CLUB REVIEWS |
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| COLDCUT @ XFM REMIX NIGHT: CARGO, LONDON 19 Jun 2003
It’s the monthly Xfm remix night and the special guests are the founders of the renowned record label, Ninja Tune, and legendary mixmasters, Coldcut. Perhaps in these days when everyone from 2Many DJs to DJ Yoda apply the DJ art of cut’n’paste to all styles of music, no-one is interested in hearing one of the trailblazers of the scene. Or perhaps people are just soaking up the last of the evening sunshine. By the time Jonathan More and Matt Black begin fiddling about onstage with laptops and mixers in preparation for their performance, the venue is rammed. Fundamental bring their set to a close with a superb homage to the duo, involving one of their old party tricks that blends The Jungle Book’s ‘King Of The Swingers’ and ‘Billie Jean’, and a roar of appreciation heralds the return of Coldcut.
At times you feel that all the technology at their disposal and their obvious perfectionism and ability, is perhaps alienating. While the crowd is by no means subdued, they’re not exactly going mental either. But just as soon as this thought crosses the mind, Coldcut show they haven’t forgotten how to funk. A Latin section gets the dancing in full flow and a wonderful funky breaks mix of The Streets ‘Has It Come To This?’ is the highlight of the show. And if in doubt, finish with a classic. ‘Superstitious’ by Stevie Wonder easily fits the category and leaves the crowd on such a high that not even technical problems at the beginning of the set from Xfm residents Eddie Temple-Morris and James Hyman, can bring them down. As expected, Coldcut continue to set the standards. words: Colm Larkin
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It’s
just after nine and eerily quiet in Cargo. Normally the trendy East
London club is bustling with people no matter what the time, but
tonight if one of the three guys lurking in the shadows of the dance
floor were unable confirm that we were listening to the beginning
of Fundamental’s DJ set, I would have no-one else to ask.
Kicking
off with label mate DJ Vadim’s ‘Terrorist’ they
cut and mix their way through some hip-hop classics. Black is a
hive of activity, tweaking knobs, hitting buttons on his laptop
and having fun with his scratching machine, while More, looking
like a grizzled John Peel, sits serenely smoking and staring at
his computer screen. Mixes of A Tribe Called Quest and Grandmaster
Flash’s ‘The Message’ form part of a liquid minimal
section that is brought to an abrupt halt by the eccentric introduction
of ‘The Teddy Bear’s Picnic’. There’s some
brilliant cut’n’paste editing with KRS One’s ‘Sound
Of Da Police’, MARRS’ ‘Pump Up The Volume’
and Ennio Morricone’s theme from ‘The Good The Bad And
The Ugly’ all thrown into a brief megamix that’s as
good as it sounds. The inspired blending of Punjabi MC and 50 Cent
shows the old guys still know what’s going on.