Well people, it has been 20 years since the sound called ‘The Mighty Aba Shanti-I’ first turned up unannounced at ‘Leicester Carnival 1990’, with a mobile generator and a great deal of assistance from some local bredrins, set up outside the cafe and started playing. Strictly banduloo business, yuh no see it. Aba played throughout …
I caught up with Kevin Martin recently at a mad gig by Stephen O’Malley and Steve Noble at Cafe OTO*. He mentioned a whole bunch of stuff which had me reeling – King Midas Sound, “Skeng” remixes, stuff with Scientist. When I woke up the next day, I thought I’d dreamt it. But no, click …
Roots Manuva Meets Wrongtom: Duppy Writer (Big Dada CD/MP3/WAV/2xLP) There’s a bit of a buzz about this right now and rightly so. I’ve previously bigged up Wrongtom on here for his much missed Resonance FM show with Mr Trick and his awesome sleng tengy Tinie Tempah refix. He’s now turned his hands to Roots Manuva’s …
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A while ago these images appeared on the North Sixteen Twitter: I recognised them from a 1970s reggae documentary “Aquarius” as they are announced as being Stoke Newington (London N16), which is where I live: (Footage starts at 4:50 but it’s well worth viewing in its entirety) There was some interest about the exact location of …
Continue reading ‘Penny Reel on Stoke Newington Reggae Record shops in the 1970s’ »
Cybore / Box Set Go. Matt owns a lot more boxsets than me: These Trojan sets, compiled by Steve Barrow, were the most accessible way to get into Black Ark stuff in the late eighties. They foreshadowed Barrow’s later work with the Blood & Fire label – incorporating great selection, sound quality and design. And …
Pressure Beat Volume 1 – Jogib & Pressure Beat Labels by Coldsweat on Mixcloud (Nice bit of early reggae including some alternate versions of anthems. Good for hungover mornings) Why Delila’s HDD Mix by Hipsters Dont Dance (Big Bashy bashment throwdown. Good for housework / getting ready to go out / pounding the mean streets). …
Bebe Cool – Awete The minimal keyboard melody in this is a real winner, I think. The crossword graphics are a nice touch, but some of the effects maybe bleach it all out too much. Respect also to the reappearance of Bell Lager and a particular sacred herb. Also the dialetic of surrounding yourself with …
Continue reading ‘2005 Ugandan Dancehall Video of the week #11’ »
unknown by unknown I have no info on this quartet, but still present their miming and synchronised dancing for your delectation. This is what I always imagined Uganda’s cross-dressing secret police force, the “Black Mamba Urban Hit Squad” would actually be like, rather than the actuality of brandishing guns.
Ragga Dee – Ndigida More awesome catchiness with some randomly-shaped dancers shaking their bits in synchronised style around a pool. This has got the lot – breakdancing, hot gals shaking their asses, even some inexplicable cross-dressing madness. The only downside is that it cuts a bit short, sorry about that – if anyone has a …
Continue reading ‘2005 Ugandan Dancehall Video of the week #9’ »
Female pressure from the crew named Blu3: This reminds me of Misteeq and the like (I still rate Alisha Dixon as an MC actually, shame she went down the sleb route instead of honing her mic skillz…) So I guess this is arguably more r&b than dancehall, but what the hell. Nice bit of attitude, …
Continue reading ‘2005 Ugandan Dancehall Video of the week #8’ »