Coldcut Let Us Replay Astralwerks

Creators themselves of some of the best remixes ever, Coldcut allow big name remixers to revisit the songs of their classic 1997 album Let Us Play. The Moog madness of Cornelius redoing "Atomic Moog 2000" and Shut Up and Dance's version of "Every Home a Prison" kick off well, but the rest of the album fails to inspire. The remixes just don't compare to the originals. The live versions of "Atomic Moog 2000" and "Panopticon," as well as DJ Lord Fader's scratched-up version of "More Beats and Pieces" are just reminders of the fresh sounds of the originals. Coldcut are hard to beat, being the founders of the Ninja Tune label, and makers of one of the best DJ mix albums ever (1996's Journeys By DJ-Coldcut). Still, a delectable moment near the end comes in the English tones of Salina Saliva in "The Tale of Miss Virginia Epitome," the hilarious story of a woman with a regenerating hymen over a groove more laidback than a chaise lounge on pot. What sells this album, however, is the included demo version of VJamm, Coldcut's soon-to-be-released audio/video sequencing program. Coldcut have always been big pioneers of video use, and the intuitive and stunningly addictive VJamm lets you chop up video clips from the album's songs and scratch up the sound-in effect, remixing video samples.