Let Us Play

Released

While they’re best represented by singles (“Say Kids”; “Beats + Pieces”), remixes (their legendary Ofra Haza-laced take on Eric B. & Rakim’s “Paid in Full”), and DJ sets (especially 1995’s mission statement 70 Minutes of Madness), it’s hard to dismiss the sprawl and ambition of Coldcut’s fourth album. The kinds of ideas that would seem exhausting in the wrong hands — a sardonic, jazz-bass-driven Jello Biafra police-state polemic (“Every Home a Prison”), a spoken-word beat poetry excoriation of corporate clubland (“Noah’s Toilet”), electronic updates of slow-metamorphosis Steve Reichian minimalism (“Music 4 No Musicians”) — actually work well in the context of Let Us Play‘s lefty irreverence and A/V experimentation. And if you’re here for the beats, the album’s break-boggling peaks (“Atomic Moog 2000 (Post Nuclear Afterlife Lounge Mix)”; “More Beats + Pieces (Daddy Rips It Up Mix)”; “I’m Wild About That Thing”) come frequent and frantic.

Nate Patrin

Suggestions