Top Ten Albums of 2006: #1 - "Sound Mirrors" by Coldcut

Jonathan More and Matt Black don't have anything left to prove to anybody.

They made the U.K.'s first homegrown breakbeat record, "Say Kids, What Time Is It?". Shortly thereafter they unleashed a worldwide top ten hit and musical milestone, their remix of Eric B. & Rakim's "Paid In Full". They're responsible for what is widely recognized as the single greatest live DJ set ever recorded, Journeys By DJ: 70 Minutes of Madness. They are true dj pioneers, among the first to incorporate the live mixing and scratching of video hand-in-hand with vinyl and CDs in their performances. And they've parlayed their global success into their own innovative Ninja Tune record label, home to some of the most creative musicians recording today (Amon Tobin, Bonobo and The Cinematic Orchestra, among others). Working together for the last twenty years as Coldcut, they've paid their dues, pushed the envelope and staked out a rare position of total creative freedom for themselves and their like-minded label mates.

Sound Mirrors, the duo's first proper album in seven years, finds them taking on a whole new challenge: no longer needing to prove how clever or talented they are, this album is an exercise in song craft. There's no unifying theme here, just a remarkable variety of fantastic music. Each of the twelve tracks explores different stylistic territory, forcing each one of them to stand on its own merits by design. While this diversity has pretty well guaranteed commercial failure for the release, it stands as a musical triumph.

Given that neither of the men are singers, More and Black worked with a hand-picked group of collaborators on almost every track to great effect. The album starts off with the melancholy indietronica of "Man In A Garage", with words and vocals by American poet John Matthias. This is followed by a hip-hop/Bollywood party monster "True Skool", featuring U.K. rap giant Roots Manuva. Next is "Just For The Kick", a sedated meditation on consumer culture by synthesizer pioneer Annette Peacock set to a robotic electro beat. After that we're treated to classic performance from Chicago house legend Robert Owens, on the anthemic "Walk A Mile In My Shoes". And then it's "Mr Nichols", an arresting spoken word masterpiece by Saul Williams set to music...followed by the dadaist delight "Whistle & A Prayer", co-created with the indescribable band Fog...followed by a hard-rocking call to revolution courtesy of Jon Spencer and Mike Ladd (yes, the two of them on the same logic-defying funk explosion).... No slight to the other excellent contributions from Amiri Baraka, Soweto Kinch, Mpho Skeef and talented unknown Dom Spitzer, but you get the idea. Fittingly, the album closes out with the instrumental title track. It's a jazzy soundtrack piece with real emotional weight built on a dissonant and extremely unlikely rhythm loop, undoubtedly because they found the challenge of it enjoyable.

With Sound Mirrors, Coldcut have created a reflection of their own musical, cultural and political kaleidoscope with unmatched skill and creativity. Commercial appeal be damned, they've made the album of the year.