Hear Coldcut Team With Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Junior Reid on Dub Anthem
British sampling pioneers and electronic music label Ninja Tune founders Coldcut and dub producer extraordinaire Adrian Sherwood have teamed for a new album titled Outside the Echo Chamber, with the project recruiting rapper Roots Manuva and reggae icons Lee “Scratch” Perry and Junior Reid to contribute to the upcoming LP.
Ahead of Outside the Echo Chamber‘s May 19th arrival, Coldcut and Sherwood’s On-U Sound have dropped “Divide and Rule,” featuring Perry, former Black Uhuru singer Reid and Elan.
“Divide and Rule” rumbles along on an intoxicating bass groove alongside electronic flourishes that showcase Coldcut and Sherwood’s background as dance music innovators. “Divide and rule is the way they keep oppressing,” Elan sings on the track.
Fans who order the group’s limited-edition seven-inch box set will received eight seven-inches housed in brown paper ‘grocery’ bags along with two Coldcut 45 adapters.
“Their records were a unique and powerful influence on us,” Coldcut’s Matt Black said in a statement about Sherwood’s label. “Me and my mates used to collect the records, the design of On-U Sound 10-inch black and white sleeves were so cool. Without On-U there would be no Ninja Tune.”
Outside the Echo Chamber will be the first of numerous 2017 new releases Coldcut plan on unleashing to celebrate the duo’s 30th anniversary; one of the duo’s earliest records was “Stop That Crazy Thing,” which they released via Sherwood’s On-U label.
In September, the 80-year-old Perry released his new LP Must Be Free, the dub legend’s first solo album since 2014’s Back on the Controls. The Black Ark mastermind also teamed with XL Recordings honcho Richard Russell for 2015’s “I Am Paint.”