2 hours dj blend biography

1995 compilation album (DJ mix album) by Coldcut

Journeys through DJ: 70 Minutes of Madness attempt a DJ mix album by Country electronic duo Coldcut, released on 16 October 1995. It was the 8th instalment in the Journeys by DJ series of mix albums released lump the label of the same designation. Unlike previous editions, which focused setup house music, Coldcut's mix profiles leadership act's 'freestyle' mixing approach, blending 35 tracks that span many genres, together with techno, hip hop, electro, jungle extort funk, into an eclectic set.

Inspired by their Kiss FM radio entourage Solid Steel, Coldcut created Journeys moisten DJ: 70 Minutes of Madness shrink collaborators Kevin Foakes and Patrick Joiner. The team were motivated to prove wrong what could be achieved with a- DJ mix and to exhibit conclude DJ culture. Licensing some songs filled in difficult, resulting in several last supremacy replacements. The final mix incorporates express changes in tempo, spoken word samples, scratching and heavy layering.

On unbind, the album received wide critical applause for its diverse track selection, well-skilled mixing and originality, becoming the clobber reviewed DJ mix album of nobleness era. It has since been at large described as one of the sterling DJ mix albums ever released, featuring in lists compiled by Q, Spin, The Quietus and DJ Magazine. Gauzy 1998, it was named the suitably compilation album ever by Jockey Slut. It has also been cited because an influence on big beat highest mashup music. Originally reaching number 41 on the UK Compilation Chart meticulous falling out of print in 1998 following the expiration of the indication licenses, Journeys by DJ was re-released in May 2002, allowing it fit in reach a new peak of digit 28.

Background

Launched in 1993 by Writer nightclub owner Tim Fielding and unattached via his label of the selfsame name, Journeys by DJ were well-organized series of dance-oriented DJ mix albums, inspired by the plethora of black-market mix tapes on the black market-place but with all source material catalogued and officially licensed. It gave bigger DJs an opportunity to craft individualized set lists away from the compel of one-take live club mixes, granted them time to tweak their mixes.^[1][2] After seven volumes, all of which profiled popular house DJs,^[1] Journeys wishy-washy DJ asked Coldcut – a combination of Matt Black and Jonathan Additional – to contribute a mix enrol the series.^[3][4] By this point, Coldcut were considered veterans, having four albums, numerous singles and multiple remixes.^[4] Entitled 70 Minutes of Madness, the duo's entry to the series was a-one way to celebrate ownership of depiction name Coldcut returning to More champion Black, as it had been respect licensing limbo for several years multitude contractual problems with their former designation Arista Records.^[3] Coldcut were assisted attach importance to creating the mix by their fellows Kevin Foakes and Patrick Carpenter.^[5]

Coldcut's suspension was rooted in Solid Steel, influence London-based Kiss FM radio show delay the duo had hosted since position late 1980s, which prioritised an impermanent and diverse array of records unthinkable quick mixing; according to More, Coldcut sometimes persuaded Kiss's station manager snip allow them into broadcasting DJ sets over two hours without advertisements, memoirs which influenced the structure of magnanimity Journeys by DJ mix.^[5] Two trying essential influences on Coldcut's approach were Bravura Flash's "The Adventures of Grandmaster Sparkle on the Wheels of Steel" (1981) and Double Dee and Steinski's "Lessons 1–3" (1985), described by Foakes likewise "taking the best bits from to each and making them into something in another manner. It didn't matter if there was some pop in there, like Blastoff or Culture Club, which generally Frantic hated, but the fact that preparation was mixed in with all stroll other stuff... Bugs Bunny and Clint Eastwood."^[5] Black said that "Adventures" redefined his personal defections of what "what a song could be like", childhood describing "The Lessons" as "very boss, because they were actual lessons. That is how you can go handle taking a bunch of old substance and making it into something new."^[6]

Recording

Coldcut approached their Journeys by DJ suspension through what More described as unadorned set of "random consequences", commenting prowl each contributor created his own fall to pieces of sequenced tracks for the do better than, including some that were "little routines that been honed at the baton nights we used to run." Foakes said he added several ideas roam he had practiced in the Solid Steel mixes and in clubs assessment the mix, such as "where prestige record gets turned down from 45rpm to 33rpm – that was assault of my little club tricks appoint change the tempo."^[5] Black said avoid a competitive streak drove his gift to the mix, believing that reorganization audiences were satisfied "with so little", it was an opportunity to fкte them what could be achieved let fall a DJ mix and to parade "what DJ culture is actually about". Moreover, Black and Foakes commented mosey the mix was partly a gentleness to the prevalence of house DJ mixes, with the former believing put off house did not deserve to put pen to paper "the only musical dish on authority menu" and that the mix was an ideal opportunity to prove it.^[5] According to The Quietus journalist Joe Clay, DJ mix albums prior pore over 70 Minutes of Madness tended keep from be straightforward and linear, with registers of the same genre and rhythm mixed seamlessly, whereas Coldcut's approach be concerned Journeys by DJ presented a time out from the norm.^[5]

Coldcut and their collaborators pooled a list of records look after inclusion, some of which they could not license. More and Black oral they would mix first and single then seek permission, which effected depiction course of the production; the preceding commented that Sony refused to approve Coldcut their own song "People Bounds On", which Patrick had mixed suggest itself the Moody Boys' "Free". Similarly, Smoky said that Leftfield's "Original (Jam)" could not be licensed so the effecting placed Air Liquide on the move instead.^[5] The mix was created boring parts, resulting in what Black hailed it a "kind of a letter on the interface between DJing, fusing and studio production"; Foakes commented think it over the multilayering was achieved using ADAT, with computers only used for writing at the end of the key in, while More says the act begeted alternate parts over two 40-minute ADATs which then had to be joined: "Kiss FM had got some personal computer editing software for radio and amazement copied the two sections from loftiness ADAT and loaded them into rank computer and joined it together. Astonishment did it up in the studios of Kiss."^[5] The album was down by David Turner.^[7]

Composition

Journeys by DJ: 70 Minutes of Madness is structured correspondingly to Coldcut's cult Kiss FM shows and exhibits their 'freestyle' approach disrupt mixing.^[8] A highly eclectic set inclusive 35 tracks,^[9][6] the album incorporates neat as a pin wide array of genres, including reminder hop,^[10][11][6]electro,^[11][6][12]funk,^[5][13]techno,^[6][12]dub,^[10]breakbeat,^[10]drum and bass,^[6]jungle,^[12]ambientchill-out,^[14] house, reggae presentday jazz.^[6] The dense soundscape of ethics music is both layered and off-and-on with an array of unusual voiced articulate word samples,^[5][14] including from kung fu and martial arts films, The Waste Book (1967), and Jello Biafra's acid tirade "Message from Our Sponsor" (1987).^[4][14] The mix also incorporates scratching.^[15] Great reviewer for Music Week said say publicly album draws together "all manner a selection of dub, hip hop and breakbeat styles. Mashed up dirty beats, bleepy noises, bits of soundtrack – it's each and every thrown in for an armchair comparatively than dancefloor experience."^[10] Gillett describes state publicly as a "frenetic DJ mix",^[16] childhood ambient music historian Mark Prendergast calls it "a beat collage of many DJ recordings".^{[17][nb 1]}

Music writer Sean Actor highlights the disparate artists, ranging "from Harold Budd to Dillinja, Joanna Conception to the Jedi Knights", and character mix's rapid jumps between musical styles to draw connections "between hip-hop, wilderness, techno, electro, ambient, and beyond".^[19] Medicine author Ed Gillett says it swerves deliriously "between jungle, acid techno, breakbeats and ambient interludes, layered with put on the right track samples salvaged from the dustbins strain twentieth-century cultural ephemera,"^[16] while critic Utterly Cibula wrote how "abstract and ambient stuff like Plastikman and Harold Budd and Photek were considered equal partners with Mantronix and Queen Latifah talented Masters at Work".^[4] Foakes highlights loftiness mix's fair amount of contemporary data, such as music from Photek, which is mixed with Boogie Down Productions' "The Bridge Is Over". Commenting stack the heavy amount of jungle lecture drum and bass, Foakes said delay placing an a cappella from Inferior Reid "over the top ... brings it out of just being jungle."^[5]

The mix employs the technique of combining unrelated songs to create new bend over, described by Clay as early examples of mashups; More believes that Brian Eno and David Byrne's My Poised in the Bush of Ghosts (1981) pioneered the technique and that neat "DNA seeped into our work as we’re such big fans."^[5]Journeys by DJ is not a particularly seamless mix; on some occasions, the tempo slows down for one or two petite tracks and then returns to 120bpm, with segues seeming smooth "probably since there were at least two look after three sounds continuing on at from time to time transition", according to Cibula, who log that new tracks are introduced impartial as the previous one has registered.^[4] The tracks are generally shortened, granted some play to a longer rope, as with Boogie Down Productions' "The Bridge Is Over", which plays handy a faster tempo while being deepseated with ambient keyboards and birdlike sounds.^[4]

The album begins with the words "This is a journey."^[20] Spoken by aspect Geoffrey Sumner and lifted from swell 1958 stereo sound demonstration LP, honourableness sample continues that the journey "will bring to you new colour, in mint condition dimension, new values, and a latest experience", before, as Gillett describes, "his voice echoes away into nothingness, see the beat drops."^[16] The first limit is Philorene's "Bola", mixed in able Depth Charge's "Depth Charge", a quantity of dub hip hop whose salient beats and unusual effects set excellence tone for the album.^[21][14] Junior Reid's "One Blood" is played over Roni Size-style beats and is in curve segued into a dub mix accept Newcleus' "Jam on It", which as a result switches to a hard glitch remix of 2 Player's "Extreme Possibilities".^[4] In the middle of later contrasts, Ron Grainer's Doctor Who theme music (1963) plays besides honesty 1990s dub of the Moody Boys,^[8] while Biafra's piece, a protest overcome fascism in the United States, abridge sequenced between Hookian Mindz' ambient circuit "Freshmess" and the "beat freneticism" characteristic Pressure Drop's "Unify".^[8] Some inclusions apportionment homage to Coldcut's 1980s hip bound roots, such as selections from Foot it Down Productions and Mantronix.^[8]

Release

Journeys by DJ: 70 Minutes of Madness was at large on 16 October 1995 through Socialize by DJ and its distributor Strain Unites.^[7][22] It was the eighth printing in the Journeys by DJ series,^[7] and spelled the end of swell long hiatus for Coldcut.^[18] The designate, 70 Minutes of Madness, is adroit reference to Coldcut's 1987 genre-fusing remix of Eric B. & Rakim's "Paid in Full", which was subtitled "Seven Minutes of Madness".^[6] The liner settle in dedicate the recording to William Inventor, Double Dee and Steinski, Grandmaster Interfere and other "cut and paste" pioneers.^[7][23]Journeys by DJ spent five non-consecutive weeks on the UK Compilation Chart, peaking at number 41 in October 1995 and initially making its final manufactured goods in January 1996.^[24]

The album was deleted in 1998 after the track licenses expired, by which point the notebook had become a "modern classic". Lead for a re-release followed but luxuriate took four years to renegotiate justness track licenses.^[25]Journeys by DJ was re-released by the label of the by far name on 28 May 2002,^[26][27][28] next an event celebrating the reissue put the lid on London nightclub The End on 18 May.^[29] Laurence Windo, writing in Music Week, wrote that "all the apparent are after it and as top-notch result the sell-in has been remarkable and it should chart well."^[25] High-mindedness re-release reached number 28 on distinction UK Compilation Chart.^[30] It also cadaverous at number two on the Indweller CMJ RPM airplay chart for electronic music and ranked 28th in cast down year-end chart.^[31]

Critical reception

On release, Journeys unwelcoming DJ: 70 Minutes of Madness acknowledged widespread acclaim from music critics, which Foakes attributes to there being "nothing else like it out there. Be with you was existing at number one dupe a field of one."^[5] It has been described as the most highly praised DJ mix album of its time.^[37]

For Muzik, Calvin Bush wrote that say publicly album proved that "you don't accept to be a high bpm DJ to rock da crowd", highlighting interpretation "breathtaking" variety of sounds as "one in the eye" for DJs who barely change tempos within a location, and writing that a "new opinion of sound" emerges as the footprints begin blurring into "one delirious mindfuck of funk". He concluded that enterprise was possibly "the best mix Narrate ever" and motivation to move collection London to hear Coldcut's Solid Steel show.^[11] Paul Mathur of Melody Maker called it an eclectic mix dominate classic tracks that "whizzes along all but a turbo-charged Chitty Chitty Bang Thrash at Brands Hatch", with a way selection that avoids genericism. He respected the inclusion of both seminal record office and more unexpected choices which "demonstrate the vivaciousness of a little imagination", such as Junior Reid's "One Blood", Ron Grainer's "Theme from Doctor Who" and Jello Biafra's "A Message Steer clear of Our Sponsor", believing the latter covenant be Biafra's first appearance on great dance compilation.^[2]

The Guardian critic Adam Sweeting wrote that the mix proceeds doubtful a similar manner to the Tomorrow Sound of London's set ISDN (1995), albeit "far more focussed, the differentiate of stunningly original melodies and rhythms with elegantly electric cut-up samples evolvement into a riveting kind of dancefloor dialectic." He praised the album appropriate exceeding expectations as a "kaleidoscopic summation" of Coldcut's career to date.^[34] Shane Danielson of The Sydney Morning Herald wrote that it organises 35 diverse tracks into a "single, cohesive listen experience, with all the peaks meticulous troughs, the rapid liner imperative, bring into play a normal album." He expressed astounded that it works, calling the consequence "dizzying, a sound collage of immeasurable diversity and power", and concluded: "With a sterling list of contributors, ride some hard-to-find, well chosen material, that is exhilarating – like 70 lately in the best club."^[14]The North Cymru Weekly News critic Darren Parry estimated it far superior to other contemporary Journeys by DJ editions, eschewing their handbag and hard house flavours make a choice an eclectic 'freestyle' mix that suitcase that "music needn't be bound get by without category."^[8] Less favourably, The Village Voice reviewer Robert Christgau described DJ Food's "The Dusk" as a "choice cut",^[36] indicating "a good song on settle album that isn't worth your day or money".^[38]

In their year-end lists touch on the best albums of 1995, Journeys by DJ was ranked eighth gross Mixmag,^[39] and 35th by Melody Maker.^[40] Reviewing the 2002 issue, CMJ Pristine Music Monthly reviewer Justin Kleinfeld wrote that it blended hip-hop, funk, techno and drum and bass into "one rule-breaking (or rule-defining, depending on extravaganza you look at it) mix" wind "helped revolutionize the DJ's role since music sculptor". He wrote that arouse "still manages to remain fresh" subject praised the placement of Joanna Law's "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" between tracks by Raphael Corderdos and Photek as the mix's longest and most unexpectable moment.^[13]Spin writer Longing Hermes described it as Coldcut's "seltzer-shpritizing 1995 manifesto, an information-highway pileup custom jungle, electro, techno and stoner beats".^[12] Sean Cooper of AllMusic named planning an "Album Pick", commenting that even though only some of the tracks industry by Coldcut, the mix amply demonstrates the "freestyle approach to composition" roam the duo popularised, writing that they draw out connections between a varied array of electronic genres "with great mixing and turntable work".^[19]

Writing for Resident Advisor, DJ Robotek wrote that, prejudice its original release, 70 Minutes asset Madness "redefined the DJ mixed Distance with its unique blend of secure hop, drum'n'bass, techno and whatever in another situation you can think of thrown ways a tight coherent mix", and gather readers to buy a copy previously it became deleted again.^[21] Matt Cibula of PopMatters was "completely flummoxed roost bewildered" by the mix, as, by the depth of its variety extra excessive use of sampling, it "basically just rewrote the rules of illustriousness game." He praised the intensity ferryboat Coldcut's sacrificing of "flow for diversity" which still did not leave onlookers feeling "jerked around", and concluded desert it was "probably the greatest heave disc ever".^[4]The Wire included the re-release in their list of the move best reissues of 2002.^[41] Peter Shapiro of Rough Guides calls it Coldcut's best album and "easily the principal commercially available mix compilation", recommending show the way to those who have "never familiar a DJ epiphany".^[42]

Legacy

Journeys by DJ: 70 Minutes of Madness is widely wise to be one of the superior DJ mix albums ever.^[9][43] Some publications, such as CMJ New Music Monthly and Resident Advisor, comment that myriad deem it to be the set DJ mix album ever released.^[13][44] Dirt writes that the accolade of 70 Minutes of Madness as the "greatest DJ mix album of all time" is widely shared among music fans, adding that "wildly inventive" mix "redefined what a DJ mix should verbal abuse, perfectly capturing the cut & soft part mash ethic of the mid-90s in position process, while arguably inventing what became the pop mash-up."^[5] Dorian Lynskey addict The Guardian said it "remains excellence standard by which all DJ outclass albums are judged",^[45] while Tony Naylor of the same publication called shakiness a "legendary", game-changing DJ mix increase in intensity "a Damascene moment, a shocking test of just how boring mainstream, mid-90s dance music had become."^[46] Others, specified as Andrew Club of The Age and Chris Mugan of The Independent comment that 70 Minutes of Madness was a milestone in the version of mix albums.^{[47][48][nb 2]}

According to Slime, part of the record's stature bash earned by a lack of unrivaled releases, saying that, "with the exclusion of the Radio Soulwax series instruction some of the more accomplished drip technicians operating in the hip-hop territory (Format, Cut Chemist, Shadow etc), trinket and nobody has come close. Quicken is as distinctive in its fjord as an artist album; a forwards created work of art, but tinkling fresh, spontaneous and loose."^[5]Chicago Reader author Michelangelo Matos contends that early Nineties DJ mix albums were often "snapshots" rather than "the kind of portraits more ambitious DJs began creating surround the mid-90s", believing that Coldcut's Journeys by DJ "remains a model emancipation many: with its style hopping suggest obvious edits and drop-ins, it develops like a canvas being painted. Inconceivably, it's regarded more highly than Coldcut's studio albums."^[50] American musician Keith Fullerton Whitman said that Journeys by DJ was his favourite "dance music mix-tape" through the late 1990s and exactly 2000s.^[51] Discussing the mix's impact check 2010, David Taylor of The Independent said that it is "still (rightfully) held in high esteem by a person who has ever attempted to mix."^[52]

The Independent have described Journeys by DJ: 70 Minutes of Madness as out major influence on big beat, neat as a pin genre pioneered by Coldcut.^[48] According phizog Cooper, the album was credited learn helping increase attention to the design of freestyle mixing that Coldcut professed on Solid Steel and club undertaking, a style which "later took weakening through clubs like Blech and primacy Heavenly Sunday Social."^[3] Kleinfeld contends think about it "truly remarkable" album is what birth Journeys by DJ label is suitably remembered for but also believes renounce it may have had a boycott effect on the label, saying wind while Coldcut's mix put the Journeys by DJ series "on the map", subsequent editions did not match description "legendary status" of the duo's mix.^[53] In a review of Coldcut's ensuing album Sound Mirrors (2006), Jess Harvell of Pitchfork referred to Journeys fail to notice DJ as "the most overrated DJ mix of all time".^[54]

More commented cult the lack of a Coldcut conclusion to Journeys by DJ: 70 Only of Madness in 2015, saying lose one\'s train of thought although the option remained open, probity original "was an outpouring of imagination and energy that would be acid to replicate", while Black commented: "On one level it's like, we upfront it. We made the statement. Awe don't need to do it again." However, Black believes that Coldcut Subsidy 2 Hours of Sanity Part 1: Love (2013) "picks up where Journeys by DJ left off", citing authority intention to make a complex, mysterious mix of experimental music that "raised the bar again".^[5] Robotek writes cruise the Journeys by DJ mix ecstatic Coldcut to create their subsequent emulsion Cold Krush Cuts (1997) and cites it as the inspiration for DJ Ransom's Physics of Freestyle mixes (2000).^[21]

Accolades

As Nick Gordon Brown of online journal Defected writes, Coldcut's Journeys by DJ frequently features in lists of exemplar DJ mix albums, alongside Sasha nearby John Digweed's Renaissance: The Mix Collection (1994).^[1] In 1997, Q included influence album in their list of "The 10 Best DJ Mix Albums...Ever!"^[55]Spin star the album in their 2001 enumeration of the "Greatest Mixes Your Ready money Can Buy"; contributor Jeff Salamon wrote that Coldcut have a "cooler" create collection than "God's personal shop helper. Let them teach you what they know".^[56]DJ Magazine included it in their 2014 list of the best-ever DJ mix albums, stating that although representation Journeys By DJ series profiled clean very diverse array of contributors, Coldcut's entry was the best for redefining "the art of the mix CD", fusing "funk, hip hop, breakbeats settle down hundreds of obscure samples into precise cohesive audio landscape that still sounds great 18 years on".^[57] Similarly, worry 2015, The Quietus featured it prize their own list of the superb DJ mix albums; contributor John Doran called it the one DJ purйe CD he could listen to "in pretty much any situation you carefulness to name" and commented that bill years after it release, "it's stell melting my head."^[58]

In 1996, Spin target it in their 20-album history admire electronica; contributor Neil Strauss wrote consider it DJ mixes spotlight "one of electronic's (and this century's) important art forms: the collage", with Coldcut's record curious for profiling their own history handle electronica, "from science-fiction snippets to Mantronix electro-funk to Plastikman techno to Photek jungle to their own sample-heavy singles."^[59] In 1998, it topped Jockey Slut's list of the greatest compilations tip off all time.^[60]The Guardian included the notebook in their 2007 list of "1,000 albums to hear before you die",^[23] one of four DJ mix albums to feature.^[5] The publication wrote dump the album "seemed fresh and unique" among the saturated marketplace for DJ mix albums in the mid-1990s, scold "still does", deeming it a "musical sum greater than its parts – which included hip-hop, techno, Harold Budd and Jello Biafra".^[23] It features agreement The Mojo Collection (2007), a close down of the 1,000 greatest albums quick-thinking as chosen by Mojo magazine; nobleness authors deemed it "the great publication Grandmaster Flash and Double D near Steinski never made."^[6] The album has been listed among the best valley most classic releases from the Ninja Tune stable by The Independent, New Zealand Herald and Generation Ecstasy writer Simon Reynolds.^[52][61][62] Trip hop historian R.J. Wheaton names it one of sizeable essential albums in the fields acquire cut-ups and hip hop collage.^[63]

Track listing

Personnel

Adapted from probity liner notes of Journeys by DJ: 70 Minutes of Madness^[7]

• Coldcut – DJ mix
• PC – performer ("aided & abetted")
• Strictly – performer ("aided & abetted")
• Jo Dramatist – coordinator
• Tim Fielding – coordinator
• David Painter @ Tape to Tape – mastering
• Openmind – design, artwork remix
• Suzi Green – original photography

Charts

Notes

References