Diamond Socks & Ting

Not that it's any real bad thing but this is starting to feel like a dubstep blog, so lets switch up the proverbial program.
Here's some original drum and bass business, the real dub you can step to. Vital Dub emerged from Channel One in 1976 accompanying the ultimate Mighty Diamonds album 'Right Time'. Every single cut is essential, on both vocal and version, but I've swung up 'Merciful Dub' which is a sublime rub on the sufferers lament 'Have Mercy'. This is the sound of the Revolutionaries at their prime, when Channel One was churning 'em out, Ossie Hibbert (who also engineered) and the great Ansell Collins played keys which get flung around the mix delightfully. Like many of an age and development at that time, I suspect I was encouraged into buying this, partially as a result of the stonedest geezer in the world on the album cover (and great design), Virgin Records sure knew how to work those easy targets.If only every album with a gratuitous red-eyed Jamaican on the cover was as good as this slab of melodic majesty. I never got to see the Mighty Diamonds at their prime though I was fortunate enough to catch them at Junior Reid's 'Visa' album release, in a New Kingston car-park in 1993 (probably, though it may have been '94). Reid was still in fine voice then (unlike his visit to NZ) and the Diamond's Tabby even more so. I seem to remember (actually I dont remember nearly enough of those trips, just as well Jason Burgess was snapping pics like a man possessed) breathlessly telling a lot of foundation artists how bleeding wonderful they are/were on that trip, and I'm pretty sure Tabby got a simpering dose of that appreciation from me.

(Buy)
(MightyDiamondsite)
(Diamondsspace)



REVOLUTIONARIES - MERCIFUL DUB


And I guess it would be churlish not to include the original.
(Buy)





MIGHTY DIAMONDS - HAVE MERCY
>



Reid, despite being a renowned reggae curmudgeon (a man who could give me a run in a moaning contest!) was hospitality incarnate when we had interviewed him and spent some time at his camp. The set up at his yard involved an office, mix room, voicing booth and record pressing machine all in a normal house, quite stunning. In all honesty, the 45's he loaded us up with were on the unplayable side of rough, but I wouldn't trade em for the world.

Ok now I've rahed on about Reid I'd best include a track of his too. First up from 'Visa' and a cut that was running hot at that time (we even pinched the title for a Unitone HiFi tune) is 'All Fruits Ripe' . Following is a more recent track with rapper Benisour, it's a pretty standard tune but theres something about this one that gets me every time.

(Buy)
(JnrReidspace)




JUNIOR REID - ALL FRUITS RIPE


JUNIOR REID & BENISOUR - SHINING


And some pictures from the day at Jnr Reid's yard, with the man himself and Jah Paul resplendent in 'Stinky Grooves' T-shirts, bless them! courtesy of Jason Burgess who took em and owns em, so dont be pinching em!



READING PLANET MAGAZINE (Worrying moments as there was some fruity biz in this issue from memory!)


WITH JAH PAUL


WITH JAH PAUL, AND THE MURAL FEATURING JUNIORS GREAT FRIEND THE LATE HUGH MUNDELL, WHO WAS SHOT WHILE TRAVELING WITH REID IN 1983 (AND AFRICA STILL AINT FREE!)

Stinky Grooves 25.11.08 & a little Rupture

Stinky Grooves 27.11.08

Stop Parching Yourself (Fulgeance Booty Call Rmx) - Kelpe (DC Recordings)
In The Void (Rupture Remix) - Shackleton (Skull Disco)
Shortwave (Pole Rmx) - Shackleton (Skull Disco)
Router - Pangea (Hessle Audio)
Circling (Bass Clef Rmx) - Appleblim & Peverelist (Skull Disco)
Township Funk - DJ Mujava (Warp)
Nah Help You Riddim - Stephen McGregor (Big Ship)
Nah Help You - Busy Signal (Big Ship)
Done Wid War - Busy Signal (Busy Signal Productions)
Arab Money (Reggae Mix) - Busta Rhymes (Universal)
Bang Bang - Brevi feat Cham (Universal)
No War Obama - Busta Rhymes, Kardinal Offishall & Barrington Levy
Eye On The Dub - Richard Phoe (Phoe Love)
Gemini (Pilooski Edit) - Del Shannon (Dirty Edits Vol2)
Das Feur (Pilooski Edit) - Holger Hiller (Dirty Edits Vol2)
AM:FM - Richard Sen & Cazbee (Mixed Cuts)
Tropical Waste (Idjut Boys Edit) - The Emperor Machine (DC Recordings)
Head Hang Low (Depth Charge Rmx) - The Oscillation (DC Recordings)
Crying Blood (Andrew Weatherall Dub) - VV Brown (Island)
I'm Just A Dread - Jacob Miller & Trinity (Soul Jazz)
Stay A Yard And Praise God - Jah Walton (Moodisc)
Let Me Tell You Boy - Ebony Sisters & I Roy (Moodisc)
Natty Congo Rides On - Jackie Mittoo (Jamaican Recordings)
Soul Sensation - Freddie Grant (Scorpio Sounds)
Dejala Corre - Banda Los Hijos De La Nina Luz (Soundway)
Afro Spot - Lightning Head (Lion Head)
I Feel Good, Put Your Pants On (Pilooski Edit) - Jackson Jones (Dirty
Edits Vol2)
Holy Jungle (Mark E Pressure Dub) - Ghost Note (Golf Channel)
Over Here (Brendon Moller Mix) - Appleblim & Peverelist (Skull Disco)
I Heard Wonders (Andrew Weatherall Remix) - David Holmes (Mercury)
F.U.R. - Black Acid (Fitzrovian Phongraphic)
Vampire Blues - Wooden Shjips (Sick Thirst)
Crawfish (Pilooski Edit) - Elvis Presley & Kitty White (Dirty Edits Vol 2)
Into The Breeze - The Alps (Type)

Almost as schizophrenic as the weather, selection wise…..


This weeks show was wriggling with remixes and exploding with edits, so it seems just and decent that we should wang one oop here for a mo. The edits were courtesy of Paris's supreme Dirty Soundsystem whose most edutaining blog, alanfinkielkrautrock, you can spot just over to the right amongst the fistfull of the whiffily endorsed sites. Their brand new 'Dirty Edits Volume 2' CD, and the scorching new Pilooski 12" taken from it, dropped in the mailbox today and I'm frankly surprised the K Road Post Office managed to contain such mightyness within its' walls, yes... that large!

On the remix tip, the new Skull Disco compilation is Shackleton and Appleblim's last release in the legacy, and the final chapter in the trials and tribulations of the appallingly treated, titular soundboy. Since the label kicked off in 1995 that soundboy has had his "nuts grounded up proper" (on the scorching 'Blood On My Hands' 12"),  his bones getting repetitively "buried in the dirt" (on the Shackleton/Gatekeeper split 12" and the Shackleton/Appleblim 12" with the knee-knockingly moody 'Hamas Rule' ) before his "ashes were chopped up and snorted" on the devilish depth charge that is  'Vasan/You Bring Me Down'. The game was up, and the jig was juggered earlier this year, when the "soundboy's suicide note" was discovered, featuring Shackleton's darkest explorations yet (The Rope Tightens/The Branch Is Weak) on a fearsome four tracker. 

Concluding the misery of  the much maligned figure is the new compilation, 'Soundboy's Gravestone Gets Desecrated By Vandals', which is a double-disc, deathly delight with originals joined by remixes from a stellar cast of widescreen  innovators. Every remix is worthy of the source material, but I've pulled out Rupture's brief ballistic makeover of  In The Void because it's exquisitely odd, and not like much else out there (you can check Ruptures Mudd Up and Dutty Artz blogs on me bloglist just to your right too!) That's points and prizes in my book.

And their covers have been harmoniously unique and downright brilliant too!

(Buy) Enzedders should be able to get this local yokel style without too many worries in the dance.
(Web)

SHACKLETON - IN THE VOID (DJ RUPTURE REMIX)


Done already, buy the CD, you owe it to yourself.

Lesser Spotted Doobstep

Despite some notable exceptions, 2008 hasn't really been a vintage year for dubstep business, at least not the gear that truly gets my toes  curling. Going through the years radio playlists, reviews and recent crates,  compiling the annual Top 10's, 20's and 50's for various publications and whatnot, there's plenty of the usual contenders (Shackleton, Skream, Kode9, The Bug etc) alongside a smattering of fresh and established up and comers like the Bristolian beat bandit Joker, Forsaken,Dusk + Blackdown, 6Blocc, South3rn, Darkstar, Martyn, O.S.C., Clouds and Cult Of The 13th Hour making it through the filter. There's always some gems that you miss, going back through a years worth of tunes on varying formats - it's the nature of the beast. The other hazard is the inevitable tunes that absolutely do your nut in, just after you've made the lists up and sent 'em off. Two that have decidedly wormed their way into my affections recently, and may fall into the latter category, come from a couple of labels that I reckon might be well worth keeping a beady one on in '09.

Geoim's Berkane Sol label, out of Nottingham, not only scores points for having a weird name,  but they have put out some very fine records over the last couple of years. Their second release definitely got my attention and the third, 'Feel So Bad' with delicate dancehall MC Terrible Shock knocked my proverbial socks off. Since then there have been excursions into Indian vocals and instrumentation and more housey/technoid explorations, always with a slighly frayed and twisted disposition. Hopefully the recent mixes of his niteklub-esque 'Reminissin',  from the likes of Skream, Kode9 and Shackleton may have directed more folks towards the labels charms. Branching out from just his own productions, the latest on Berkane Sol is tag-team affair with the also marvelously monikered Brackles and Shortstuff. It's the Brackles cut 'Glazed' that has been getting the reviews and hype, but typically I favour Shortstuff's Twin Peaks-ish 'Never Mine'. With its moody melodies and galloping drums there's just something quite beguiling about this cut, go on get yer beguille on!

(Buy)
(Shortstuffspace)
(Geoimspace)

SHORTSTUFF - NEVERMINE

B-side wins again on this cut 12" from Southampton's Caper on the Studio Rockers label which is A&R'd by the mighty Tony Thorpe (best known by his longtime alias Moody Boys, expect a post on his malarkey soon...er..ish). Like Shortstuff's track above, there's something refreshingly un-fussy and straightforward about this horn-laced track, that I find far more appealing than the bulk of the soundalike polite techy dubstep stuff that seems to be the rage right now. The vocal 'woos' carry the faintest reminiscent whiff of Meat Beat Manifesto's 'Radio Babylon' and thats never a bad thing for us old fellers, right?! Caper is also one half of Jellybass whose 'Transatlantic EP' had some reasonably feisty instrumentals, packed with the sort of sub-woofer action that can cause rattling glasses and cracked windows in a neighbouring suburb. Unfortunately that EP also features Canadian, nicety-nice rapper Abdominal, and his overly cheery, Native Bung flow always grates with me, something like fingernails going down a blackboard. This Caper track is a little scorcher though and while the other side isn't quite so much my bag with it's jiggytastique ways, even that's still pretty hard to argue with.

(Buy)

(Caperspace)

(Studiorockingspace)

(Jellybassspace)

CAPER - FRICTION

Out for a minute, and operating towards the mellow end of the spectrum, Texan's South3rn have impressed with their releases on the often excellent Lo Dubs label. As one might expect,  from a group with an incongruous number in their name, there's a bit of an electronica bent to this track, but it still carries bass weight amongst the bleeps, bloops and fx fandangulation. Most of their other gear I've bought or checked is on a deeper dubwise tip that is quite distinctive, the Lo Dubs 12" 'Muslim Dub' which is also on their myspace player is a prime example, even if it sounds suspiciously like it's based on the late Mikey Dread's  classic 'Money Dread' . This release snugly fits in with the vibe of the Clandestine Cultivations label, and sits right up there with their Shackleton and Darkstar's 12"s, as the label's best releases yet. 

(Buy)

(South3rnspace)

(LoDubsspace)

(Clandestinespace)

SOUTH3RN - LUDDITES DUB

NZ readers, especially those allergic to the wonders of long-distance, love-a-dubbing mail order, may find these moody morsels at Auckland's Beat Merchants, unfortunately can't link to pages for lazy-click purchase but check 'em.

OOOPS  bit of not-onto it behaviour  with two Caper's and no South3rn on the divtip, sincerest apologies, long weekend, mind elsewhere etc. Would like to say it wont happen agin, but I'd probably be  lying.

Stinky Grooves 18.11.08

I Got To Get Away – Dave Barker (Nuphonic)
Mash You Down – Cornell Campbell (Soul Jazz)
Mother Liza – Fe Me Time All Stars (Pressure Sounds)
Supernatural High – Chronic Sonata (Tip Of The Iceberg)
Eye Of The Dub – Richard Phoe ft Tippa Irie (Phoe Love)
One Two Order – Tarrus Riley (VP/Deadly Dragon)
Hustle Hard – Busy Signal (VP)
Nine Night – Busy Signal (Birch Productions)
Trading Places – Busy Signal (Jukeboxx)
Nylon Riddim – Shane Brown (Jukeboxx)
Head Hang Low (Depth Charge Version) – The Oscillation (DC Recordings)
Daylight Robbed Her – Tom Tyler (DC Recordings)
Head Hang Low - The Oscillation (DC Recordings)
Shipwreck Glue (Architeq Rmx) – Kelpe (DC Recordings)
Shipwreck Glue (Kelpe Extraversion) – Kelpe (DC Recordings)
Ganja – The Bug featuring Flowdan & Killa P (Ninja Tune)
Witness The Day – Moody Boys (White)
Friction – Caper (Studio Rockers)
Murda Skank – Taz (Ramp)
Tempered – Rustie (Kapsize)
Marsh – Starkey (Planet Mu)
Never Mine – Short Stuff (Berkane Sol)
Aqua e Nieve – Radiokijada (Month Of March)
Labyrinth – The Alps (Type)
Open Valley – Hatchback (Lo Recordings)
AM:FM - Richard Sen & Cazbee (Mixed Blood)
Lights Camera Action – The Knux (Interscope)
The Style Economy (It’s Fake!) – Coco Solid (Coco Solid)
Life In A Cage (Electric) – The Knux (Interscope)
Heat – Madlib (Stones Throw)
Boundless Boundaries – Onra (Favourite)
Random Selection – Ras G (Poo Bah)
The Valley Of Love – Onra (Favourite)
Abyssinia Rising – Lightning Head (Lion Head)
Dejala Corre – Bando Los Hijos De La Nina Luz (Soundway)
No Hay Nadie Como Tu – Calle 13 (Sony International)
Township Funk _ DJ Mujava (Warp)
Profondita (Padded Cell Edit) - Richard Sen & Cazbee (Mixed Blood)
Blue Lipps (Idjut Boys Re-Edit) – Depth Charge (DC Recordings)
Cut It Upwards – Kelpe (DC Recordings)
Version #2 – Clause Four (DC Recordings)
The Immortal Squirrel – Alexanders Dark Band (DC Recordings)
Graffitti Girls For Life (Instrumental) – Coco Solid (Coco Solid)
Stop Parching Yourself (Fulgeance Remix) – Kelpe (DC Recordings)

All about the Toiger,(Translate on Friday at Fu & Zen) or the Liger or the Lager this week....

Will be pinging the playlist up here every week, and also sticking a track from the show up. This week has been a veritable DC Recordings-fest, AND the blog hasn't really begun until we've had a little Depth Charge morsel or two, so it's the the dubbed out, and as ever decidedly dub-ious, discoid delights of 'Blue Lipps'. This is a re-edit by North London, delay-dealers Idjut Boys, who have had their evil ways with a good chunk of the DC back-cat (and some exclusives) on the Japanese only release 'Death Before Distemper 3 - A Fistful Of Ferrets'. The more generally available 'Death Before Distemper 2 - Revenge Of The Iron Ferret' is doubtlessly amongst my picks of the year, and a very different kettle of fish. Being a mix CD the end of this Depth Charge classic is abrupt, so you'll just have to buy the whole superb thing from Phonica... like I did.

(Buy)
(Website)
(DCspaaaaayce)
(Discogs)

(The Exciting World Of J Saul Kane)



DEPTH CHARGE - BLUE LIPPS (IDJUT BOYS RE-EDIT)

An SJD shifty shufty

This right here is the 11th SJD video, and it will be hitting the NZ screens and youtubulators of the world in a couple of days, consider this a sneak preview. 11 videos is an achievement in itself (and a hearty slap on the back to NZOA fer their part), but what I diggeth the most is that no two look or feel alike. I never cease to be amazed by what directors and crews can do with limited funds, and unlimited expectations and imagination. Chris White's work on 'No Telling Where' is no exception, but once again quite exceptional. Here's the video, and it's one that I reckon captures the vibe of the song superbly and just gets better as it goes along, but I'm y'know very biased (but not always this happy about the end result!) As an after dinner mint there's one of the many favourite tracks from 'Dayglo Spectres', I've had the good fortune to be listening to that pearler longer than most, and trust me it just gets better and better......

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(Website)
(EsSJayDeespace)

SJD - NO TELLING WHERE (Directed by Chris White)




SJD - WE COME

As this is sneak preview business, and it's like Tuesday and there's a radio show full of exciting things to loosely assemble, this post is a tad truncated and will be getting updated with more SJD footage and linkage in a few days... promise!

Tigered In Translation

There's nae point in rambling on about every gig that comes up, however the Tiger Translate party which is happening on Friday, 21st of Nov, taking over the Fu & Zen, is a right scorcher. The live line up includes Onra, summoned from his Parisian lair, as well as the (also well traveled) locals The Naked And Famous and Coco Solid. DJ action will be provided by the incomparably gorgeous Maiden Hong Kong and incomprably less-so yours truly, with Cian and Nick D bringing up the rear, ooh err. Peep on for details, tunes, set times and of course ting.





The Vietnamese-French producer and DJ caught my eye with his 'Chinoiseries' album, earlier this year. For starters it looked the part, and the briefest of spins on the decks confirmed it was something a little special. Comprised of 32 beat vignettes, most barely troubling the two minute mark, it's a response to a visit back to the land of his grandparents where he picked up a bundle of comfortingly scratchy Vietnamese/Oriental vinyl. Ideal for short attention span listening, I got hooked on the whole double-vinyl deliciousness, raved about it in Real Groove and offered up the blinding standout 'The Anthem' to the 95bFM programming panel for consideration. It met with universal appreciation, playlist approval, and I believe may have wormed its way into more than a few listeners affections, its certainly got Troy good and proper. There's a whole other fandangle with Coke and the Olympics to do with that song, which you can read about at the excellent Pinglewood blog.
So basically I'm as keen a pot of Dijon to check feller out, and he's going to be doing separate live and dj sets, here's a couple of cuts to get masticating on. Impossible to go past 'The Anthem', and 'I Wanna Go Back' would pass muster on the fact that it samples one of my favourite and frankly over-collected melodies 'Love Is Blue'.... aaaah.

(Buy)
(Moi-espace)

ONRA - THE ANTHEM


ONRA - I WANNA GO BACK




Having shown and proved (and improved) on their recent trip to NYC for CMJ, under the steely supervisory gaze of... err me, The Naked And Famous are robustly rockulating right now. This would be the place to put some informal or incriminating (not so much really) shots from the trip, if only I hadn't given up on the camera at their first show. After five or six years away I felt like enough of a tourist in New York, and you can't get near the stage at CMJ shows because the front 3 rows are rammed with bloggers and their telephotos anyway, it's a plague. Instead let's have the deadly videos for 'Serenade' and 'Birds' (clink of the glass to Special Problems) and what remains my favouritest song (probably, possibly, well for right now) from the 'No Light' EP 'Bells'.

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(TNAFspace)
(Website)





THE NAKED AND FAMOUS - BELLS




Coco Solid rule. That's not an opinion, just fact. I wont wank on about the Coco greatness, Ive already done that with the new album here and 2007's 'Gentlemen Prefer Bombz' in my Top 1o of tha year, here, both for The Listener. Due to synchronisational overcommitment and cruel luck I've missed the last two Auckland shows, however with Mz Solida back from Red Bull Academising in Barcelona this one's sure to go off like a particularly ripe Stilton...with wheels.
There's an exceptionally limited and eminently desirable Coco Solid 12" which may still be available aqui

(BUY) you know it makes sense.
(Cocospace)
(Offishall Website)

Their clips are quite the choicest.
<



COCO SOLID - BLACK ZEN


And foinally because we're nice like that here's a couple of bonuses from MHK and me, SJ, below, plus the full running order. In fact if you're sharp you can still register for a couple of free tickets AND free beers, at the Tiger Translate site, that aint going to last, or you can win em on 95bFM if your blagger swagger is a little diminished.



Way too many words already so briefly Maiden Hong Kong has selected Romain Bno's 'Dont Unless' edit from the Edits Du Golem series as one she'll be playing. This whole EP's off the bleeding kajizzle and quite tricky to trackdown now, what is it with the French and edits?? This lot say they still have it, (BUY)

ROMAIN BNO - DON"T UNLESS




I'm plumping for this brilliant mix of 24 year old Brit, VV Brown, getting a defiantly unclassifiable Andrew Weatherall remix. I actually bought this for the dub, little did I know the vocal is well tight in a kinda loose 'Monster Mash' way. When I ran this cut out at DJ Baku it was like I'd given everyone in the room a tenner, dancefloor ram!


(BUY)

VV BROWN - CRYING BLOOD (ANDREW WEATHERALL REMIX)


It goes a little something like this....

TIGER TRANSLATE RUN TIMES

Fu:
Maiden Hong Kong: 8:00 - 10:00PM
Nick D: 10:00 – 11:45PM
ONRA (DJ Set): 11:45 - 12:45AM
Cian: 1:00 – 4:00


Zen:
Stinky Jim: 9:00 - 10:00PM
The Naked & Famous (live): 10:00 – 11:00PM
Stinky Jim: 11:00 – 11:45PM
Coco Solid DJ: 11:45 – 12:00AM
Coco Solid: 12:00 – 12:45AM
Coco Solid DJ: 12:45 – 1:00AM
ONRA (live): 1:00 – 2:00AM
Nick D: 2:00 - 4:00AM



Next, after this tsunami of bloggeration, we will have the new SJD video for 'No Telling Where' up here in the next 24/48 hours....wooopee.

Digging My Own Ditch

Very soon we'll have this mess of words, sounds and pics linked up to the Round Trip Mars site, there's more developments (from the delightful house of Cherry Sprinkles) going on around there before the year is out. No doubt I'll be shouting from the rooftops about that (and the last dance of the spacebots) when appropriate.
One thing I can't get in trouble with 'the man' for, is posting tunes on my own label, and I'm hoping to be flinging up many more little exclusive drops and slices from the RTM fantastranauts in the near future.




Fer starters, here's an unreleased, StinkIncsclusive gem of a remix from the mysterious and marvelous Phelps & Munro, whose wondrous 'Slowpoke' album is pictured above. Originally this was for a planned sneaky 7" with 'P'n'M'n'G'n'R' (also know as 'Live At The KA') and a ballistic rework of Spazmobile, what with one thing and another, that hasn't surfaced... yet. Dare I say that 2009 could be the year when we finally get to see another Phelps & Munro album or project?? OK, I did just say it, so there, no dare. Who knows with 'Chinese Democracy' yawning its way to the flop of the charts perhaps it's a pertinent time to drop the legally indefensible 'P'n'M'n'G'n'R', we'll see.
I know that there's possibly no other record I'm queried more about from los punters, than the mythical next P&M, and everytime I'm I asked I have to confess that I share the feverish (and prolonged) anticipation.
Someday, someway this will come out, preferably on 7" (if I have anything to do with it), and it will sound like a herd of bufallo galloping across the digital prairie. In the meantime enjoy this slightly crippled 192 mbps mp3 version.

PHELPS & MUNRO - HORSE WINNING WITHOUT REMIX





This crisp biscuit was especially written to be pressed up in JA. When Nick D hit me up about his upcoming trip to the land of wood and water, for his 'Making Tracks' series on C4 (not findable on youtube yet), a cunning plan was formed. He could film 7"s being pressed up, something that may not even be possible in a few years, and we'd slap this, as yet unwritten, Unitone tune alongside Jefferson Belt's nova-vintage 'Green Termite', for the 45 he'd go through the process with. Nick would use a few for his show, and bring us back enough to sell and promo, a simple plan. It didn't quite work out like that. 'Up To Eleven' was impolitely truncated 30 seconds from its conclusion, and 'Green Termite' was given a somewhat crude cut. Fortunately, or not, Nick handed them out to a bunch of Kingstonites, most of whom probably hadn't seen a turntable in 30 years, though he did pass one on to the ever delightful Derrick Harriot (who I have an interview with somewhere, probably on cassette or floppy disc). I do wonder what he would have made of it, he's an open minded, legend on the quiet and STILL has his record shop!
Hanyways long story short, we swapped 'Green Termite' out for the sublime charms of 'Gold Dust' and Vinyl Factory in Australia did a primo job of the pressing up the 200 copies, most of the remainder of which are off to the UK, with a few left for mail order from RTM. I'm hoping to be coaxing something special for a post from Mr Belt in the nearest of futures.
Unitone HiFi on myandispace
It would be awfully decent if you decided to purchase said 45 perhaps from here

UNITONE HIFI - UP TO ELEVEN


My own trumpet is now thusly parped...

Under Me Stink Inc

I can't help it, ultimately I'm a radio guy, and I just cant stop myself linking things. I had to summon all my boundaries of taste and decency not to stick the two tracks entitled 'The Don' together in one post, but I did resist. Those who know me well, will realise I'm fighting a losing battle there, and inevitably this blog will go the way of all the other foolishness I surround myself with.



Undoubtedly the record shopping highlight of my most excellent recent trip to NYC was Deadly Dragon tucked away inconspicuously at 102 Forsyth in the midst of the churning bowels of Chinatown. They've nailed how shopping for reggae used to be (before the interwebs and all that) with 45's stacked from roof to ceiling, and only enough room inbetween that your larger girthed selector might be getting claustrophobic vibes. Untypically the labelling and sorting is exemplary, meaning you can head straight for your own personal 'danger zones' and literally feel your wallet taking a Jenny Craig crash course. Trust they have some tunes, real tunes, 1000s of 'em.
The trip to Forsyth was on the overly optimistic wishlist of a very busy trip but checking Deadly Dragon Soundsystem selector Queen Majesty, who dropped a suitably afternooned, but nonetheless scorching set, after The Naked And Famous played at Fort Fader, convinced me the trip needed to be made at any cost. With less than an hour free to rifle through the boxes and gaze in wonderment, the cost was mercifully minimal, though there was one expensive impulse purchase and a Dr Alimantado 7" that I never knew existed, that I simply couldn't leave behind. Those gems (and all I can say about the Alimantado is LEO SAYER cover, frighteningly brilliant or frightening and brilliant depending on your viewpoint) will be posted up sometime soon. Before that, I think yet another arm of the olfactory octopus that is Deadly Dragon needs attention, and that is their re-issue label which is hammering out classy 7"s and what have you, in limited numbers, with merciless quality control and professorial dig-ology.

Riding a sandpaper lick of 'Sleng Teng' Metromedia DJ Peter Metro gives it some geography lesson as he recounts his complete and utter 'Donlyness', and a trip to London which I think where he may have encountered UK/JA honky oddity Dominic (the next in what will be a long line of promises, will be posting up a wicked dub to a Dominic track based on 'Watermelon Man' with Tackheadian involvement at some point when I dig it out and digitize). Presumably he is 'the lickle white man' who 'want to test mi intelligence by ask mi questions', fortunately as Metro demonstrates he's hot on every topic that ends with 'an' from capital cities right through to aliens and erosion. The track is taken from Metro's last real notable album 'The D.J. Don' on Tristan Palma and Ossie Thomas's Black Solidarity label.There's a fearsome Tubby's dub on the flip too but I'm not posting that because Deadly Dragon only pressed 500 of these suckers, and you'd be a sucker and a blower if you didn't stretch out and pick one up while you can.


Score it with a click or two, and they have plenty more Metro-matical music for purchase too.

PETER METRO - THE DON




I dont know much, well anything, about Wayne Junior to be honest but what more do you need to know other than the level vibes and siren lunacy of 'Police And Bad Boys'.You're killing us Deadly Dragon, long may you continue to do so!
Cop it here

WAYNE JUNIOR - POLICE & BAD BOY




And by way of a bonus, a warm up for the next post and a little bit of a Sleng Teng overload here's one we prepared earlier. It kind of fits in with the NYC vibe because when Joost 'Dutchieman' Langeveld and myself were holed up Big Apple studio style in the LES and Soho, early to mid 90's, banging out tracks for the first and third Unitone HiFi albums we just possibly might have ... ahem.. interpolated some trace elements of Hirini Melbourne and Richard Nunns incredible Maori music album 'Te Ku Te Whe' into our sonic stew. When there was talk of remixing it, we were in like Flynn, and that kind of kicked us into doing remixes and tunes again which we'd been talking about for a while. Of course, no-one mentioned not cutting up the vocals to us (until it was waaaay too late), and so we went at them like Dr Nick on a P bender. It's not the first time we've summoned up the powers of the mighty Sleng Teng and raised our glasses to King Jammy, Noel Davey, Bobby Digital ( I have him on cassette talking about that fateful day at Jammy's, somewhere from 1993, I'll try and dig it out sometime) et al, I suspect it wont be the last, it's like Riddim Play-Doh that demands constant re-invention.
Is havailable from right ear

HIRINI MELBOURNE & RICHARD NUNNS - TUMATAKOKIRI (UNITONE HIFI REMIX)


Finally this is a pick-up from Palms Out Sounds (who have said very nice things about Round Trip Mars and even gave us our own post so we love 'em very much) and it's quite cute .... or quite cut, if you prefer.

KING JAMMY - UNDER MI SLENG TENG (SCHLACHTHOFTHEBRONX REMIX)


Consider yourself sleng tenged or your teng slenged....

It's Jim Up North (apologies to Cauty & Drummond)

Please do not expect posts every day, this is extraordinary! Im just trying to get a bit of a head of steam up to make this malarkey worthy of your perusal (especially after all the time I've spent not getting this blog started)!
Despite coming close to two decades in the mighty Auks and the stenching shire that is NZ my default settings, at least navigationally, are still in Blighty.
So when I think of Manc mistresses (and 1 mister) Sisters Of Transistors and Glasvegan beat brutaliser Rustie, my Midlands mind automatically goes 'up north' (with a doff of the proverbial cap to the KLF).



Having just released one scorching single on This Is Music, Sisters Of Transistors may have not have produced a blip on enough folks radar yet, but the strength of that 12" suggests it won't be too long. The four sisters are keyboard toting madams who also sing, and they are joined by the ever impeccable Graham Massey, ex-of 808 State, Toolshed, Homelife etc etc. In all honesty the track that provoked me into searching out, and securing, this wonderful wax (thank you Piccadilly Records) is 'Pendulum' a smoldering instrumental that sets the organs (their keyboards, and possibly my vital ones) onto stun, but the A-side 'The Don' has also worked its charms on me big time. This kind of reminds me of Cadet Records incomparably fruity Rotary Connection being dragged willingly into the 00's, and it carries that delightful Bisto-like whiff of musical obsession that Manchester seems to have in spades. Last time I played in Manchester, 5 or 6 years ago with me pal Trevor Whateva, I was delighted and not a little flummoxed that every single person encountered was charged and ready to enter into serious and intense musical discussions and enthusiastic, knowledgeable 'have you heard this???' conversations at the drop of a proverbial piece of headwear. They take it serious, and I can respect that till the bovines have returned to their domicile.

You can hear that kind of passion in the Sisters Of Transistors tracks, and it once again proves that man Massey should have a target on his back, for easy identification as far as following them tunes is concerned. This track gets remixed quite nicely by those stereophonic sluts Hot Chip (is there anyone they haven't remixed?? come on, get off there and give someone else a go, honestly they're like the kids on the trainset at Toys R Us) and I know James Ford (Simian Mobile Disco, Klaxons producer etc) is a big fan, when I interviewed him a year or two ago he spoke at length and very highly about Massey as a major influence and mentor, so Im guessing you can expect SMD mixes at some point in the future.
You can pick the 12" up from these fine folk
or right here

And the murdokkkspaz is ici

SISTER OF TRANSISTORS - THE DON



On the back of just a few 12"s and remixes Glasgow's Rustie has become a standard bearer for 'wonky' alongside the likes of Flying Lotus, Ras G, Samiyam, Bullion etc. Despite have a pretty rubbish umbrella name for what is essentially messed up beats, them folks are making some good and challenging tunes. The crossover with the more progressive end of dirty old dubstep, and the simple fact that this seems to be a musical area where experimentation is encouraged bode well for the future, though I have difficulty with the fact that all these artists have a tendency to draw on a similar palate of sounds and feels which makes it a little bit like when everyone wanted to be Prefuse 73 a few years ago (and look where that ended up!) Rustie does seem to have the handle though as his devastating remix of Zomby's 'Spliff Dub' on Hyperdub easily demonstrated, and this track which is the B-side of his collabo with the utterly mindboggling Joker on the jocular ones Kapsize label has sent me in the last couple of weeks. Joker has been responsible for several of my favouritest and most played tunes in 08, so the mere fact that I'm whacking up the flipside should speak volumes.

You can score it like this
or like that

RUSTIE - TEMPERED


Keeping it Glaswegian and on a completely different tip, this 'last gang in town' have done my nut in (ta for the early warning KH) and will no doubt be getting a post of their own soonest, in the meantime check this Youtubery (not allowed to embed any of the proper vids, boo hoo)for a rare case of believe the hype!

Kick Off - Ramsey Signals

Alright then, here we go. Briefly, it's intended that posts will be irregular, but hopefully reasonably frequent. Music posted is intended to be an introduction that will hopefully lead to perusal and purchase - if boats are floated and tastebuds are tickled. That's how I've been switched onto countless new artists and killer tunes that I've subsequently tracked down, so if that aint your bag, then this probably aint the place for you. With that in mind most mp3's will be up for a week max, unless I have some strings attached in which case, they might just stay and stay. Alongside the all important music, I'm hoping to occasionally include (or link to) full transcripts of interviews from the past and present (the future will have to wait), they kick around my computer not doing much and they're invariably more interesting than the truncated malarkey that gets published. This requires a fair bit of tidying up work, and sussing out how best to present some pretty wordy documents, so don't hold your breath on that. Beyond that.... let's see what develops, a fair few folk have asked about renking podcastery and that would be splendid but lets not run before we can walk, eh?!

To begin two artists (rarely mentioned in the same breath) who you can expect to see and hear a lot more of on StinkInc, Ramsey Lewis and Busy Signal.



'Cry Baby Cry' is taken from Mother Natures Son on the almighty Cadet label which was released in the middle of his golden period from 1965 to the early 70's. There's generally always at least something brilliant on all of Lewis's albums from this era but this set of Beatles covers is the piece de resistance. 'Back In The USSR' is the well known breakbeat source, but the psychedelic moogy intros and phenomenal arrangements of Charles Stepney offer lots more than just drums you can find on Dusty Fingers. This was one of the harder Lewis albums to find for a while though it's now been re-issued on CD
And the vinyl is reasonably easy to track down these days.
It's my favourite Ramsey Lewis album period, and I do have a bit of a serious thing for some of his gear so that's not words meant lightly.

RAMSEY LEWIS - CRY BABY CRY




Born Reanno Gordon in Browns Town, St Ann, Jamaica and repping Bounty Killer's Alliance to the maximum Busy Signal is on some Usain Bolt shit when it comes down to coming up with the fire these days. It's been obvious for the past few years that he has talents beyond the reach of most, and a flow that is fantastically flexible and downright freakish but the release of 'Loaded' on VP, and the gear he's subsequently released, is just getting ridonkulous. 'Loaded' is highly recommended (despite the auto tune agony) most especially the SSMG productions (Tic Toc, Cool Baby/Kool It Down, Knocking At The Door etc) which are beyond next level-age. The Birch Productions, Xmas come early, sounding 'Nine Night' isn't on there and doesn't appear to be available on vinyl yet, but I'm keeping 'em peeled. I interviewed Busy a couple of years back after his first major release for Greensleeves and he was a very sharp and onto it geezer, phoners with dancehall artists can be a right old waste of time but putting the phone down on him (after copping some superb stings and drops) it was obvious that this was a man with a serious future. Like much of his material this is a peace plea and far more conscious than most of the virtually unconscious, autopilot, rent-a-rasta, roots swill that has that term bestowed upon it these days, here and elsewhere. If you still need convincing check this freestyle with r'n'b singer Lloyd on Westwood, PROPER!



BUSY SIGNAL - NINE NIGHT


Nine Night is a Jamaican funeral rite, and I have a vague recollection of a tasty Steely & Clevie production on the same theme, maybe I can dig it out sometime in the future, in the meantime here's a stinklink to an excellent Bernard Burrell piece on JA funeral traditions

For The Busy-ness on meeeeshpaysh

Preliminary Probing

Hokay

This has been sooooo long in coming, its no longer funny. Prevarication and promises of ' 'I'll get onto it after I've done ... x'    are done already. This is a warning shot, next it's tune time.

Yours malodorously

Jim