Coldcut

Coldcut are an English electronic music duo composed of Matt Black and Jonathan More. Credited as pioneers for pop sampling in the ‘80s, Coldcut are also considered the first stars of UK electronic dance music due to their innovative style, which featured cut-up samples of hip-hop, breaks, jazz, spoken word and various other types of music, as well as video and multimedia. According to Spin, "in ’87 Coldcut pioneered the British fad for ‘DJ records’".

Coldcut's records first introduced the public to pop artists Yazz and Lisa Stansfield, through which these artists achieved pop chart success. In addition, Coldcut has remixed and created productions on tracks by the likes of Eric B & Rakim, James Brown, Queen Latifah, Eurythmics, INXS, Steve Reich, Blondie, The Fall, Pierre Henri, Nina Simone, Fog, Red Snapper, and BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

Beyond their work as a production duo, Coldcut are the founders of Ninja Tune, an independent record label in London, England (with a satellite office in Montreal) with an overall emphasis on encouraging interactive technology and finding innovative uses of software. The label’s first releases (the first four volumes of DJ Food - 'Jazz Brakes') were produced by Coldcut in the early 90s, and composed of instrumental hip-hop cuts that led the duo to help pioneer the trip hop genre, with artists such as Funky Porcini, The Herbaliser and DJ Vadim.

DJ Food

DJ Food is an electronic music project currently headed by Kevin Foakes, aka Strictly Kev. Originally conceived by the members of Coldcut on the Ninja Tune independent record label, the project started in 1990 on the premise of providing metaphorical "food for DJs". DJ Food released the Jazz Brakes series, with Jazz Brakes Volume 3 being the most successful. The records consisted of collections of breaks, loops and samples, that could be used for mixing, remixing and producing.

The later DJ Food albums have developed with shades of Latin, dub, techno, ambient, and Jungle.

The 1995 album, A Recipe for Disaster was a conscious move away from the Jazz Brakes volumes to form more of an identity as an artist, and a remix album of tracks from all 6 LPs, entitled Refried Food was released the following year. The more recent release, Kaleidoscope, features guest artists including Bundy K. Brown (formerly of Tortoise, Directions in Music, Pullman) and voiceover artist and jazz poet, Ken Nordine.

Only Heaven

Only Heaven is the fourth album by Industrial band The Young Gods. It was released in 1995 on Interscope Records.

Accolades

The information regarding accolades acquired from AcclaimedMusic.net

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Footnotes

Ninja Tune

Ninja Tune is an independent record label based in London, England, UK. It has a satellite office in Los Angeles, California, US covering the whole of North America. It was founded by Matt Black and Jonathan More, better known as Coldcut and managed by Peter Quicke and others. Music Week has written that Ninja Tune is one of the most credible independent labels in the UK.

Inspired by a visit to Japan, Black & More primarily created Ninja Tune in 1990 as a means to escape the creative control of major labels, and to act as a vehicle to release music of a more underground nature, free from the restraints that were put on them via their brief stints with Arista and Big Life. The label has been called "visionary" and "reliably excellent". It has signed a diverse range of uncompromising artists, encourages interactive technology, embraces the audio-visual world, has created its own publishing company, Just Isn’t Music, and finds innovative uses of software.

The label’s first releases —the first five volumes of DJ Food's Jazz Brakes— were produced by Coldcut in the early 1990s, and celebrated by the music press and beat aficionados. They were composed of instrumental sample-based cuts that led the duo to help pioneer new instrumental hip hop beats genres (alongside the Mo'Wax label and Ninja Tune artists such as Funki Porcini, The Herbaliser and DJ Vadim) and, to this day, are recognized as being indispensable tools for DJs.

People Hold On

"People Hold On" is a song recorded by British band Coldcut and singer Lisa Stansfield, released as the first single from Coldcut's debut album, What's That Noise? (1989). It was written by Matt Black, Jonathan More and Stansfield, and produced by Coldcut.

The song received positive reviews from music critics and became a commercial success. It was released as a single on 13 March 1989 and reached number eleven on the UK Singles Chart and number six on the US Billboard's Hot Dance Club Songs. The song was remixed by Blaze, Juan Atkins, Dimitri from Paris, Mark Saunders, Eric Kupper, Tyrone Perkins and Masters At Work. An accompanying music video directed by Big TV! was also released.

In 2003, "People Hold On" was included on Stansfield's compilation, Biography: The Greatest Hits. In 2006, Casuals Remix by Ceri Evans was included on Coldcut's album, Sound Mirrors (Videos & Remixes). In 2014, Full Length Disco Mix of "People Hold On" was included on Stansfield's People Hold On ... The Remix Anthology (also on The Collection 1989–2003).