FOOTSIE – RASTAMAN PICKNEY EP [CLICK COVER TO DOWNLOAD FOR FREE] | Newham Generals Official Website. Well, looks like grime is still full of surprises! Most of the CDs I’ve checked recently have been too much on the vocoder/funky tip, but there’s still a ton of interesting things happening under the surface. In the last …
I previously looked at the legendary Boots Sex Dread record with my “Keith Allen in Gay Rasta Scandal” piece. Thanks to all the lovely people who left comments, especially Bryon Coley for clearing up the details of how Sex Boots Dread ended up in the film “Bully”. That left a few loose ends open, which …
So what about this situation with the lovers rock versus dub scene? C: “A party is nothing without girls and the girls check for lovers.” (from Soundsystem Splashdown 1981 NME feature) As I said in my lecture at Audio Poverty, I got into UK MC reggae records because they were cheap, because I liked …
Continue reading ‘MIX: Grievous Angel & John Eden present: Lovers Rock’ »
Imprisoned in my postcode A surprisingly sensitive article on youth violence and “postcode wars” in the right wing London evening newspaper. “Asher Senator, CEO of Code 7, regularly sees the problems at first hand. ‘The other day I took a couple of youngsters to a meeting and stopped off at a shop. When I came …
A nice write up in the Independent on the 30th anniversary of the film Babylon. Director Franco Rosso is on form as ever, with some nice comments about Jah Shaka’s cameo in the film. But it was this parting shot which got me most excited: “Three decades later, Rosso is planning a sequel. The picture …
Martin is refreshingly balanced about the sad passing of Ari Up. 48 is too young to die and as a lot of people have said in the last few days, her contribution was important and inspiring. But… she was a bit annoying when we saw her at BASH. Charging about and educating us about how …
To the ICA last night, for the UK premiere of the Superstonic Sound documentary. This was billed variously as a film about Don Letts, or perhaps a film about UK bass culture featuring Don Letts and his role in it: “a documentary, which fuses his life story with that of the history of bass culture in …
Out of all the great MCs from Saxon sound in the eighties, none became household names as much as Smiley Culture. Indeed, as I pointed out in my Agit Disco piece, seeing Smiley on Top of the Pops was my first experience of UK MC culture. But whilst the rest of the posse are fairly …
I’m very happy to be taking part in Stefan Szczelkun’s Agit Disco project. My installment is now available here. It covers UK reggae and dancehall from the 1980s, with a particular emphasis on the politics (with a small “p” and a big “p”). There is no audio on the Agit Disco site, so I will …
Or: Pseudo Gay Rastas part one Sex Boots Dread – Tickle Tune (Rinka, 1980) A nice bit of traditional toasting over the Pick Up The Pieces riddim: Me think about the lion as him rest upon the sand Me tink about the help that me have from white man And me want to crying Becah …