Smiley Culture onstage at Reggae Sunsplash in 1985.
I don’t know how someone can stab themselves in the heart…
Here’s our tribute to him… back up.
On the wire returns
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.”
Grievous Angel promo mix for Twilight Soundsystem
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. http://www.grievousangel.net/GAMixes/Twilight_Circus_In_Dub_Grievous_Angel_Mix_2020_remaster.mp3
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)
New mix – Social Circles Bizzle
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.
Tracklisting:
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…
Grievous Angel presents Belief is the Enemy
The first Grievous Angel album is called [b]Belief is the Enemy[/b].
It’s out on 27th June on Elektrik Dragon, through Baked Goods.
It’s a two disc set: the album comes with a mix CD, called [b]Believe in Dub[/b].
It’s a proper album. There’s a load of different flavours here… pounding hard techno-y gear, sweet soft dubstep rollers, dubby garage, bashy stuff, grinding industrial riddims. And a bunch of tracks with Rubi Dan, the MC from Heatwave, the famous London dancehall crew. He’s a BAD MC.
You can hear previews of the tracks at [url]www.myspace.com/grievousangelsoundsystem[/url].
Track listings are as follows:
CD1: Belief Is The Enemy:
1. We Want You 138. Deep, lush dubstep
2. Lickle Friction 138. Hard industrial dubstep
3. Gone, Gone, Gone 138. Deep-space dubstep
4. Immigrant 138. Twisted industrial dubstep breaks
5. 1985 Style 100. Dancehall
6. Long Gone Dub (With Rubi Dan) 138. Soft, spacey dubstep
7. Move Down Low (With Rubi Dan) 120. Banging ragga techno with MC
8. Culture Killer (With Rubi Dan) 130. Banging ragga techno with MC
9. Soundman Tribute 138. Banging ragga techno – stupid but fun, squealing headache synths…
10. Velvet Dub (Bitten By The Black Dog) 138. Heavyweight electronic dubstep
11. Culture Killer (Discomix) 130. Minimal ragga techno
12. Velvet Dub 138. Deep, lush dubstep
CD2. Believe in Dub.
00.00 1985 Style
05.45 Bad Man Dub (Black Hole remix)
11.51 Velvet Dub (VIP mix)
16.52 Gone, Gone, Gone
23.50 Long Gone Dub (With Rubi Dan)
27.32 We Want You
31.57 Lickle Friction
37.04 Glitter Dub
42.15 Culture Killer (With Rubi Dan)
47.28 Immigrant
51.13 Soundman Tribute
56.46 Culture Killer (Discomix)
60.59 Move Down Low (Version)
63.51 Move Down Low (With Rubi Dan)
The mix CD has additional tracks, and everything is cut up, has loads of extra FX, sirens, yard tape samples etc. It’s pretty massive.
I don’t know about you but I switch between wanting albums as seperate tracks (for mix ammunition) and hearing the tunes in the mix as the artist intended (and as the tunes really deserve). With this album you don’t have to choose – you get both. I like the mix better. But the album has the Black Dog remix. You really need to hear that and it’s one of just two they’re doing this year. And lots of people seem to want Culture Killer and Move Down Low as standalone tunes. So…
Catalogue number is ELEKD-02. Street date is 27th June. Distribution is Baked Goods. You know what to do – it’ll be worth it. Vinyl news when I have it.
Like I said before – big up all soundmen in here who’ve been playing my stuff out – Tim Dub Boy, Sam Atki2, Blackdown, Paul Hotflush and all the rest of you. All I ever wanted was to get some tunes played in the dance. Getting a CD out is a nice bonus.
Blogariddims 40: John Eden & Grievous Angel present grime in the dancehall
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.
Details of how to subscribe to Blogariddims
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.
00:00 Introduction
00:26 Neckle Camp feat. Jammer, Rinse FM
01:02 Turbulence acapella
02:06 Turbulence – Notorious (THC Muzik 7”) 2005
02:40 Trim & Radioclit – Turbulence remix (from Soulfood vol 1) 2007
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.
Rubi Dan spitting Culture Killer, Difficult Fun, Hackney 07-08-2007
Rubi Dan spitting Culture Killer, Difficult Fun, Hackney 07-08-2007, originally uploaded by grievousangelsoundsystem.
Not many pix from the session came out, which is a shame, plus I was kinda busy at the time, but this is Rubi doing Culture Killer. He smacked it!
Gutter on Night Dubbing
Yeah, I was always a huge fan of Love and Dancing (I put the Hard Times remix on my Fake It Til You Make It: 80s Dance Music In Dub mix that I did a few years back), much more so than Dare. I was always a version man!
But the Imagination dub record – which was before Love and Dancing – was a very big record for me, first time round. Back then everyone in Essex were big imagination fans (though admittedly few were also Cabaret Voltaire fans). But Night Dubbing, which I had on a shonky little tape, was something else and confused most people, though for me it was a direct link between this and the Scientist stuff I was beginning to access at that time. We used to pass round the box at lunch times at school, reading the tracks and marvelling at the idea that they could be so drastically remodelled. I remember when the trendies were going mad over the Peech Boys’ Don’t Make Me Wait a few years later and I kept on thinking “Have you actually heard Imagination?” Of course the big debate at the time was “Are they gay?” It was obvious that Leee John was but the hard man soul boys couldn’t leave it alone. The NF types were a different matter. I really liked the way that it was obviously derived from gay dance music while avoiding hi-nrg cliche, and the way that it looped around (without actually confronting) the heteronormativity of reggae. It made perfect sense in the context of electro and (just) pre-AIDS dance music. I don’t think it’s wrong to think of this record as a mountain rather than a mole hill – it was an explicit link in the chain of UK derivations of black American dance music that led onto the rave scene, in Essex at least, and the sheer intoxicating drugginess of Night Dubbing created the right climate. Dub is black psychedelia after all and this fits right in with Hendrix, though it was never quite extreme enough; too much reverb’ed piano, not enough low end or noise. Then again it was a HUGE fuck record for a couple of years. A bit of a landmark for me, this one, though not as much as African Dub Chapter 3 or 2×45.
B15 project
Thanks to all who have sent in information on the B15 project. It’s fascinating! There is I think scope for an article on UB40’s contribution to UK (and indeed JA) reggae – apart from the fact that the first album (and it’s dub version) is fantastic, they are actually a proper reggae band that has always had a black UK and JA audience as well as a pop audience. And their cover of Red Red Wine is, perhaps surprisingly, genuinely really good when you separate its musical essence out from the schmaltzy pop side. Eden has a magnificent refix of it with a fab MC on which he put on one of his end-of-year mixes. (He won’t let me host it!)
Anyway, some Discogs info on B15. First, the label: “Oracabessa Records was set up by Ali Campbell and Brian Travers (both known as leadsinger and sax player of UB40, respectively). Working from their studios in Oracabessa (St. Mary, Jamaica) and Birmingham (United Kingdom), the record label is used to promote Jamaican dancehall and reggae artists, mixing their vocals with UK 2-Step and other dance music.” Which is fascinating, obviously. Now B15 themselves: “Angus Campbell & Ian Wallman came up with the B-15 Project name because of their Birmingham postcode (B15).” So the comments box massive are bang on and it looks like a cousin of Ali Campbell. Good work all round!