Variable Unit
Cold Flow (2004)

Review by: Jason Thornberry
Date: 1/15/04

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 latest release 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 makes for 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.