VARIABLE UNIT
Cold Flow (Wide Hive)
Reviewed by Jason Thornberry

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Three days to record, six months to edit, chop up, mix up, puree, and bring out. Cold Flow was named after that rush the mind experiences when everything clicks on while creating something. The 'zone' is reached. As such, they chose to get everything on tape quickly, gaining the immediacy of the moment. The time spent later obviously helped the true picture emerge -- the sculpture beneath the clay. Variable Unit's newest shows them in a less political mood than their previous disc, the incendiary Handbook for the Apocalypse. This time VU have the renowned Sonny Fortune on sax (Miles Davis, Elvin Jones), and, with DJ Zeph and crew, make a hypnotic album of stitched up ultra-modern soul/jazz you'll probably never hear in Starbucks, because it requires too much thought. Now all they need is to ring up Kurtis Mantronik for the next go.

10/10

© 2004 - Jason Thornberry