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backColdcut
Digital Pioneers
Coldcut have been around for over a decade. On the verge of a national tour, the release of a new album of remixes, and their own video sequencing software VJamm, Yellow Peril caught up with Jonothan Moore to talk about digital democracy and sampling at the end of the millennium.
"A lot of people think our first records were made with samplers but actually they were done with turntables and tape recorders. We used the sampling attitude but we couldn't actually afford real samplers at the time. It was only when Casio brought out some extremely cheap sampling equipment that we started using a proper sampler. We moved on to the Akai samplers which have become a standard and are responsible for a phenomenal amount of music in all genres over the last decade. Now its moving onto video."
The falling prices and miniaturisation of computer technology have allowed the common people access to high end computing power whilst the Internet has opened up cheap communication and data transfer to people outside of government and academic channels. In music, cheap home studios have replaced the costly expense of studio hire for many bands allowing them more flexibility, more control and less pressure when producing their own tracks. Then CD burners, scanners and low cost laser printers have allowed many artists to self-release material that otherwise would never had made it to the shelves and music compression formats like MP3 have allowed this home produced music to be cheaply and easily distributed over the Internet without the interference of record companies.
Moore elaborates; "A frustration that Matt [Black] and I always had was that when it came to doing a video clip we'd have a bit of say and input but we'd have been much happier to have had the money and invested it into developing video software. We couldn't convince the record companies we were signed to at the time that this was worth doing. But now with VJamm artists can escape the MTV clichés that are forced on them by the record companies".
"When we putting together the Panopticon video clip we worked with some people from Undercurrents, a video activist group, and Reclaim The Streets. It was important for us to get hold of that footage and to get it shown at prime time. In its original form you might have gotten to see it at 2am on Channel 4, but never on the 6 o'clock news. Put together in a five minute piece, however it becomes quite powerful, and gets the message across without getting up on a soapbox. Preaching is not something Matt and I are keen on, we'd rather incorporate footage and leave the rest of the decisions up to the people who are looking at it. With Timber, we got the idea of cutting up the sound from the actual videos to make a piece. We started with Natural Rhythm because we'd all grown up on the natural history documentaries of David Attenborough and the footage was easily accessible and we went from there to getting some footage from Greenpeace of deforestation. I guess it is out of the DIY punk attitude of the late 70s where Matt and I grew up."
The democratisation of technology has also meant that the processes of technology have started to become demystified. As Jonothan explains, hands on use of video editing software begins to reveal the hidden editing practices that go into the general production of TV programmes. "Now we have the access to real time manipulation of media which until recently had been the preserve of the privileged class and programme makers. Now with your digital cameras, video, low cost software like VJamm, virtually anybody can take footage and manipulate it. Once you start actually doing that you begin to realise how a lot of mass media stuff that you are fed is treated, affected and edited. A good example of this was when we were looking for some stuff for one of our live shows. We took some footage from a football video, sampling different matches, and after a little while we realised that the cheers each time a goal was scored were identical and it became clear that 'live' football match had had its original soundtrack removed. There's a lot of very subtle manipulation going on - the way news is presented with sound, and without sound, edited highlights and raw footage, and as soon as you involve yourself in production you begin to realise this. Up until now, TV has been a 'sit back and accept' medium whereas the Internet has introduced a 'get up and search' attitude. More people are getting into that new attitude - they're more suspicious - and we're about giving back control. You could use VJamm to remix your wedding video, make a Christmas card for granny, or a major release video clip. " VJamm is more than just a simple video sequencer, though. Part of its appeal to musicians is its capability to be sequenced via MIDI signal so that artists can tie certain video footage to particular drum patterns, samples or even individual notes allowing them to be played back like a keyboard.
On the live front, Coldcut are a multimedia show more than a live band. Using video footage as an integral part of their show the development of VJamm has meant that at last the show is compact enough to travel the world on a couple of laptop computers. Moore continues; "Live, Matt uses VJamm - the exact same version you can download from our website, and I use DJamm a new project we're working on. DJamm enables me to take 32 different sound samples and loop, cut, paste, randomise, slice and filter them in real time. We're very interested in introducing random-ness into our work to create a kind of freeform jamming but there's a problem sometimes when people come to watch our shows in that they don't realise that we're doing it live. There are recognisable loops but as tracks progress we start randomising them, chopping them up and layering effects. I use a bag of records, DJjamm, some jingles, and another computer full of other samples and effects being mixed together. Now everything has been compacted down with VJamm and DJamm we have the ability to capture sound and video in the cities we are playing and incorporate them, too, into the live shows if we have time." Coldcut have a new album of remixes, Let Us Replay, out through Creative Vibes. Let Us Replay also contains a fully functional cut-down version of the VJamm software on a second CD. Coldcut play the Metro live on Saturday April 10.
Yellow Peril March 1999.