Following the Black Dog’s devestating performance at the legendary Park Hill Flats I was inspired to do a new mix of techno. Actually it’s been on my mind for a while because there is a big techno and acid revival brewing, partly with Jackmaster / Numbers playing techno (but with rewinds and MCs) and partly with people like Funk Butcher dropping bits of acid into funky sets. Naturally I have some acidic funky tunes ready to drop. But this set is mainly about the sheer visceral head rush of good techno, acid and hard house. I still have a lot of this stuff I want to put in a mix, especially things like Dave the Drummer’s gigantic The Speed Freak, Cosmic Trigger’s the Oracle etc.
It starts with a load of rave-destroying hard acid, drops down into more minimal techno, some tough house before spazzing out completely over Dubfire’s utterly bonkers refix of Plastikman’s Spastik. You’ll like it. It’s a 100% original vinyl mix in one take, for those of you who still care about such things.
Shabba Ranks: Lets Get It On (Beef Jpint) (Dillinja / Goldie remix)
Beenie Man: Gimme De Gal (DJ SS remix)
DBO General / Mickey Finn / Aphrodite: Some Justice 95 (Arsonist)
Krome & Time: Ganja Man
Shabba Ranks: Wicked Inna Bed (DJ SS remix)
Prisoners of Technology: Deadly Technique
MA2: Hearing is Believing
Prisoners of Technology: Ghetto Shit
Digital: Deadline
Congo Natty: Jah
Congo Natty: Jah Set It
Congo Natty: Fever 98
Digital: Fix Up ???
Digital: Sounds of Freedom
Congo Natty: Radical
Aphrodite: President
Congo Natty: Your Love
Digital Feat. YT: Hard Ears (Dem Can’t Hear Must Feel)
Recored live on 2 decks and a mixer Saturday 27th February 2011 at Grievous Angel Sound, Sheffield.
I love grime but I haven’t done that many grime mixes. I suppose the biggest one so far is the Grime in the Dancehall mix I did with John Eden for blogariddims. That was back in 2008 and not long after, I did this mix… and then never sent it to anyone other than John. I always thought it was alright but could’ve been just a bit better. Anyway, I’ve gone back to it and it sounds fine TBH so I’m happy to put it up, especially since I’ve got a few more grime mixes I want to get into. I mean, I still haven’t put up a mix with my favourite grime instrumental – in fact my favourite electronic record of all time – Big$hot’s Glitch. Trust me, that tune destroys the dance every time.
So this is a mix of mostly mid- to late-period grime, some instrumentals and some vocal cuts, with an emphasis on banging percussive FOWARD-ness. It’s only half an hour and I can’t remember what all the tunes are but they’re all good. I think you’ll like it.
I wanted to do a mix of rough as fuck MC-driven garage… the stuff that flowed from UK fast chat and US hiphop and eventually filtered into grime in 2002. And here it is – a new year’s present for you.
This is a 4×4 garage mix I did in the summer and put up on Twitter but not here yet… people seem to like it, full of great twisted jacking deep 4×4 garage tunes. Worth the download just to hear the first one from Madie Myles, absolute ecstasy…
Tracklisting:
Recorded Summer Solstice 2010
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Madie Myles: I’ve Been Waiting (Dem2 Remix) (Azuli 1998)
El B: Be Happy (4×4 dub mix)
Roll – Let It Roll (4×4 remix) (white 1999)
Mr. Vegas – Western End (B15 Project remix) Oracabessa Records 1998
I had a blast doing this mix. Quite a few dubs, including a bunch of new things from me, and a few favourites. It’s good fun, deep as you like and people seem to like it. Check out the Kuma remix at the end, it’s got a corking vocal from Juakali on it!
Here’s the track listing.
Grievous Angel: Lady Dub (2step mix) (Devotional Dubz Volume 1). 2008
Grievous Angel Vs. Missy Elliott: Work It. Unreleased. 2008
Sully: Jackmans Rec (FRIJSFO BEATS FRJ005) 2009
Wascal: Know U. Unreleased? 2009
Kowton: Stasis (Keysound Recordings LDN013) 2009
Grievous Angel Vs Method Man: So High. Unreleased. 2004
Hackman: More Than Ever (Jamie Grind Remix). Unreleased. 2010
Jamie Grind: Bad Attitude (And You Know It). Unreleased. 2010
ID & Skinnz: Issues. (EARWAX EAR011). 2009
Crazy Bald Heads: First born (Four Tet remix). Unreleased. 1999
Burial: Pirates (Burial CD). 2006
Mista Men: Lengthy Riddim (Hackman remix). Bass Tourist 009. 2010
23hz & Numaestro_-_zumo_(Sully_rmx). Unreleased. 2008
Geeneus ft. Riko, Wiley and Breeze: Knife and Gun (Blackdown and Dusk Garage Remix) (Keysound Recordings dubplate). 2008
Hackman: WDYGOAPHAGFY. Unreleased. 2010
Gremino: Face It (Ruff Revival dubplate) 2009
Naphta: Jungle Republic (Grievous Angel Remix) (Ruff Revival dubplate) 2010
Kuma ft Juakali: What It’s Not (Grievous Angel remix). Unreleased. 2010
Grievous Angel Vs. Jill Scott: Deeper, Wider Dub
Groove Chronicles: Life is what you make it (DPR 1998)
El B Feat Reis and Dee: Keep the Love (Scorpion Records)
MJ Cole: Bandalero Desperado (El-B VIP mix) (Talkin Loud 2000)
Sevi G / El B: Beautiful Music (Dub Mix) (Vinylocity 2000)
Ghost: The Club (Ghost 2000)
Ghost: Lyrical Tempo (Ghost 2001)
El B: Serious (Locked On 2001)
Ruff Cut Bias: Down (Locked On 2000)
Groove Chronicles: Faith In You (DPR 1998)
Sonrisa: Grooving Me (Splash It Like Champagne Mix) (Public Demand 2000)
Sevi G / Groove Chronicles: In the Air Tonight (2 Step Mix) (White)
Shade Sheist Feat Nate Dogg: Where I Wanna Be (Dub-A-Holics R&B Switch Mix – Explicit Version) (Public Demand 2001)
De La Soul: Ain’t All Good: MJ Cole Remix (Tommy Boy Music 2000)
Victor Romeo: Love Will Find A Way (Ray Hurley & Mark Yardley Dub Mix) Public Demand 1998
Ramsey and Fen: Love Bug (Bug Records 1998)
The Bomb Squad: Bad Acid (Big Kid Productions 2000)
Kevin Real Deal: Breaking Rocks (White 1998)
The Bomb Squad: No Dub (Big Kid Productions 2000)
Monie Love: Slice of Da Pie (El B Remix) 1999
Groove Chronicles: Be Happy (White, 1999)
Angie Lee: What’s Your Name? (MJ Cole Master Mix) (WEA 1999)
Roll: Let it Roll (White, 1999)
The legendary Steve Barker wrotes with news of a special show from on the wire:
“On the Wire will broadcast the second art of “Rudies On the Wire” on Saturday 20th February 2010, 10 through till 12 midnight on BBC Radio Lancashire (103.9FM, 95.5FM, 104.5FM – not on DAB or MW) the show will also be found on the net at www.onthewire.uk.com. The first part “Rudies On the Wire” is archived at January 2010 on the show’s website www.otwradio.blogspot.com. As usual selections are from OTW co-conspirator Harry “Mr. Classics” Hawkes.
Previous vintage shows originally broadcast in the early nineties can now be found at:
www.otwradio.blogspot.com/2006/07/on-wire-dub-specials.html
These include:
Ø Spear On The Wire – including archive interview with Mr. Winston Rodney aka Burning Spear following his gig at Cleopatra’s in Huddersfield in 1980
Ø Rockers On The Wire Broadcast On Radio Lancashire 24/6/90 2-5pm – an Augustus Pablo tribute
Ø Scorcher On The Wire – Broadcast On BBC Radio Lancashire 16/7/89 2-5pm broadcast in tribute to Mr. Clement “Coxsone” Dodd
Ø Yabby You On the Wire Broadcast 26/8/90 – in tribute to Vivian Jackson
Ø Scratch On the Wire mc’d by Mr. Lee Perry himself
Ø Dentist On The Wire (aka Keith Hudson)
Ø Moods On the Wire – A tribute to the work of Mr. Harry Mudie
The site’s search facility will locate other specials from Wailing Souls, Andy Capp, Derrick Harriott, I Roy vs. Jazzbo, Jimmy Radway (Fe me Time) and recently a two partner on Bob Andy’s Songbook featuring album, single and dub/instrumental versions of the classic tunes from arguably reggae’s greatest song/vocal album. The original “Dubs On the Wire” shows from the late eighties are still to be archived on to the site.
Forthcoming for 2010 and onwards is a Randy’s special with Clive Chin (from Beijing), an overdue retrospective on Desmond Dekker, a three part King Tubby’s Special including guest selectors and a riddim-riot from Rhythm-Master Glen Brown.”
Wow starkey rocked it! Crowd was mental, really going for it. Promoters are on it, pulled in a really good mixed crowd and the party went off. Sheffield loves it’s funky but it loves starket style hyperwonk even more. Mans a genius!
Twilight Circus is a truly FANTASTIC reggae / dub outfit run by Ryan Moore. He has done LOADS of albums and most of them are really, REALLY good. Like, good enough to mistake for Tubby.
So he asked me to do a mix for him and I spent a few months last year doing it – a dj mix of dub-pon-dub riddim excursions, all in a grime / dubstep friendly 140bpm format. In a way it presaged the remix album that’s forthcoming on Keysound, where I remixed the whole of the Blackdown and Dusk album and mixed it together.
The Twilight Circus mix is now up on his site – been there a while I think – and I truly recommend you check it out. Trust me, this one’s heavy! GET IT HERE.
Check out the vocalists he’s got! Talk about a-list!
Intro
Love Dub Remix
Big Youth – Love is What We Need
Big Youth – Dub Is What We Need
Luciano – What We Got to Do (Acoustic mix)
Luciano – What We Got to Do (Zion Train mix)
Luciano – What We Got to Do
Luciano – What We Got to Do (G Corp mix)
Twilight Circus – Fams
Twilight Circus – Fams (Jacklight mix)
Twilight Circus – Depth Charge
Mykal Rose – No Burial
Mykal Rose – No Burial (Manasseh Mix)
Mykal Rose – No Burial (Rob Smith Remix)
Ranking Joe – Poor Man Struggle
Ranking Joe – Poor Man Version
Twilight Circus – Thunder
Twilight Circus – Rolling Thunder
Twilight Circus – Rolling Thunder (Parice Scott Minor Remix)
Ranking Joe – Don’t Follow Babylon (Blood & Fire Meets Wai Wan Remix – Dub Shop Style)
Twilight Circus – Dub Babylon
Ranking Joe – Don’t Follow Babylon
Ranking Joe – World in Dub
Ranking Joe – World in Trouble
Twilight Circus – 808 (GYS Remix)
Twilight Circus – 808 Dub Plate
Ranking Joe – Don’t Try To Use Me
Twilight Circus – Shaka
Twilight Circus – Shaka (Alter Echo Remix)
I do love Simon and regularly defend him against his detractors. But his natural contrarianism can lead him to some strange value judgements at times. To wit, he hath discovered 16 bit and seems to be arguing that this is is an example of post-Spongebob wobble being, well, fun, in contrast with the half baked noodle of the deeper side of the scene. (via blissblog.)
Which is fine in itself – I have often defended, online and in print, the better-quality elements of jump-up style dubstep as the natural successors of the Prodigy but… oh Simon! Do keep UP!
Yes you are quite right that “this is not only a good laugh but actually quite musical i think”. “We” like 16 bit. We liked that track a long time ago and we still do – we being, you know, proper dubstep heads with taste and everything, the fans going dribbly over Joy Orbison and apparently being all chin-strokey about it. But no, we’re NOT “all for these bastard children of “spongebob” because we actually know what that means! Because it does not typically mean Prodigy-style jump up splattercore that still has its roots in grime/garage/jungle. No – it means heavy metal student toss. That’s the reality – if you actually go to the clubs and know the scene and how it develops.
(Just as we knew that wonky within dubstep was not conditionend and defined by ketamine, even if drugs are – newsflash! – used by some producers some of the time. But that is an old and ugly dispute in which there is no profit in revisiting.)
If you want more of that big and bouncy rave-y wobble that’s actually good, then check out Starkey (on, let us not forget, Blackdown’s label – yes Blackdown, who has led the charge against content-free wobble-metal), and yes you’re already on Raffertie, well done, and check out Sully’s heavier bits, and so on and so forth. All of whom we’ve been talking about for, literally, years. (Yes I know Simon likes Blackdown and his CD! That’s not the point…)
So yes, you’re right, but you’re a bit late, but then again so what, that doesn’t matter, and good luck to you for bigging up Raffertie and Zomby. Fine.
What DOES matter, to me anyway, is that Simon has drawn what is in my view an uttery false – and quite damaging – opposition between 16bit and Joy Orbison (with whom I played on Friday) – false IF YOU ACTUALLY KNOW WHAT’S GOING OFF IN THE CLUBS. To wit:
“i mean, where would you rather be–in the midst of a crowd aving it apeshit to this sort of scato-splatterbass? or in the midst of headz sagely nodding (off, more like!) to moist ‘n’ milky minimalism such as this “talisman” of a track?” By which he means Hyph Mngo.
Now I suspect Simon hasn’t seen Hyph Mngo played in a club or dropped into a mix himself. I have done both.
And Hyph Mngo FUCKING GOES OFF. It is a BANGER. People go APESHIT MENTAL TO IT. It is a solid gold RAVE TUNE. I mean… those sampled diva vocals… Simon can articulate what they mean, what they convey, in terms of hardcore and smashing the dance far better than I can. He played it as his last tune on Friday. Pulled the previous tune back, played Hyph Mngo from the start, stupidly long intro and all, and of course, most people in the room weren’t such music nerds that they’d heard it loads before. But they got it immediately. It was massive. Earlier in his set Joy didn’t play 16bit, or Spongebob, but he opened with some grime bangers, played lots of dirty (AND tasteful) garage, lots of crude and crunchy bassline – loads of tunes that link directly into 16bit. And it all fitted perfectly with Hyph Mngo.
So to dismiss Hyph Mngo with a flick of the wrist just because Hancox or whoever likes it is just silly!
And if Simon only knew the antecedence of Joy Orbison, he would be scrambling to interview him. Seriously. Becuase it’s fascinating, it confirms all his most important ideas in the most visceral, physical way possible, it brings to life much of what he has been observing and theorising for years. Literally. But that’s a nugget of information I am not at liberty to share at this time. However… Simon, get in touch with Joy Orbison, absorb the rest of his tracks, find out where he’s from and where he’s going.
You’re going to love it!
And while you’re at it, get into some uk funky – and check out what happens when Zed Bias and MJ Cole play it! And the new broken / latin stuff that’s coming in! Best scene for years…
I went for garage, UK funky and proper house here. The mix is bouncy but fairly deep, goes just about as banging as you could possibly want UK funky to go, has some good vocal numbers, but has gobfulls of dub all over it. I was also excited to have some drops / shouts from our very own Rubi Dan, the brilliant Bok Bok, and best of all, COOLY G HERSELF!!!!! I nearly wet myself with excitement when I got them.
Big up Andy from Crazy legs who is a lovely bloke and a terrific promoter, I hope I get the chance to play there soon.
Technicals: this was an Ableton mix that I did 100% live, no edits, including the rewinds and FX. The drops / shouts got added afterwards along with a bit of polishing and mastering. This is basically what I sound like live, when I’m doing a funky set anyway.
Next up is probably a grime mix and, if I can finish it, Dubstep Sufferah 4…
Here’s the tracklisting… there’s a few tunes here you won’t hear anywhere else!
0:00 Dem 2: Baby You’re So Sexy – Vocal MixIt
3:50 Dru Hill: Freak Like Me – El B Remix
7:00 Missy Elliott: Work It – Grievous Angel Remix
11:30 Cooly G: Floating
13:30 Uncle Bakongo: Baga
16:10 David Byrne and Brian Eno: The Jezebel Spirit
19:11 Hard House Banton: Sirens
21:05 KenLou: The Bounce
25:16 Riko: Ice Rink – Grievous Angel’s Drum Ritual Remix
29:06 Riko: Ice Rink – Grievous Angel Remix
35:16 Roska: Climate Change
36:55 Cooly G: Dis Boy
41:30 Q Burns’ Abstract Message: Innocent – King Britt Scuba Mix
46:02 Refuge: Frozen – Grievous Angel Remix
49.48 Lady Saw & Cecille: Loser – Grievous Angel Remix
54:40 Grievous Angel Ft. Rubi Dan: Move Down Low – Funky Remix
56:13 Ends
The TPs of Move Down Low remix are in and they sound FAT – yes they are really here as you can see from the pic below…
There will be just 400 for the world, no represses and no downloads (well maybe for Move Down Low, vinyl comes first though). All those who pre-ordered at Red Eye breathe easy, it is coming. Release date should be 13th July, right before the Dog Days, one year on from the first Devotional dubz release, Lady Dub – ERZULIE01.
Previews are up on the MySpace. You’ve all heard this tune and you know it goes off in the dance whether it’s played by Skream, Kode 9, Dub Boy, Blackdown, Hanuman, Atki2 and all the other DJs who have been battering this on plate.
Special shout out to Kode 9 who cut Move Down Low within hours of me sending it, on the day I made it, and played it at the inaugural Beyond. Both tunes have been in his box ever since and he’s played one or both every time I’ve seen him. That’s just briliant!
Hold tight for the new broken stuff and I’ll be doing VIPs of MDL and Loser once solstice season is out of the way. Watch out for ICE RINK REFIX too – it’s been on Rinse a few times with Heatwave and Blackdown and there’s a clip on myspace if you want to hear it. Big up all soundmen!
I’ve been promising this for ages. Now the Devotional Dubz mix is finally out – thank god, took forever! – I can start clearing out some of the backlog of other, less vital mixes. First up is my first ever 2step mix, even predating the Abstract 2Step mix. It’s from – as you can tell from the pic of the sleeve of the tape – August 2000, so it’s from when most of the classics had come out and the scene was turning very 4×4 (as chronicled on the 4×4 Heaven mix) and very aggy, as the police shut off all the garage raves, and scene turned into grime, and later, dubstep. Oh and house as well, with brilliant DJs such as DJ Roo going house, never to return – wonder if he’s bought Do You Mind yet…
So, this is a live mix, off tape – dubbed to my Mac via my lovely new toy, a mint condition Nakamichi CD2 tape deck, which I have plans for! – and therefore done all in one take, live, no edits. In fact I had to turn the tape over half way through, irritatingly in the middle of It’s a New Dawn. So that’s actually one edit then – I wasn’t going to leave a gap was I? So the mix isn’t perfect, there’s a couple of clatters, and the sequencing isn’t as neat as I would have liked, but it’s still a massively vibey little piece. And there’s some tunes in there that I’ve never really heard anywhere else – they’re all probably old news to someone like Ben UFO, but In the Air Tonight (yes a cover of the Phil Collins song and Belaeric classic!), Rinse Out and Bad Acid weren’t big on radio at the time and don’t seem particularly canonical. Sadly I don’t have access to most of these tunes since they’re all in storage for the next few months, so I can’t redo the mix, but I think you’ll really, really enjoy this little thing. In fact, this tape has been a car journey favourite for me and my wife for the last eight years and surely there’s no higher recommendation than that.
The first Devotional Dubz mix is now up on the FACT Magazine site. Do please check it out. It’s probably the best thing I’ve ever done. Here’s some backstory.
In the summer, I put out Lady Dub, the first of the Devotional Dubz series of dubstep / dark garage refixes of r’n’b tunes, which was the counterpart to the harder ragga techno styles on the double album, Belief is the Enemy, that was released at solstice. Lady Dub is a refix of D’Angelo’s nu-soul classic Lady, or rather of DJ Premier’s remix of it; it turned out to be fairly popular, helping to propel the garage revival that we’ve seen this year. It also offered a different vision of dubstep, one that reaffirmed the form’s original tolerance for sweetness and vocals while offering the biggest booming 808 sine waves I could manage.
Each Devotional Dubz release will have a DJ mix that acts as a kind of sonic manifesto; therefore the first one focuses on the other side of dubstep, the landslide, horsepower, mala side that traces a lineage back to soul and dancehall and broken beat, just as jungle traced a lineage back to r’n’b as much as to bashment. It includes exclusive refixes and blends of r’n’b tunes, alongside unreleased Grievous Angel garage tracks that have previously only been heard on Blackdown’s Rinse show, and some special edits of dark garage classics. It’s lush, it’s spacey, it’s skippy, and at the end it’s unremittingly heavy, but all the way it’s pure garage flavour.
Turn it up and feel the sunshine. Volume two will be out in a few months when I’ve got some funky stuff out of the way.
I’ve been caning old 2003-era Social Circles gear recently. I just can’t enough of it – that moment when garage had turned grimey but wasn’t quite grime, was feeding into what would become dubstep, and was utterly banging and incredibly danceable. Following the brilliant 2step revival that we’ve seen this year I would really like people to make more in this style. It’s bloody hard to do though.
Anyway this mix is nice and short at 25 minutes and is all decks, no Live and no FX, and though I say so myself it’s fucking great music. Give it a go.
Sticky – Who Are You (2004)
Sticky – Boom Shell (2003)
Mr Fidget – Fidgestrumental (2003)
Simon Sez – Shut Your Mouth (2003)
Donae’o – My Philosophy (Bounce) (2003)
Sticky – Ganjaman (2002)
Sticky Feat. Viper* – I’m On The Mic (2003)
Maxwell D – Serious (Jameson Remix) (2001)
Sticky Feat. Viper* – I’m On The Mic (Instrumental) (2003)
Soon come: a techno-y dubstep mix (when I can work out what the track listing is!), a Devotional Dubz special (for on the wire… if they get themselves sorted out, otherwise I’ll just stick it up!!), another garage mix, a VIP Grievous Angel mix for Electronic Explorations (delivered), a mix for the Boomnoise and Pokes show (delivered), a grime mix (was nearly done… then I got a load of new records) and probably a Narrows style 4×4 mix cos I’m using those tunes to teach my seven year old how to mix . Plus a couple of very, very special ones I can’t talk about…
Me and John doing a 74 minute special for OUR FINAL EVER BLOGARIDDIMS. THERE WILL BE NO MORE FROM US! Unless someone drops out and droid needs someone to fill in rapidly. But yeah. Blogariddims is coming to an end and after a fair few bashes at the rss feeder, this is our last one.
You can also download the mp3 and all previous episodes (which you should do, definitely) direct fromhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/blogariddims/ or via itunes music store.
John has already posted a magnificent overview of this so I shan’t try and cover the temporal reality of the mix too much. So lets talk method first of all. John kicked it off with a rough live mix of everything he wanted in there. We cogitated on that, reflecting on what selections to make, and threw it away. He then did another recording session where he captured most of the tunes from the first mix, many of them in an unmixed fashion but with a load of mixing as well. I sifted through these CDs and stacked up the material in an iTunes playlist, made copious notes on what I wanted to do with them and what order to do them in, added a load more stuff to fit with what he’d done, and made a new final playlist. this left out a help of good stuff. I then dumped everything into Live, deleted most of his mixing (the mixes that made the grade were excellent though) and started looking at blends. That was when the magic started to happen – seeing how the material would form itself into something fresh. This was a pretty fast mix to do; I think I finished it in a month, even though there were some new techniques this time, like proper dj-style crossfder abuse within Live, as well as live sirens and FX. There’s a lot more performance in this one, which is a good thing, even though there’s a few sends that should’ve been edited out.
I love this whole intro section and though I say so myself, I’m delighted with how the Jammer loop combined with the Turbulence acapella. Having the Jammer radio excerpts really lifted the mix and I’m grateful to John for providing them. There’s a definite tip of the hat to Prancehall here too!
06:45 Richie Spice – Marijuana (from Spice In Your Life 2004)
08:25 Jammer – Burning (from Are You Dumb vol 2) 2007
A heavily edited Richie Spice leads into Jammer riding Coki’s riddim – the only reference to dubstep on the whole mix, and of course it’s pretty grimey dubstep. A bit of a step back in energy from the loud arrivial, too.
10:45 Bob Marley and the Wailers – So Much Trouble in the World (from Survival, 1979)
14:05 Mercston – Trouble (from Da End of Da Beginning) 2006
16:31 Skepta – Blood, Sweat and Tears (from Greatest Hits) 2007
Magnificent! Too many trendy white boys slag off Marley. Whatever the critique of Marley in JA as dancehall took over the lawns, it was a generally a critique founded in love for the man and his music, rather than a wish to appear more trendy than thou. This is of course a fantastic tune and I had to be physically restrained from including the live version from Babylon By Bus as well. I love the extra fx on this too. It merges perfectly into Mercston, whose version is appealingly pitched down. Nice flow into Skepta’s fine conscious grime tune.
19:32 All In One – Flows (from Bless Beats – A Hard Days Graft) 2008
21:14 Frisco – Skeng Man Mode (from Peng Food) 2008
23:24 Slix – Maniac (from Down vol 1) 2006
Into a couple of tunes that really powerfully express the “grime as 21st century dancehall” thesis, a gloriously transcendent riddim that draws out all manner of lyrical invention. And then Maniac’s fantastic skanking riddim, exploited to the full by Slix. Marvellous
26:12 Neckle Camp feat Jammer, Rinse FM
Jammer on his own, ancient take on foundational digi riddims – tempting to add more Sleng Teng from both dubstep and 80s Fast Chat, but John hates the Cotti version and we’ve done Fast Chat already, so we just rejoice in this awesome bit of radio that leads us perfectly into a couple of classic crossover bashment tracks, the first being the Joyride riddim. This is actually at 100 bpm, so rather than go all gabba om your ass there’s some tempo track editing here. It’s a banger isn’t it? The original set of sides went on rather long so there’s some vicious editing here. Naturally the women stomp all over the homophobic toss of the men. They’re John’s records so fuck it, I don’t care, I just cut ‘em up.
27:39 Baby Cham & Mister Easy – Funny Man (Mad House 7”) 1996
28:53 Lady Saw – Sycamore Tree (Mad House 7”) 1996
30:01 Frisco Kid – Rubbers (Mad House 7”) 1996
31:05 Buju Banton – How It Ago Go (Mad House 7”) 1996
32:08 Tanya Stephens – Yuh Nuh Ready Fi Dis Yet (Mad House 7”) 1996
33:37 Slew Dem – Joyride Vocal (Slewdem Productions 12”) 2005
And then the Pum Pum riddim. Doogz AND Harry Toddler AND Flow Dan on one riddim? That’s it. Game over. Grime IS bashment.
35:13 Dutty Doogz – Pum Pum Stealer (Night Flight 12”) 2003
36:35 Harry Toddler – Good Good (Night Flight 12”) 2003
36:49 Flow Dan – Galist (Night Flight 12”) 2003
37:16 Jamaka Bi – Zoom 4 Pum (Night Flight 12”) 2003
But Buss It Up is just something else. I rejigged the whole mix to make room for it. This utterly overwhelming slice of super-sophisticated grimey dancehall devastation is mind blowing. Totally amazing. Kano can release as many duff hiphop CDs as he wants as far as I’m concerned – this record truly is one of the great achievements of western civilisation. Love the loooooong mix from Pum Pum.
39:15 Kano and Vybz Kartel – Buss It Up (679 7”) 2006
And after another nifty radio slot from Jammer, we’re into the glory that is the One In Ten riddim. When ub40 gets reversioned by other reggae acts, the (often all too real) quality in the original comes shining through. Loads of tweaky edits in the mix into Rossi B and Luca, which itself filters seamlessly into Ini Kimoze, and the scorched earth power of NASTY Crew. This is a “good bit”, my favourite part of the whole mix.
43:16 Neckle Camp feat. Jammer, Rinse FM
44:01 Yami Bolo – Top Shotta (Black Diamonds 7”) 2002
45:48 Junior Reid – Rise Up (Black Diamonds 7”) 2002
46:32 Half Pint – Bounce (Black Diamonds 7”) 2002
47:37 Lukie D – One In Ten (Black Diamonds 7”) 2002
49:12 Rossi B and Luka – Nobody Knows (from The Legacy EP, Heavy Artillery 12”) 2007
51:29 Ini Kamoze – World a Reggae Music (from Sly and Robbie’s Taxi Sound, Auralux LP) 1984
53:03 Rossi B and Luka – Run 4 Cover instrumental (12” white label) 2005
53:48 Rossi B and Luka feat. Nasty Crew – Run 4 Cover (12” white label) 2005
Anyway. Yes. Ice Rink. Only in dub. With fuckloads of sirens. And some hot cutting. Ain’t bad really is it?
56:45 Neckle Camp feat. Jammer, Rinse FM
57:13 Breeze – Ice Rink (Wiley Kat 12”) 2003
59:16 Tinchy Stryder – Ice Rink (Wiley Kat 12”) 2003
60:36 Kano – Ice Rink (Wiley Kat 12”) 2003
63:56 Riko – Ice Rink (Wiley Kat 12”) 2003
And then to the iconic male star of reggae and his extremely wise decision to show off a gentler side in the most spare production imaginable. Dripping with raw emotion, it’s the perfect foil for Jammer’s nervous matey-ness, before Rhianna comes in to give them both a right kicking. Superb voice. And how tempted was I to download the funky house refix? Not enough to inflict it on John!
65:58 Sizzla – Give Me A Try (from Rise to the Occasion) 2003
67:18 Jammer – Give Me a Try (from Are You Dumb vol 2) 2006
71:04 Sizzla Vs Rhianna – Give Me A Try (remix) 2007
That’s it. Our last bloggariddims. End of an era really. Fab to do another mix with John. Thanks to droid for keeping it moving.
The idea behind the Dubstep Sufferah series was that while dubstep is fantastic when it’s mixed live and hyped up, there’s still scope for mixes that are coherent, long-form pieces of music, in the manner of house or techno mixes. For Volume 3, I was originally going to do an all-vinyl mix, but it wasn’t really unique enough, and then Paul Autonomic said he wanted to hear some of the unreleased stuff that I have, so I went in another direction. Simultaneously there was an explosion of creativity in grime, and I found that loads of it actually went really well with dubstep. So Dubstep Sufferah 3 turned into a dubstep versus grime cross over mix, while also showing how dubstep doesn’t have to be this narcoleptic, mordant trough of despondency that some people are trying to turn it into.
This mix has already gone out to a bunch of people over email and well over two hundred people have got it – it seems to be going down fairly well.
It’s now up as a fairly heavy 180Mb LAME-encoded 320K mp3. I didn’t bother to zip it this time – you know the score, download it by right clicking (PC) or ctrl-clicking (Mac) on the link, don’t play it in your browser. If it gets caned I may have to put up a more light-weight version. You can get it here.
Dubstep Sufferah Volume 3
00:00 Narcossist: No Love (CDR)
03:36: Caspa: Homesick (CDR)
04:24 DQ1: Gud Money (CDR – forthcoming on Tectonic)
05:24 Kano: Mr Me Too (Kano Mixtape)
10:43 Side 9000: Dhun (CDR)
13:42 MASSIVE MUSIC: Find My Way (Kode 9 remix) (Hyperdub)
16:52 TimeBlind: Copy Copy
18:31 Roll Deep: Celebrate (Rules and Regulations CD)
21:28 DJ JSL: Coyote Dub (CDR) / Slew Dem: Bumbaclaat Badman
23:19 Monochrome: Mine a Kill Dem (CDR)
26:44 Narcossist: White Lotus (CDR) / Scare Dem Crew Featuring L.G., Pointer, Ears, Lassy, Scotty D., Muscles, J.P. & Flamin’: Take Off
30:18 Skream: Make Me (Tempa) / Timbaland & Magoo: Get Crunk / JME: Deadout / Caspa : LFO King (CDR)
33:36 Cloaks: Dark (Version) (CDR) / Kano & Jammer: Tapout (Jah Mek The World The Classics Mixtape)
37:40 Komonazmuk: Fear (CDR) / Roll Deep: Babylon Burners (Rules and Regulations CD)
40:55 Coki: Tortured (Tempa) / Ruff Sqwad: Down (Gun an Roses Mixtape)
43:44 Cloaks: Too On Top (CDR) / Trim: But I Still (Soul food mixtape)
47:17 Loefah: Voodoo (666) / Lord Finesse: Check the Method (DJ Premier Scratch Mix)
52:20 Loefah: Natural Charge (Grievous Angel Edit) (CDR)
56:40 Loefah: Disko Rekah (Deep Medi) / Cluekid & Cotti: Sensi Dub (White)
59:41 Cluekid & Cotti: Flashback (White) / Ruff Sqwad: When Itz On (Guns and Roses Mixtape)
63:07: Skream: Losing Control (Grievous Angel Edit) (Tempa)/ Trim: In the Ghetto (Soul Food Volume 1 Mixtape)
65:28 Grievous Angel: Culture Killer (CDR) / Trim: Wot Part One (Soul Food Volume 1 Mixtape) / JME: 96 Bars of JME
70:39 TRG Vs Selector DubU: Losing Marbles (CDR)
73:37 Kode9: Magnetic City (Hyperdub)
78:33 ENDS
Now, let me tell you a little bit about each of the tracks…
00:00 Narcossist: No Love
A very, very fresh, very hot new track – Joe only finished it a week or so before putting this mix up – and it’s a lovely bit of bleepy rolling dubstep. More at www.myspace.com/narcossist – Joe has loads of dubz… 03.36 Caspa: Homesick (CDR)
Dunno when or if this is coming out. I really like Caspa when he’s in more reflective mood, and I’ve dubbed this heavily too.
04:24 DQ1: Gud Money (forthcoming on Tectonic)
I’ve had this for absolutely ages. Really top notch dub, almost as good as wear the Crown, be interesting how it sounds after Pinch has had it mastered.
05:24 Kano: Mr Me Too One of the standout tracks from the Kano mixtape – minimal heaviness, screwed and chopped a bit. Bit of a “statement” track which I’ve used to signify that this is more than just another dubstep mix – this is a mix that brings dubstep and grime back together.
10:43 Side 9000: Dhun (CDR)
A rarity from Czech producer DJ Side, which came out on mp3 over a year ago – I thought it was one of DJ JSL’s lost classics but it’s my memory playing tricks with me. It’s certainly good enough to be one of JSL’s – yes, it’s THAT good. It’s a corking bit of Indo-dub. Lots more over at http://side.skate4you.cz/.
13:20 MASSIVE MUSIC: Find My Way (Kode 9 remix) (Hyperdub)
is this the first Kode track to feature his new trade mark, Augustus Pablo-style melodica? I don’t know but this remix (has anyone heard the original?) is wonderful.
16:52 TimeBlind: Copy Copy
From a flawed EP, but this is Enochian, glitchy, hermetic dubstep at is best. Surprisingly popular too, no wonder it got a repress, and it’s the perfect foil to…
18:31 Roll Deep: Celebrate (Rules and Regulations CD)
This is where we stop lolling around in a dubby fug and start jumpin around the room. SUCH a huge party tune.
21:28 DJ JSL: Coyote Dub (CDR) / Slew Dem: Bumbaclaat Badman
JSL is going to be a MASSIVE producer one day if he carries on pumping out huge, eminently danceable and listenable tunes like this. Slew Dem go over the top fantastically well. More over at here.
23:19 Monochrome: Mine a Kill Dem (CDR)
And the utterly wonderful Monochrome slide in there really well too. Monochrome is Tom Churchill’s new dubstep outfit who have a HEAP of fantastic tunes, I nearly put them all on here and probably should have. Tom if you don’t know him is an absolute don in deep techno and house circles with his Emoticon imprint and is also a serious broken beat man too. Get a fabulous mix by Tom of most of his work as Monochrome here.
26:44 Narcossist: White Lotus (CDR) / Scare Dem Crew: Take Off (Fresh Breath of Ears mixtape)
One of Joe’s best tunes from last year (and there were a few!) gets ripped to shreds under the onslaught of the highly gifted Scare Dem Crew. More taut bouncy grime set in counterpoint to heavyweight dub. I love this bit…
30:18 Skream: Make Me / Timbaland & Magoo: Get Crunk / JME: Deadout / Caspa : LFO King
Yeah, some serious mixology on this one. Bassline swaps between Skream’s Make Me and Caspa’s unreleased LFO King, which I still think will be a huge tune. Total LFO-frenzy sickness. Plus JME and Timbaland over the top. Not a bad little cut up. But it’s merely a warm up for…
33:36 Cloaks: Dark (Version) / Kano & Jammer: Tapout
Oh my god, how good are Cloaks? We at DustScience got to know them through techno wunderkind Derailleur, who’s done some releases with us, and Cloaks are mates of his. Vast rhythmic invention and overwhelming industrial soundscaping go just perfectly with Kano and Jammer’s unbelievably paranoid riffing. Total heaviosity, I just love this. Turn it up!
37:40 Komonazmuk: Fear (CDR) / Roll Deep: Babylon Burners (Rules and Regulations Mixtape)
And the dread vibes get ratched up significantly by Komonazmuk, who is one of the very, very few refugees from drum’n'bass to really get dubstep in my opinion. Part of the HENCH crew, he’s got form, having had a string of releases on Moving Shadow, Tech Itch, Hard Leaders and his own imprint Ice Minus Recordings. This tune goes just great with Roll Deep’s yardie flow special, here cut up to fit. Another great moment, especially the way it flows into…
40:55 Coki: Tortured /Ruff Sqwad: Down
Every grime MC’s favourite dubstep tune to toast over, so it had to be Roll Deep to start, and a Ruff Sqwad classic to finish! Some great jazz intervals with the combination and one hell of a climax, the mix just goes on and on, with Cloaks bassline gettin more and more syncopated as it goes on, Trim’s string riff glidin over the top… mental
43:44 Cloaks: Too On Top (CDR) / Trim: But I Still (Soul Food Volume 1 mixtape)
Yes yes yes! More metallic, grinding industrial funk from Cloaks – it just sends me into spasms every time I hear it! MASSIVE swing when you lay Trim on top too. This is a good bit.
47:17 Loefah: Voodoo (666) / Lord Finesse: Check the Method (DJ Premier Scratch Mix)
Voodoo was a bit of disappointment when it came out (should it have come out?) but it’s full power comes out in combination with an MC. And, well, it wouldn’t have been right to combine Loefah with grime, not when it’s just soooooooo tempting to layer his beloved hip-hop over it. I had a bit of a Premier fixation at the start of the year and just fell in love with this tune, which was on an early Premier mixtape. I’m always telling Loe he’s the DJ Premier of dubstep so the combo was made and I really like it.
51:07 Loefah: Natural Charge (Grievous Angel Edit) (CDR)
Surely this will come out some time? (Assuming he’s finished it!) I’ve had this a long time, over a year, and it goes just great with Lord Finesse. I really stretched it out though – that one note 808 bass drop is just addictive.
54:24 Loefah: Disko Rekah (Deep Medi) / Cluekid & Cotti: Sensi Dub
This mix was going to be mostly vinyl mixing until Paul Nomos / Autonomic persuaded me he really wanted to hear some of the unreleased stuff in a computerised mix, and what he say goes, so the vinyl mix will have to wait for a bit. This is the only bit that survived – it’s just got a few bits of the Disko Rekah CDR in there. Some intense EQ refixing going on here. There’s a whole story about Disko Rekah and how it ended up on Deep Medi but this isn’t the time to tell it!
59:41 Cluekid & Cotti: Flashback (White) / Ruff Sqwad: When Itz On (Guns and Roses Mixtape)
Banging acid mentalism from CLueKid and Cotti here, going a long way from the dancehall refixing they’re famous for, and it’s just mental! Cuts into and out of Ruff Sqwad’s classic
63:07: Skream: Losing Control (Edit) / Trim: In the Ghetto
Yet more acid mentalism, this time from Skream! I cut this up so much, I love it, it’s so banging, we’re heading deep into acid techno territory but with wobble bass and Trim whispering in your ear and fucking with your head. Pogo-tastic – anyone who thinks dubstep is all slovenly monging should hear this.
65:28 Grievous Angel: Culture Killer (CDR) / Trim: Wot Part One / JME: 96 Bars of JME
Probably my favourite of my own tunes, here massively pitched up so its ragga techno rhythms are utterly pounding, working neatly round Trim’s bleeps. But this track takes on a whole other aspect when JME comes in. This is the peak of the mix. There’s so much space in JME’s tune you think it’s just laid back but it there’s intense deep funk going on and that intensity really comes out when you put it over something uptempo.
70:39 TRG Vs Selector DubU: Losing Marbles (CDR)
Another incredibly fresh tune – it was only finished a few days before closing out the mix. It’s ragga techno but a lot deeper than my stuff, easing the heaviness down a bit.
73:37 Kode9: Magnetic City
And now the long drift down into silence. The Nine’s utterly spellbinding melodica journey kills it every time and here it is dubbed to fuck. Includes the ghostly presence of Flow Dan drifting through the background, from Loefah’s remix of The Bug’s Jah War, bringing the MC presence in the mix to a natural conclusion.
It’s been a mad couple of weeks since I last posted. Straight after I played at C90′s Summer Bashment party we had the floods, plus I’ve been mad busy with work and a couple of projects, one of which I am releasing now. But first a couple of words about the C90 party – it was idyllic! Just the way parties are supposed to be. All the DJs ate together with the C90 crew before we all clubbed together to get the equipment sorted out – a real collaborative effort. All the people were fantastic, really nice. And best of all the party went OFF. It was full by 11 and stayed full til late – I went at 3AM and it was still packed and jumpin’ by then. The venue was wicked – a GREAT Ethiopian restaurant with dark little venue in the basement – on this occasion half full of a soundsystem, which was fantastic. And musically, it was triumphant, with some varied shades of dancehall and dub. I played a fairly banging set of mainly 80s dancehall, with a bit of roots at the start, climaxing with Yellowman’s ZungeZungZung and Tippa Irie’s Lyric Maker. Rich C90 (http://www.c90.org/) played a really hot, creative dubstep set. Maga Bo (http://magabo.com/) was amazing – almost two hours of Baile Funk, ragga techno and dubstep all cut-up live in Ableton (with a nice 8-way M-Audio controller). Some of it was godsmackingly good and of course lots of it had samples of groovy, poppy Latin gear, though the best of it was this really deep, minimal, throbbing 140bpm bass music with ragga beats. As so often happens with Ableton sets, the mixing was so seamless and perfect that it got a bit relentless at times and you really wanted a rewind, a disjointed element. But it was brilliant. Check out his website – there’s loads of great stuff up there and he’s done some very interesting projects. The main event was Heatwave (http://www.scandalbag.com) playing back to back with RuffNeck Diskotek’s (http://www.myspace.com/ruffnekdiskotek) Tim Dub Boy who were just fantasic. Both Gabriel and Tim were unbelievably tight! And the selection was huge. Plus Heatwave came with Rubi Dan who is just a FANTASTIC MC – I’d absolutely love to work with him.
I shot loads of video but the quality is pretty patchy. I’ll probably stick a few bits on YouTube and I might save out some of the sets as audio files and put them up here as a memento but it’s not quite as good as I hoped it might be. That soundsystem was just too loud!
In Sheffield – the ultimate solstice night out! The hottest dancehall line up the UK can offer!
Next Friday at the Ehtio-Cubana restaurant at 15-23 Arundel Gate. It’s near the end of Arundel Gate opposite TJ Hughes, where the tram stop and Primark are, on the same side of the road as the Roxy nightclub and Odeon cinema. It’s got a big colourful sign saying ETHIOCUBANA.
I’ll be playing a bunch of mainly 80s roots, dub and dancehall, possibly with some 90s bashment cuts – and a bit of dubstep and ragga jungle if I can get away with it.
deeptime And then this is just insane. Greg from Beatdiaspora has organized a Blogariddims Orgy on WHRB Cambridge, Harvard Radio Broadcasting. (WHRB’s ‘Orgies’ are, apparently, a 40 year old, post-exam tradition – the first was 9 consecutive Beethoven symphonies) This co-production of the Record Hospital (www.recordhospital.org) and The Darker Side (www.whrb.org/tds). A big thank you to everyone who’s made this happen. What a great way to cap off the first (almost) year of an outstanding series. This is my first orgy and I couldn’t have been in better company.
Here’s the schedule:
BLOGARIDDIMS ORGY
11 hours (wed 5/16, 10 pm to thur 5/17, 9 am)
12 hours (thur 5/17, 8 pm to fri 5/18, 8 am)
= 23 hours of the entire blogariddims podcast in order of appearance
I don’t know about you but I think there’s a huge grime renaissance going on right now. Alex Bk Bk has moved over to grime from dubstep almost completely and as you may have noticed, John Eden has been blasting it (a few years too late, but I always told him he’d get into it eventually!). Key to this are the Roll Deep CD Rules and Regulations (which you MUST have by now surely, it’s amazing) and Trim’s Soul Food volume one mix tape. It’s taken me a while to get into it but it’s a real grower and his laid back, spooky yet comic delivery is utterly captivating. There are a good seven or eight tracks that are just brilliant – even though I don’t like the skits and the tributes much, and even though the tracks could often be longer, there’s loads of deep tunes on here. Liar, Liar, In the Ghetto, Wot, and But I Still are just superb.
I also picked up a few bits and pieces on Archive Recordings from Boomkat, including a very nice 10 inch with Junior Reid’s One Sufferation and some Tubby’s versions. I assume it’s a reissue label but some cursory searching has revealed nothing. Doubtless every reggae fan in the country knows all about them but there you are.
There seems to be a Basic Replay re-issue deluge happening at the moment and most of them are TOP so get on it.
ACKIE / CHESSE ROOTS, Call Me Rambo / Rambo Gun Salute
C64 helicopter noises never sounded so good! This is a super-heavy Brit MC plate, very enjoyable, with slightly less acomplished versions.
“This was recorded in 1986 and originally released on the Heavyweight label (an offshoot of the Heavyweight soundsystem, based in the Wood Green and Tottenham areas of north London), featuring Chester Roots at the controls and his nephew Ackie at the microphone; also the helicopter sounds free with a Commodore 64.”
KING CULTURE PRESENTS : CUSS CUSS, King Culture Presents : Cuss Cuss, 12″
This seems to be from last year. It’s a slightly sweeter cut with Barry Brown’s Nice Up the Session probably my favourite and of course it’s amazingly good value – six tracks on one twelve
“Six murderous outings for Lloyd Robinson’s immortal rhythm on this showcase EP collecting singles produced by King Culture in Toronto and Kingston, Jamaica, during 1980-81.
Rod Taylor was voiced in JA; Barry Brown between both cities. Stamma was mic man for the JA sound Taurus: this was his recording debut. Mixing was done at Tubby’s, assisted by his apprentices Professor and Puggy (an expert with the Delta 4 machine tape-delay).
These versions tore up dancehalls at the time. Listen to Gemini at Skateland, with Welton Irie, Plough, Ringo and full crew, all riding dubs [If anyone knows where I can get this, let me know! - p.m].
* Rod Taylor: Lonely Girl
* Lonely Girl Version
* Nice Up The Session Version
* Barry Brown: Nice Up The Session
* Stamma Rank: Taurus Special
* Taurus Special Version”
Grime spree | Urban | Guardian Unlimited Music “Dizzee’s vision was further than mine at the time, and our manager had to take Dizzee to where he was going, but he left us all behind,” says Wiley
Most Dan in the Guardian writing about Wiley’s new album. Hold tight for the director’s cut version at Lower End Spasm? Lets hope so.
After seeing Youngsta last week I was HYPE for seeing Mala in Sheffield. He’s my second favourite DJ in the world (after Shaka). Sadly I was never likely to get there – I tried to schedule this week’s trip to New York so I could get there but I was going to fly the next morning, so it was going to be a struggle – and then I went down with chicken pox and was quarantined at home. (In fact I should really have been in bed constantly, but until today I’ve been struggling to function normally – big mistake.)
Normally this would mean no chance of a review, but due to the immense power of the dubstep community, I can put together a decent report – and even pictures.
The Tuesday Club put Mala on in the Foundry back room with C90 crew on before and Junglist Alliance on after. This was a student venue, a school night, and it’s exam time, but even so, 500 dubsteppers were crammed in there. Trust me, that’s a result. As I noted in my Youngsta review, Juliun C90 reckons that Sheffield is now “well and truly in the grip of the dubstep virus”.
The difference in the crowd in terms of numbers present and knowledge of the music from when I warmed up for the warrior dubs tour a while back to last night was phenomenal.” This is not such a long time – Halloween last year, when Loefah and Plastician played (and I was also sick. Bloody kids). And Godspeed 120 remembers Juliun doing a dubstep set at a Tuesday Club residents night this time last year, when there were about twenty people on the dance floor – things have changed.
As ever at dubstep events there was a great vibe in the dance, but it sounds like (and looks like) people were really going for it on the dancefloor. C90 crew rocked it with impeccable mixing.
But it sounds like Mala was, as ever, on another plane entirely.
It’s amazing that the two poles of dubstep DJing were representing in Sheffield one after another – the coldness of Yunx, the sweet heat of Mala.
His sound seems to have benefited from the intimate venue, especially with the extra weight brought in for the occasion. Apparently he was pure fire last night – dark, dubby, massive. Jah War, Miracles, Lean Forward and loads of new fairly fresh stuff all dropped.
Looks like people were worshipping the bass…
… getting munted…
… and getting happy…
… and giving some serious “defiant stare”…
Many thanks to the people at dubstep forum for the reports, especially to ikarai for taking such great photos.
