It’s two decades since their first worldwide hit, but the duo’s new album, Sound Mirrors, sees them again fearlessly spreading the net far and wide with a clutch of guest artists straddling the worlds of rap, rock, jazz, and hip hop. However, watching a line of four techno heads earnestly eyeing their computers and intermittently indulging in a spot of dad-dancing isn’t entertaining so, wisely, Coldcut roped in their vocalists to perform live. Rapper Mike Ladd was suitably fiery but his remit expanded to include warm-up man, a role which he didn’t seem entirely comfortable with. And when singers Robert Owens and Mpho Skeef arrived to inject a shot of deep house anthemic euphoria with Walk A Mile in My Shoes, Skeef’s honeyed jazz tones were intermittently muffled in the mix. The appearance of Jon Spencer (of Blues Explosion fame) promised much but even his gruff vocals and aggressive electric guitar shredding on Everything Is Under Control didn’t quite rough it up enough to rock the boat. Coldcut’s visual splicing skills did throw up flashes of genius in Revolution, where scratched up footage of Tony Blair’s hectoring was intercut with pontification from George Bush and Kenneth Clarke. But for the most part, the image manipulation that formed their backdrop seemed dated and formulaic. The only shame was the noises of discontent when Coldcut exited stage left half an hour before curfew and the lack of post-gig buzz, leaving a sinking feeling that a golden opportunity to dazzle had been missed. | 
