Category: Turntables

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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.

Here.

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…

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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

Direct link to the mp3

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.

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Grievous Angel Presents Dubstep Sufferah Volume 3

Dubstep Sufferah 3

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.

78:33 ENDS

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C90 Basement Bashment aftermath

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!

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Heatwave & Maga Bo in Sheffield – with me supporting!

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.

Get in…

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Blog orgy

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

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Trim: Soul Food


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.

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Archive recordings?

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.

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Basic Replay re-issues – get ‘em while they’re hot

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
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”