21 years ago, Coldcut and The Orb joined forces for a New Year mix session on Kiss 100 FM.

They’ve teamed up since, but the Ninja Tune bosses/ambient torchbearers have evidently felt it necessary to mark the occasion. Over to you, chaps:

“Matt Black and Jonathan More alongside studio accomplice Dor Wand got suitably enhanced with Dr LX Paterson and Youth for a multi-player late night jam session lasting over 3 hours. They then entrusted the multitracks of the set to DJ Food who heroically edited, condensed and massaged the sprawling swamp of sound into a tight – but also loose – 2 hour Solid Steel session”.

It’s a madcap, mostly low-tempo selection, moving from the trippy (Sun Ra, Manuel Gottsching, Mulatu Astatke) to the contemporary (Teebs, Actress) to the bonkers (William Burroughs, Monty Python). As the blurb which accompanies the mix notes, the set was also recorded “on the anniversary of JFK’s assassination”, which offers new weight to Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s oblique mumblings about being a “secret agent”.

Tracklisting:
The Orb – Hold Me (Interlude) (feat. Lee Scratch Perry) (Dub Temple Records)
OICHO – Buried (Workhousedigital)
Gaudi & The Orb feat. Lee Scratch Perry – I Start To Pray (unreleased)
Youth vs Brother Culture – Bubble Up (unreleased)
Mulatu Astatke – Yegelle Tezeta (My Own Memory) (Mochilla)
Coldcut – Isotoke (unreleased)
Sun Ra – Astro Black (Impulse)
John Coltrane – So What solo (Columbia)
Arthur Russell – Lets Go Swimming (Logarhythm)
Gene Kelly – Singing in the Rain (Decca)
Derek Scott – Sounds Unusual (Music De Wolfe)
Nitty Gritty – Use To Be My Dubber (Uptempo Records)
Yabby You – Heads A Roll Dub (Profit Records)
The Orb – Man In The Moon (Instrumental) (Cooking Vinyl)
Manuel Gottsching / Ash Ra Temple – Pluralis (Kosmiche Musik)
Moondog – Dance Rehearsal (Prestige)
Delta Uniform Bravo – A Stooges Lament (unreleased)
Steve Hillage – Rainbow Dome Music (Virgin)
Killing Joke – Exorcism (Youth dub) (unreleased) + Delta Airlines Ebonics skit
William Burroughs – Ah Pook Is Here (Giorno Poetry Systems)
Delta Uniform Bravo – On & On (Skewed Version) (unreleased)
The Animated Egg – Sock It My Way (Alshire Records)
Bonnie Dobson – Bird of Space (Prestige)
Monty Python – The Rhubarb Tart Song (Charisma)
Ry Cooder – Paris Texas (Warner Bros)
The Amorphous Androgynous – Guru Song (Artful Records)
Overture – Orchestra (Varese Sarabande)
Killing Joke – European Super State (Youth dub remix) (unreleased)
Pole – Berlin (Kiff)
Master Musicians of Bukkake – Tainted Phenomena (Southern Records)