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Let Us Play

by

Coldcut

 
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Let Us Play
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Avg: 4.0 (27 ratings)

With their dizzying mélange of cultural references, Cold Cut is what's for naked lunch.

  • We Say...

    Review by Peter Shapiro

    The roots of hip-hop’s cut ‘n’ paste method in dada and William Burroughs become apparent on Coldcut’s Let Us Play. Rants from Salena Saliva and Jello Biafra make the beat manipulation expressly political, while the détourned Cold War-era samples of “Atomic Moog 2000” link Coldcut to the pranks of the Situationists. Other shenanigans include a Vocoded voice reading extracts from Omar Khayam’s epic poem The Rubaiyat, music generated solely by a software program, an ode to the lunatic Moog experiments of Jean-Jacques Perrey and cut ’n’ paste pioneer Steinski’s history of the sex manual.

  • They Say...

    Review by John Bush, All Music Guide

    Decade-long veterans of the electronica scene, label heads of the respected Ninja Tune records, owners of their own mix show on Radio 1, and Coldcut still haven't learned to make a good long-player. While Jonathan More and Matt Black were responsible for one of the highlights of electronic music history with their 1996 Journeys By DJ compilation, Let Us Play! shows the duo weighed down by a long cast of collaborators (much as their last proper album, 1989's What's That Noise?). While the presence of funk drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, old-school rap impresario Steinski, post-punk and spoken-word firebrand Jello Biafra, tabla specialist Talvin Singh (plus sympathizers like the Herbaliser and Jimpster on production) does provide several highlights -- and also testifies to Coldcut's philosophy of throwing hip-hop, electronica, funk, and a little bit of a whole lot more into the ring and enjoying the free-for-all -- the album moves much slower than Coldcut's mix material (which usually averages two minutes per track, as opposed to six or seven on Let Us Play). Besides the syrupy feel of the LP, the abundance of message tracks ("Noah's Toilet," Biafra's "Every Home a Prison," "Cloned Again") subvert the message of the title, indicative of Coldcut's playful qualities over the years. The lone highlight is the single "More Beats + Pieces," a remake of the 1988 original, which was constructed from samples in homage to pioneering hip-hop DJs who manned two turntables with little opportunity to fall back on samplers and expensive keyboards.

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