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Saturday, February 23, 2002

Playlist - 23rd February 2002

Horace Andy -Music dub -(Blood & Fire)
Stone Love Crew -Bad calic rhtyhm -(Greensleeves)
Merciless -Ghetto anthem -
Half Pint & Don Lewi -Greeting's jungle -(White Label)
Yabby You -Greetings -(Blood & Fire)
The Bionaut -I wish I was tied to Betha -(Trikont)
Ruisort -Dios mono -(Certificate 18)
Bruce Haack -Mean old devil -(Mute)
Bobby Conn-Winners -(Thrill Jockey)
Req -Upstairs -(Warp)
Boards of Canada -Music is math -(Warp)
Arnold Dreyblatt -International dateline -(Cantaloupe)
Information Society -Running -(Obsessive)
Spiroboy -Key series -(CDR)
Asha Bhonsle & Rahul Dev Burman -Piya tu ab to anja -(Rough Guides)
La Bottine Souriante -Le Reel des Soucoupes Volantes -(cdr)
Bob Dylan -From a Buick 6 -(Columbia0
Bob Dylan -Cry a while -(Columbia)
Hi Henry Brown -Preacher blues -(Yazoo)
Chris Thomas King -Mississippi KKKrossroads -(Ocho)
Orchestra Marrabenta Star de Mozambique -Nwahulwana -
Orchestra Super Mazembe -Shauri yako -(Earthworks)

Saturday, February 16, 2002

Playlist - 16th February 2002

The Heads -Dissonaut -(Sweet Nothing)
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion -She said -(Mute)
Digital -Champion bubbler -(Function)
Richie Hawtin -Range'd -(Novamute)
The Skatalites -Fugitive dub -(Motion)
Tommy McCook -One train load of collie -(Heartbeat)
Morgan Heritage & Shabba -Dem a bawl -(Maximum Pressure)
Trio Mocoto -Kriola -(Ziriguiboom)
Rob Life -OK we're rollin' -(Breakin' Bread)
Funkadelic -Nappy dugout -(BGP)
Al Kooper -Flute thing -(Columbia)
Compay Segundo -Saludo a Chango -(Gasa)
Souad Massi -Tant pis pour moi -(Wrasse)
Tom Waits -The world keeps turning -(Unitone)
Lambchop -Uti -(City Slang)
Fila Brazillia -We build Arks -(Twenty Three)
The Shadows -Apache/Shazam -(EMI)
Femi Kuti -Do your best -(Wrasse)
Fela Kuti -Wayo -(Wrasse)
Gil Evans -Angel -(RCA Victor Gold Series)
Henry Thomas -Fishing blues -(Document)
Too Tight Henry -Charleston Contest 2 -(Document)
Austin Pitre & the Evangeline Playboys -Flumes d'enfer -(Ace)
Darby & Tarlton -Sweet Sarah blues -(Document)
Alice Coltrane -Prema -(Warner Bros)

Saturday, February 09, 2002

Playlist - 9th February 2002

Lenky -Z2020 -(Vecta)
Roy Richards -Jamaican memories -(Trojan)
Iration Steppas -War dub -(Tandoori Space)
Iration Steppas -Jungle dub -(Tandoori Space)
Iration Steppas -One drop remix -(Tandoori Space)
Junior Delahaye -Love -(Wackies)
Colourbox -Baby I love you so -(4AD)
Marley radio aed- -
Bob Marley & the Wailers -Jamming (version) -(Tuff Gong)
U Roy -Full time -(Heartbeat)
Joe Higgs -So it go -(Alligator)
Freedom Masses -Satan slaughter -(Corroboree)
Wackies Allstars -Undying dub -(Wackies)
Dub Funk Association -Africa sent us -(Tanty)
The Observers -Boiling over -(Heartbeat)
Dizzie Gillespie -Matrix -(Castle)
Marvin Gaye -Where are we going? -(Motown)
Fela Kuti -J.J.D. -(Wrasse)
Loose Joints -Is it all over my face -(West End)
Jaguar Wright -The what ifs -(MCA)
Blue Six -Lets do it together -(Naked Music)
Fela Kuti -Open and close -(Wrasse)
Mafikizolo -Loot -(MAW Records)
The A5-Cybergoth-(5 mixes on R-benning)
Dressy Bessy-Look Around-(Album - Pink Hearty Yellow Moons on the Track and Organisation)
Real Schocks-Like a Clown-(From their Maxi-Single CD on Lithium Records)
www.lithiumrecords.co.uk

Saturday, February 02, 2002

Playlist - 2nd February 2002

Key Aura -Stop frame skank -(Pussyfoot)
Cylob -Cut the midrange drop the bass -(Rephlex)
Cabaret Voltaire -Thank you America (bonus beats) -(Virgin)
Gang of Four -To hell with poverty -(Soul Jazz)
Esquivel -Lazy bones -(BMG)
Oliver Ho -Relic -(META)
Drexciya -The song of the green whale -(Tresor)
A Small Good Thing -A mighty stillness -(Leaf quake)
Minotaur Shock -Websites/Roman answer -(Melodic)
Arovane -tascel_7 -(Mute)
EU -Veefun -(Pause)
Retina.IT -Our lady of mistery -(Hefty)
Alog -Violence and magical danger -(Rune Grammofon)
Arve Henriksen -Viewing infinite space -(Rune Grammofon)
To Rococo Rot -Kolner Brett -(Staub)
Jimi Tenor -Moonfolks -(Sahko)
DJ Krash Slaughta -Never know -(Evil Genius)
Peter Bonello -Electronic track 10 -(Lo)
Jerry & the Medicine Men -The medicine man pt.2 -(Lo)
Critical Point -Transition -(!K7)
Sunz of Mecha -Ruff and Rugged -(Mechanoise)
Digital Mystery Tour -Seti 101 -(Twisted Records)
To Rococo Rot and I-Sound -The trance of travel (gets) -(City Slang)
Mr Scruff -Get a move on -(Aura)
Chicks on Speed/Kreidler -Frequent flyer lounge song -(Chicks on Speed)
J-Walk -Soul vibration -(Music For Dreams)
Tessem -Lesson to late -(from a 3 track demo)
Superstring -Lee Very Edge -(7" inch single on contrude)
The Needles -I don't want to go to school -(7" inch single on Lithium)

Friday, February 01, 2002

Dub Review - February 2002

Augustus Pablo This Is Augustus Pablo

ABOVE ROCK ARM2001

The late tooter's first album, dating back to 1974, is back on the streets again and worth a mention not only for the quality of the set but also as a marker - given the choice in the racks - that this is amongst the best music Pablo ever put out. Produced by Clive Chin and originally released on the Tropical label, this is a collection of instrumentals on which Pablo demonstrates his keyboard skills on piano, organ, clavinet as well as his beloved melodica. Recorded at Randy's, the mix and remix engineer is Errol.Thompson. Earlier rebel rock far east hit "Java" is included, and there are three certified stone classics in "Dub Organiser", "Dread Eye" and "Guiding Red". This album makes sense of all that follows in this musician's extraordinary catalogue.

Brenda Ray Dreamin'/Another Dream

WAMBESI 7" VINYL TWDV586

Brenda Ray will be familiar to observers of the Liverpool music scene over the years as part of the NAAFI organisation who dubbed it up consistently through the eighties, and also as Brenda of Brenda and the Beachballs' fame. Over the past few years, together with cohort the Minister of Noise, she has been aiding and abetting the Spanish Town postmaster and artist/producer Roy Cousins, once of the Royals, in his programme of remastering and reissuing selections from his Tamoki Wambesi imprint. This seven inch piece is purportedly pressed up in Jamaica, if so the vinyl and presser must have been imported as finished product has no pits or bumps at all. All the better for Brenda to exercise her love of the r'n'b genre, specifically its breathy doo-wop manifestations, in this seriously infectious cut which could translate easily into a leftfield dancehall favourite. Perversely the flip is not a dub of the vocal, but a different tune altogether.

The Bug vs The Rootsman feat. He-Man Killer/Version

RAZOR X 7" VINYL RZX01

Named after the radical flic featuring the late Peter Tosh this label, bearing the legend "Made in Babylon", sets high expectations. Kevin Martin, the half of Techno Animal that is the Bug has talked John Rootsman into liberating the vocals from the multitracks of selected DJ collaborations. First fruit of this intended rough treatment is He-Man's vocals on "Killer", already a track of spitting venom, which now comes notched with a gargle of gravel in 100% proof rum on top of a rhythm to which the word "beat" cannot be applied. A crunching, heaving brittle metal lurch of a thing, particularly on the version where a crippling distortion applied to the DJ brings a modicum of relief to the unrelenting sonic violence. Disturbing - a top tune!

Derrick Harriott Presents Scrub-A-Dub

CRYSTAL 12" VINYL DH445

The albums most often quoted as "classic early dub" are usually Keith Hudson's "Pick a Dub" and Herman Chin Loy's "Aquarius Dub". In the last few years both of these have become available once more after long absences. Also deserving of inclusion in this arcane category are the early instrumental dub albums by Derrick Harriott who was already a seasoned and successful artist, producer and businessman by the time the dub sound became predominant in the mid to late seventies.

Löbe Radiant Dub System

AFTER-BEFORE AF001

Frédéric Luneau has morphed through the stretched ambience of Micro:Mega via Webcam his solo dubby jazz project for Noise Museum and into this newer, more tekdubtastic, form as Löbe. It's a bass driven thing with no room for the hazy languor that occasionally graced his previous work. Once past the Clangers torture phase on the "Fugu" track, more dubby references begin appear on "Transline", and although "When Jupiter Aligns with Mars" sounds like a reference to "Hair" its more Hendrix vs. Scientist. Fred is still in experimental mode and almost there.

Lee Perry & Friends A Live Injection - Anthology 1968 to 1979

TROJAN CDTRD455

Back to Perryland, where, as always, all is not as it seems. Appearing more or less at the same time as the woeful "Jamaican E.T.", and on the same label, here are forty four succinctly stated reasons why the most prolific and profligate of Jamaican has a right to be adored. This anthology is part of the relaunch of the Trojan catalogue following its absorption into the indie empire that is the Castle organisation, with other double retrospective sets equally worthy of attention coming from Greg Isaacs, Ken Boothe, the Ethiopians and Toots & the Maytals. The Perry compilation runs material from 1969 - the height of Perry's popularity amongst the waning UK mod contingent - and 1979, by which time he had achieved even higher heights within the vibrating womb that was the Black Ark. It would be churlish to quibble over the selection on this set which is about as good as you are going to get minus early ska sides and some of the Island stuff - but when it comes down to it any album containing Carlton & the Shoes "Better Days" must be worth having. Excellent artwork and sleevenotes bodes well for the new regime at Trojan, for a beginners guide to Scratch start here.

Leroy Smart Mirror Mirror

FE-ME-TIME 7" VINYL FM15

Appearing in the shops a couple of years back "Keep Down the Pressure" was an excellent compilation of the work of producer Jimmy "Ivan" Radway. We were promised a dub set but this never appeared due to the usual money difficulties which plague reggae - not the fault of the compiler in this case. So to obtain the dubs on these tunes resort must be had to the collectors' market or the infrequent reissue programme of seven-inch singles, some of which can still be had. This one makes a welcome reappearance. The fearsome Leroy Smart was a vocalist of choice by Radway. When on "Mother Liza" he sang ". I love your daughter." , not for one moment was this ever considered to be in the metaphysical sense. As to be expected, here he does not enquire of but threatens the mirror on the wall, on what otherwise would be a regular cheesy tune. The dub, as with all Radway's dubs, is class A1 with superb chunky mix and classy brass action courtesy of

Tosca Different Tastes of Honey

G-STONE 4x12"VINYL -022

In true version to version fashion Ralf Dorfmeister and Ruper Huber, together Tosca, weigh in thirteen pieces of their "Honey" tune across eight sides of vinyl. After the bass driven mix from the Sofa Surfers' Markus Kienzl, where the source remains identifiable, the other remixers begin to take the track further out. Downbeat exponents Massi, Shelter Ave. and Azoia all have their base with Nylon Records in Portugal - apparently the new place to be. Faze Action scissor-kick the rhythm with rapid style Brasilia percussion, smooth out the vocal samples and drop in a bloc style breakbeat; whereas Bigga Bush, Glen Bush ex-Rockers Hi-Fi, creates a jagged r'n'b rare groove after a human beat box intro and later what sounds like a Big Youth sample for flavour. Top for effort though is Germany's Supatone a.k.a. Michael Baumann who has learned how to phase wah wah and percussion with an admirable restraint and creates enough space in the second of his dubs to let the a wandering mind do the rest. Dorfmeister obviously loves his dub and this is nudub the way it should be.

Various By Special Request

HEARTBEAT HBCD7729

Eighteen tunes selected from the Treasure Isle vaults of Duke Reid by Heartbeat's Chris Wilson with a well judged mix of familiar and rare tunes. So, although by no means a "classic" collection, this turns out to be a good thing as there are far too many fairly shoddy products out on this particular producer which recycle the same old tracks - albeit great ones. Collectors and enthusiasts will perk up to find The Victors' "You Cant Stop Me" with its DJ variation by the mysterious Dynamic Man "Boss Boss", and there's a nice Justin Hinds tune "Time Pass By". Other appearances from Tommy McCook, U Roy, Dennis Alcapone, Ken Parker, John Holt and the Techniques means this release, like most from this label, can be purchased with confidence.

Various Flag Flown High - The Best of Bobby Digital's Roots Productions

MAXIMUM PRESSURE MPCD001

This new label is a joint venture between Pressure Sounds, On U Sound's sister label dedicated to the retrieval of classic reggae, and Frenchie's Maximum Sound imprint which up to now has majored in contemporary dancehall sounds issued on a 7" single format. First up is a set destined to become a modern classic compiling not only some of the best of Bobby "Digital" Dixon's productions for his own Digital B label, but also a clutch of unreleased cuts such as the startling opener from the late Garnett Silk "Mystic Chant" which utilises a loop from Jah Bob's "Natural Mystic" for its rhythm bed. No slackness to be found here of course, and for all Shabba Ranks' non-PC pedigree his "Heart Of A Lion", a paean to ghetto youth, is reggae at its most committed, powerful and compelling. Bobby Digital was a graduate from Prince Jammy's Waterhouse academy of sound and these tunes date from the decade following his departure from his mentor's studio in 1989. Amongst the eighteen tracks are contributions from Yami Bolo, Sizzla, Cocoa Tea, Morgan Heritage, Capleton and more. Uplifting.

Various The Groove Corporation Presents Remixes from the Elephant House

GUIDANCE GFGDRC606

Birmingham meets Chicago in a dub remix showdown. Over the past few years Groove Corporation have been busy on the remix duties and here they partner with Guidance in a "Blood & Fire Select Cuts" style. Although some of the tracks look unlikely candidates, like how many times have we agreed its not a good idea to remix Marley & the Wailers unless you can travel back in time to the Black Ark and pull in a DJ from Tippertone Hi-Fi or do we really need another attempt at "Cocaine In My Brain", others work out well to rescue this concept. Specifically this works best with the less obvious source material like Bobby Womack's "Across 110th Street" and Ennio Morricone's "Giocoso, Gioioso".

Various Ready When You Ready

SMUGG RECORDS GUMSCDXX007

As the revival focus is now moving from the roots to the digital era there is potential for the intervening dancehall period to be lost in the process of revision. Although DJ fare was, in the main, of the tedious the bong-diddly-bong-bong variety, dancehall brought a lot of new younger vocalists with attitude into the studio and helped revive the careers of those older singers who were prepared for the test. Smugg picks up a bunch of tunes from the Uptempo vaults of Sugar Minott and Steve King which all date from this "lost period", consisting mostly of cuts from top vocalists - Horace Andy, Freddie McKay, Barrington Levy, Junior Reid, Johnny Osbourne and Frankie Paul - but none surpasses the frankly bizarre opener from the late Tenor Saw "Golden Hen". A dub set is promised shortly with mixes from Tubby and Chemist - so this vocal becomes necessary for devotees of version.