David Holmes: "Lets Get Killed" (Go! Beat) In which our favourite Belfast beat-master journeys to New York and returns with a splendidly diverse and suitably intense set of thematic homages to that city. While his debut album, This Film's Crap, Lets Slash The Seats, showed off Holmes's attention to techno detail, this is a far funkier affair.
Bridging the rush of Northern Soul melody to a hip-hop essence with a canny cinematic sense, Lets Get Killed is the ideal soundtrack to that Donny Brasco sequel you have mapped out in your head and just need a large budget to get in the can. No wonder Holmes will score forthcoming James Bond, Sean Penn and Lynda La Plante flicks. For now, with New York's finest freak scene regulars providing oddball samples, Lets Get Killed is a delicious stroll down Broadway.
Jim Carroll
Coldcut: "Let Us Play" (Ninja Tune)
It's 10 years since Jonathan More and Matt Black introduced the world to Yazz and Lisa Stansfield via a string of ultra-poppy chart hits. Ten years is a lifetime in dance music and since then, the Coldcut duo have moved on, garnering a pioneering reputation thanks to their Kiss-FM radio show, their brilliant Stealth club night, a wonderful DJ-mix album and a thriving Ninja Tune record label and multimedia concern.
The time is right then for the duo to step back in the ring. However, with albums like DJ Shadow's Endtroducing setting new parameters for sample-happy acts, Let Us Play is a mite disappointing. Even the weighty cast of collaborators - the infamous Steinski, tabla-master Talvin Singh and evergreen agit-punk Jello Biafra - fails to make this a thrilling journey into sound.
Jim Carroll
Puff Daddy and The Family: "No Way Out" (Bad Boy)
In 1997, no-one comes close to Puff Daddy in terms of sales, guile and commercial savvy. Sean "Puffy" Combs is the 27-year-old king of R & B, the man whose Bad Boy empire has already given the world the Notorious B.I.G. and shown us how to rise to the top in style and rather loud Moschino threads. With the Biggie tribute single I'll Be Missing You still selling by the thousand, Puffy has elevated hip-hop and R & B above its usual concerns.
This debut album, then, is a fine statement of intent. While most producers will go to amazing lengths to hide the source of their samples, Puffy doesn't bother. David Bowie, Lisa Stansfield, The Police, the theme from Rocky: all are fair game. The fact that Puffy raps like Vanilla Ice is not even a major cause for concern.
Jim Carroll
