From sculpting breathtaking soundscapes to composing radical multimedia montages, the multifaceted journeys taken by computer programmer Matt Black and former art teacher Jonathan More have been, in a word, phenomenal...

Teaming up to form Coldcut in the mid-80s, these visionary cut ‘n’ paste pioneers have done more to advance the art of the re-mix than most. Critically acclaimed, cutting edge and conceptually ambitious, their blend of talent, technology and soul is legendary. In January 2006 the grandmasters unleashed their latest and greatest opus, an album titled Sound Mirrors. Released via their Ninja Tune label, it’s an innovative feast of contemporary sound and vision.

On the eye-opening Sound Mirrors world tour, the dynamic duo have been making quite spectacular use of Pioneer’s DVJ-X1 DVD decks in conjunction with laptop technology running VJamm software (yet another Coldcut creation). Coldcut view the DVJs as a natural evolution of the CDJ-1000s and have been producing a cappella video footage of guest artists, which they then cut up/scratch and mix in live using the DVJs. Through this exciting technique they are ‘virtually’ able to take any number of musicians with them on tour and spontaneously call upon their video/vocals at the push of a button.

“The audiovisual scratching of ideas is something that we’ve had working for a few years with software as part of VJamm, but the DVJ is the perfect distillation of that particular idea. It’s a great solid interface that doesn’t crash, which is a big advantage.” – Matt Black Sample the Sound Mirrors DVD, The Music Video Project, above.