@0 Coldcut

British DJ duo Coldcut helped pioneer the art of sampling in pop and dance music during the 1980s, and have remained on the forefront of music technology for the entirety of their career. The duo translated the freewheeling spirit of pirate radio onto wax with innovative records such as 1987's Say Kids, What Time Is It? and their seminal remix of Eric B. & Rakim's "Paid in Full," mashing together a cornucopia of breakbeats, musical hooks, and samples from children's television shows and movies, among a multitude of other sources. The duo achieved chart success through collaborations with artists such as Lisa Stansfield, Junior Reid, and Yazz, but their vision was clearly much broader than the scope of the major-label music machine, so they established Ninja Tune in order to maintain creative freedom…

Sound Mirrors suggests that 1989's What's That Noise? wasn't a slick fluke, but that there are actually two Coldcuts. There's the Coldcut who sound like they're controlling the uncontrollable with jagged shards of hip-hop and dance music bouncing joyfully around the room while sneering at the conventional song. Let Us Play!, the unstoppable Journeys by DJ, and their Solid State radio program all fall into this category, all featuring maverick music that made the un-ironic guest appearances of Lisa Stansfield and the bubbly/forgotten Yazz on What's That Noise? seem like youthful pop folly…