Exactly how deep do Coldcut’s cavernous vaults go? Well If this Vintage Steel selection is anything to go by, you’d need a hard hat and a mining canary to detect for gas to tunnel on down there! Welcome to the ‘K mixes’, a truly eclectic blend of quality mind-bending mad mixes you’ve come to expect from the master chiefs down at Ninja Tune. Hip hop, dub, rave, techno, we got it here and a whole lot more. Take it to the jump to get the knowledge from Strictly Kev, and a link to download the second hour. The first is available for your listening enjoyment via podcast at the official home of Solid Steel (06/06/2008 show), so get them on your speakers and invite the neighbours round to the inevitable party that will surely kick off!
During 1990 Coldcut were very active, if a little less in the spotlight than the previous couple of years when they achieved superstar status across the world with their music. Ninja Tune was started in 1990 out of the frustration of being on a major label and having to wait to release tracks which, in the ever evolving world of dance music, threatened to date if they were left on the shelf for too long. Besides the formation of Ninja, 1990 saw the return of their old stomping ground, KISS FM - now as a legal station, and thus the return of Solid Steel to the Capital’s airwaves. KISS had officially gone off the airwaves at the end of 1988 as a show of faith to the DTI (Department of Trade & Industry) that it was serious about becoming a legal station, and it took over 18 months for the license to be granted. The station started officially broadcasting on September 1st and Coldcut began recording a series of short mixes for their show known as ‘K Mixes’ (short for Kiss, obviously) that would fit neatly between ad breaks.

One of the first things we turned up in the archives were two boxes containing 23 volumes of these mixes, comped by Jon More years earlier from the original ADAT tapes they were made on. Each mix is roughly 15 minutes long and were made each week, if time would allow, to be a part of the show that was a bit more than live blends of the latest releases. Some of these mini classics turn up repeatedly in mixes across the years, sometimes in truncated form, always overlaid with different spoken word samples. Most were mixed by Coldcut and, later on, PC, and each have individual titles like ‘Gameboy Jazz’, ‘126 and Counting’ and ‘Constant Electronic Bombardment’ that give a feel for the content of each mix. There were over hundred made and we have all of them with the exception of K Mixes 29-35 because volume 7, which is presumed to contain these, is missing.

The first part of this weeks selection is the first hour from a show dated 13/12/90 which was itself a collection of great K Mixes, some of which we had earmarked to feature anyway. We start with K Mix #6 - ‘Once Upon A Time’, recorded in October or November 1990, a breakneck blend of old school hip hop and funk in a Lesson stylee and one of Matt Black’s personal favourites. Next is K Mix #9 - ‘London Bass Jam 1′ from 26/10/90 which is basically a Public Enemy megamix complete with original JBs samples inserted and blends across PE tracks that sample themselves. K Mix #11 - ‘Run DMC mix’ from 11/09/90 speaks for itself and dives back and forth throughout their career whilst K Mix #7 ‘Do Your Own Thing’ from mid November 1990 mixes classic hip hop with acid jazz beats. We round up the first hour with a special bonus, an audio invite to a Steinski party that was nestling on an early DAT from around the same era. These were sent out on cassette to selected friends and gave all the details for various parties he would hold in NYC and several were played on the show over the years.

For the second hour we’ve selected a batch of K Mixes and compiled a fictional show that would date from ‘91 and ‘92. We kick things off with K Mix #69 - ‘Beyond This World’ from 1992 with PC at the controls mixing golden era Hip Hop as only he can. K Mix #62 - ‘Kingtronix’ is next and is a tribute to all things Mantronix, followed by K MIx #67 - ‘Teknical Dub’ which starts off all dubby and ends with, you guessed it, Techno. Finally K Mix #42 - ‘God of Rockers’ from 1991 shows us that Coldcut also loved their rave back in the day as Matt Black gets hard on the mixer for this storming finale. Full shows from around this time hardly exist in complete form save for a clutch of video tapes that have several radio broadcasts recorded on them as audio. From the beginning of 1992 this changed and many complete shows are archived on DAT tape and all this weeks selections are sourced from pre-broadcast DATs with no studio chat or adverts.

Strictly Kev

Download: Coldcut - Best Of The K Mixes Pt.1 (2nd Hour) (1hr, 82.6MB)

Tracklisting

‘Beyond This World’ (K Mix #69) (1992)

1. House of Pain - Jump Around
2. Mark the 45 King - 900 Number
3. Eric B & Rakim - I Know You Got Soul (Acappella)
4. Pete Rock & CL Smooth - The Creator
5. Jungle Brothers - Beyond This World (Acappella)

‘Kingtronix’ (K Mix #62) (1992)

1. Mantonix - Bassline
2. Mantonix - King of the Beats
3. Mantonix - Scream
4. Mantonix - Who is It?
5. Mantonix - Join Me Please
6. Mantonix - Listen to The Bass (Get Stupid Fresh)

‘Teknical Dub’ (K Mix #67) (1992)

1. Coldcut (Feat. Lisa Stansfield) - People Hold On (Acappella)
2. Moody Boys - Free

‘God of Rockers’ (K Mix #42) (1991)

1. Unknown - Rockers Lead The Way
2. The Prodigy - Charlie Sez
3. M.N.O. - God of Abraham