja Tune. In the nineties, Ninja Tune became a safe home for Mr. Scruff, Cinematic Orchestra, Herbaliser, Kid Koala, Amon Tobin, and DJ Food. In 1997, hip hop artists Big Dada, Roots Manuva, Ty, New Flesh and Gamma joined the fold.
That same year, Coldcut’s fourth album “Let Us Play” was released, and in 1999, the remix album “Let Us Replay”, featuring tracks from Cornelius, Carl Craig, Shut Up, Dance and Ryuchi Sakamoto, was released with a copy of VJamm, an innovative VJing software program by group member Matt Black.
This last decade has seen Coldcut creating audio-visual live dubs, evident in collaborations with Lee Perry, Mad Professor, and Headspace. With their most recent album “Sound Mirrors”, artists such as Jon Spencer, Robert Owens, Saul William, Soweto Kinch and Roots Manuva joined the fray. Though many artists consider them luminaries, Coldcut has retained their playful approach, evident in this mix for Electronic Beats.