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Description

https://www.facebook.com/TheRetroAvenger Coldcut are an English dance music duo, comprising Matt Black and Jonathan More. Their signature style is electronic dance music, featuring cut up samples of hip hop, breaks, jazz, spoken word and various other types of music, as well as video and multimedia. In 1986, computer programmer Matt Black and ex-art teacher Jonathan More were part time DJs on the rare groove scene. More also DJed on pirate radio, hosting the Meltdown Show on Kiss FM and worked at the Reckless Records store on Berwick Street, London where Black visited as a customer. Black had created a mixtape for a Capital Radio mix competition. He played the tape to More who suggested a separate edit be made of part of the mix. Black had mixed the Jungle Book's "King of the Swingers" with the break from James Brown's "Funky Drummer". This was the start of a collaboration that was released as "Say Kids What Time Is It?" on a white label in January 1987. Later in the year, after Black joined Kiss FM with his own mix-based show, the pair eventually joined forces for their own show, Solid Steel. During the year, the duo adopted the name Coldcut and set up a record label, "Ahead of Our Time", to release the single "Beats + Pieces" (one of the formats also included "That Greedy Beat"). All of these tracks were made by the assembly of spliced tape edits that would sometimes run "all over the room". The duo used sampling from Led Zeppelin to James Brown. Coldcut's first mainstream success came when a representative from Island Records asked them to remix Eric B. & Rakim's "Paid in Full". The remix featured a prominent Ofra Haza sample and many other vocal cut ups as well as a looped rhythm which, when speeded up, became a staple of the breakbeats genre. After it proved popular in the clubs, this Coldcut "Seven Minutes of Madness" remix ended up being promoted as the single in the UK. Released in October 1987, it became a breakthrough hit for Eric B & Rakim outside the U.S., reaching #15 in the UK and the top 20 in a number of European countries. It was voted remix of the year and is now regarded as both a hip hop classic and a breakthrough in the remix field. This remix was itself sampled in the remix of "Pump Up the Volume" by MARRS that reached #1 in the UK, also in October 1987. The next Coldcut single, released in February 1988, was "Doctorin' the House", featuring singer Yazz. It became a top ten hit, peaking at #6. In the same year, under the guise Yazz and the Plastic Population, they produced "The Only Way Is Up", a cover of a Northern Soul song. The record reached #1 in the UK in August. The duo had another UK Top 30 hit in September with "Stop This Crazy Thing" which featured reggae vocalist Junior Reid. The single "People Hold On" became another UK Top 20 hit. Released in March 1989, it featured the then relatively unknown singer Lisa Stansfield. Coldcut and Mark Saunders produced her debut solo single "This Is the Right Time" which became another UK Top 20 hit in August as well as reaching #21 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 the following year. Their debut album What's That Noise? was released in April 1989 on Ahead of Our Time and distributed by Big Life Records. As well as the guest vocalists from the singles, the album featured the fictional George Jetson and Mark E Smith. The U.S. version was distributed by Tommy Boy Records and featured Tommy Boy artist Queen Latifah rapping over the (previously instrumental) track "Smoke This One". Latifah's rap was decidedly anti-drug, while Coldcut's reggae dub-ish instrumental had tongue-in-cheek connotations of marijuana appreciation by virtue of its title. The album reached the Top 20 in the UK and was certified Silver.