ELECTRONIC
BY STEPHEN WORTHY
Various
★★★★
@0
AHEAD OF OUT TIME. CD/DL/LP
The restorative power of ambient fuels Coldcut-curated introspective journey.
IT WAS 1995 when Coldcut’s Matt Black and Jonathan More released their landmark mix album, Journeys By DJ. @0 is a more restrained affair – inspired, say the Ninja Tune founders, by our collective reflection; a three-hour compendium of new recordings matching up contemporary ambient and new classical exponents with long-standing pioneers. Heavyweight contributors include Ryuichi Sakamoto, System 7 and modular synthesizer pioneer Suzanne Ciani, whose Morning Spring swirls, bubbles and enchants, just like that of her erstwhile co-collaborator, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, on Mt Baker. The German techno maven Helena Hauff eschews her usual bludgeoning 4/4 for the horror baroque of Thalassa, counterpointed by the womblike atmosphere created by new age veteran Steve Roach on The Drift Home. The album’s denouement –a reworked take of Irresistible Force and Coldcut’s enduring downtempo staple, Autumn Leaves – is a lip-trembler. Black and More’s prowess as selectors remains undiminished, more than a quarter of a century on.