Customer Reviews

Let Us Play

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Rubiyiyat is the very sweet, smooth icing of this delicious cake. Lots of different, wonderful flavors such as Jello Biafra, the Herbaliser, and Benard Purdie. A must have!

Most electronic music boils down to a bludgeoning 4/4 thump-thump beat, with a sample or two every 16-32 measures. The more advanced and intelligent musicians of the genre start with a concept and collect samples around that theme. Coldcut does more than collect samples: They've got a full-on gallery/exhibit of sound worthy of an art museum. They've also got a lot to say- Outlaw the bomb, stop deforestation, no curfew. It's not easy listening, (it took me a couple of times through to appreciate the album), and it's not dance music. It IS wonderfully conceived, startlingly original, and fully realized. Check these boys out.

Coldcut is not your average techno. It is a mix of diffrent sounds and sound bits that some people hate because it lacks a lot of structure. Others like me love it for this it lacks structure but still sounds good, if you are a Kid Koala fan you will love this album. The music video for bits and pieces is also worth seeing.

Fantastic beats with content and context. Much better than the typical car commercial fodder going about.

True beauty with machinery.

Ten years on from their debut single, Coldcut's fourth album - their first for their own Ninja Tune label - is a fun 'n' funky celebration of their DIY, eco-friendly, music-for-no-musicians philosophy. The Herbaliser remixes Atomic Moog 2000, DJ Food's Strictly Kev assists the new-look More Bits And Pieces, Jello Biafra contributes a hysterical "curfew-is-good" rant to Every Home A Prison, and sampling pioneer Steinski joins CC on I'm Wild About That Thing, a leering cut and paste job on some lost sex tapes. Technology is our friend, children: if you don't believe me, check out the free CD-ROM, an interactive toybox full of videos, games, the Coldcut A-Z and more. You can even remix tracks from the album and play the Ninja Quiz, which separates the "yos" from the "dohs" - my lack of familiarity with Icelandic licensing laws marked him out as a Doh straightaway....Still, never mind, eh? All together now: "Good girls....Bad girls....Blonde girls....Oooh, oooh, oooh....."

I remember watching Amp TV one late, late night on MTV nearly fifteen years ago and seeing Coldcut's "Timber" video and saying to myself, "Wow! What the heck is this?" Having just finished studying film, I was blown away with the giant leap forward by Coldcut in music videos. For those of you that missed the boat, Coldcut has been at the forefront of mashing together sound bytes, images and music for a long time and they continue to outshine many others attempting art in the same genre. "Let Us Play" still sounds fresh today and is a great starting point for anyone interested in the varying styles and the ever changing dynamics in digital music. From the head snapping break beat style of "More Beats and Pieces" to the anarchist speech of Jello Biafra in "Evey Home a Prison" you will be amazed that this one somehow slipped under your radar.

Today, I enjoy making my own mashups, remixes and digital music. But I have to admit that this was the album that made me look at music, film and poetry in a new light. After my first listen to "Let Us Play," I quickly realized that we were stepping in to a new day in art and that the digital medium was quickly becoming the Playdoh of artists. Do yourself a favor before buying this album and watch the video for "Timber." Take yourself back to 1997 and see for yourself. This is where all that "intellectual copyright" stuff really began. (Yeah, I know that bands like Negativland and The Beasties were messing with it long before Coldcut, but Coldcut took it to another level. And they still do.)

Once again, Coldcut manages to push the envelope of electronic music. They prove again and again on Let Us Play, that not only do they have new and ever funkier and more interesting ways of mixing, grooving, and generally inspiring movement, but that they also have something to say in the process. At a time where social and politcial comentary seems relegated to the folk music of Kill Rock Stars or Alt. Country, it's refreshing to listen to Coldcut's songfs which not only take you somewhere, but have something to show you along the way. What's more, Coldcut manages to do all this with a sly smile cracking the corner of their lips, rather than the somber "I told you so" attitude that's so easy to slip into when conveying such a message.

By far one of the most valued cd in my collection a masterpeac

No offence to the artists - they're musical geniouses, but the music on these CD's is a bit to hard to get into... The samples in some songs seem merely novelty, and seem to serve no purpose but to keep with the theme... Brilliant in technicality, but without that melodic and rhythmical wholeness: it's without it's charm...

...This album just didn't hold well together as a whole. Iknow that a lot of Ninja Tune artist are deconstructivists -- but thefun in taking things apart is to rearrange them in a *cohesive* way.

This album just didn't flow at all, and is probably one of the mostdisappointing releases I own from Ninja Tune (one of my favoritelabels, btw). But I do admit that "more beats+pieces" was asick track. Otherwise, the rest is rather bland.