(Ninja Tune/Inertia)

Coldcut’s recently released ‘Sound Mirrors’ album showed the head Ninjas taking a more immediately accessible turn, with virtually all of the tracks anchored around guest vocal appearances, to a point where it was anyone’s guess as to what the singles of choice were to be this time around. After the comparatively subdued and melancholy John Matthias collaboration ‘Man In A Garage’, this third single to be lifted from ‘Sound Mirrors’, ‘True Skool’ selects one of the album’s most infectious and exuberant tracks as well as one of its most high-profile collaborations – what Ninja fan out there hasn’t secretly been hoping the respective paths of Mr. Smith, Black and More to cross before now?

In its original album version, ‘True Skool’ places fluid tabla percussion rolls and scratched / stuttered female bhangra vocals beneath Roots’ distinctive verbal flow and looming sub-bass drops as he takes on greed and consumerism in lyrics that reflect the wider conceptual theme of the entire ‘Sound Mirrors’ album – while it’s perhaps one of the more lightweight tracks Roots has contributed to lately, it’s certainly an infectious slice of bhangra / electro-laced pop guaranteed to go down well with fans of the likes of M.I.A.

For my money, it’s the selection of excellent remixes on offer here that really provides the real excitement. Highly-touted London MC / producer Sway opens proceedings with a grimy electro-laced hiphop reworking that places Roots’ smooth vocal flow over juddering angular programmed rhythms, streamlined bass synths and sparkling electronic effects in a crunked-up downtempo roller that works beautifully, especially when Sway shows up to contribute an additional ending verse of his own and the distorted bass synths edge towards the red line.

After reworking ‘Everything Is Under Control’ under his Solid Groove persona, Dave ‘Switch’ Taylor gets asked back for a devastatingly huge broken-beat house reworking of ‘True Skool’ that proves to be the standout remix here hands down, with vast garage bass sweeps flowing beneath a fusillade of clipped jacking rhythms as the original track’s instrumental bursts and MC vocals get cut and scattered in dizzying fashion, while The Qemists take things into furious Pendulum-esque drum and bass on their remix, beginning with a relaxed dubby opening wind-up that swiftly accelerates into the sort of territory occupied by Concord Dawn, sinister trace-tinged synth lines coiling their way around a dense, relentless backdrop of hammering breakbeats and dub-reggae bass riffs.

Finally, Big Dada’s Baltimore-based men-of-the-moment Spank Rock also contribute one of the highlight reworkings on offer here, placing cut-up retro rave air horn samples over a stripped-down backdrop of juddering metallic beats and synthetic bleeps; as well as injecting a fantastic clanking rhythmic crunch that beautifully suits the original’s dancefloor stylings, it’s also one of the few reworkings here that retains the Egyptian-styled sampled hooks of the original.

Another excellent remix package to be lifted from Coldcut’s ‘Sound Mirrors’ album; although for my money ‘True Skool’ represents one of that album’s more lightweight inclusions, in this case the selection of diverse and inspired reworkings proves to be the real gold.

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