Celebrating Twenty Years of Abashanti

15 September 2010, 6:59 pm

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 the day and a large crowd gathered to see what all the commotion was about.

They came, saw, liked what they heard and kotched for the duration.

When the sun went down, people went and got their cars and made an arena lit by their car headlights, just to keep the vibes rolling. Aba stopped at two o’ clock in the morning, not because he was tired, but because the generator had run out of diesel!

From Aba’s Falasha Recordings Website

Many regards from this direction – the first time I saw Abashanti soundsystem in session was a revelation.

Needless to say, Aba himself has been in the business a lot longer than twenty years – he started out as a mic man for Jah Tubbys in the eighties.

Check this video and transcript over at the Red Bull Music Academy for a nice overview of the Abashanti history and philosophy.

And of course the wider context of the Abashanti/Falasha crew must be mentioned – check the interview with them here on uncarved.org by Greg Mario Whitfield.

But most importantly, try and catch them in session if you get the chance.

20th anniversary event at Dingwalls, Camden, 26th September.

Here’s to the next twenty years!

Saturday Night Pylon Exoticism: West Country Style

13 September 2010, 9:54 pm

With characteristic good taste, Jonny Mugwump booked Ekoplekz and Hacker Farm for his Exotic Pylon show on Resonance FM last Saturday.

Ekoplekz was formerly known as Gutterbreakz (my review of his debut CD here).

Hacker Farm are also known as Kid Shirt and Farmer Glitch.

They were accompanied by a bevvy of minders, including Low “Idiots Guide to Dreaming” Quay and illustrator and Woofah back page fixture 2nd Fade. Guest appearances were made by the man like Woebot, Mr Time Attendant, Mr WestNorwoodCassetteLibrary and bunch of other people I didn’t really get a chance to talk to, such was my breathless enthusiasm for the West Country massif.

It was unbelievably good to sit around in a pub with these people and talk nonsense in person, rather than exchanging pixels. To meet in an actual bar instead of haunting each other’s blog sidebars. It’s difficult to write much more than that without it sounding ridiculously back-slappy, but you get my drift.

The Exotic Pylon show is now available for your downloading pleasure. It’s good – Ekoplekz come in with walls of bass, beats and electronics, whilst Hacker Farm do a more abstract ambient thing with the occasional surprise.

Ekoplekz’s second CD is out today and is being followed by a vinyl release on Bristol’s respected Punch Drunk label soon.

Rumours are rife of a Hacker Farm octuple glass, mercury and hay box set coming out in 2021.

2nd Fade has just submitted awesome his contributions to Woofah issue 5.

Lowquay remains both Loki and low key. 😉

SUS Laws – the movie

13 September 2010, 9:23 pm

19 September, 4.00pm

Sus (15) SPECIAL SCREENING & PANEL Q&A

Ritzy Cinema, Brixton

Based on Barrie Keeffe’s incendiary 1979 play, SUS is a claustrophobic thriller set around the time of Margaret Thatcher’s landslide election win. On the night of the election, two cops arrest a West-Indian man named Delroy on suspicion of a serious offence and take him in for questioning. Made all the more poignant by today’s changing socio-political climate, Heath’s film is a shocking indictment of past institutional ills that will resonate with contemporary audiences.

To honour Black History month the Ritzy will present a special screening of SUS followed by a panel discussion hosted by Mia Morris, founder of Black History 365 Magazine and www.black-history-month.co.uk, with the below participants, all of whom have been long time active residents of the Brixton community.

Mavis Best – Founder of the “Scrap SUS” campaign

Marsha Prescod – Solicitor and Lecturer at South Bank University, active during “Scrap SUS” campaign

Marcia Rigg-Samuel – Founder of “Sean Rigg Justice and Change Campaign”

Michael Groce – Sparked 1985 Brixton riot when his mother Cherry Groce was shot in the back

The Bug – Catch A Fire

8 September 2010, 9:17 pm

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 up top for a video of a new track by The Bug. It’s based on the skeleton of “Skeng” but has an entirely new exo-skeleton on top of it – maybe it’s fairer to describe it as that track’s world weary and wiser sister, I don’t know.

Coming out soon as part of the 4 track “Infected” EP on Ninja Tune. Great video, too.

There’s also a King Midas Sound seven inch in the offing on Hyperdub, featuring Roger doing “Lost” and Puppajim (of Maffi/Jahtari/Disrupt fame) vocalling the “Cool Out” riddim. Steve Barker played the latter track on his “On The Wire” show, and it sounded wicked – I got that “jolt” when I realised what it was – that little frisson you get the first time you hear the full vocal of a dub track you’ve caned for ages.

Also – I don’t know if I ever mentioned the King Midas Sound blog? A wonderful blend of things that are doing it for them, their influences and other bits.

*I’ve been going to a few mad gigs recently. I also saw The A-Band at OTO and Cindy Talk and Position Normal over the road at The Vortex courtesy of Exotic Pylon. I have enjoyed them very much – all the more for not feeling obliged to document them in any way.

Roots Manuva Meets Wrongtom: Duppy Writer

5 September 2010, 11:38 am

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 back catalogue, mixing it up in a raggamuffin style. Which is great news for me as I’ve always loved Roots Manuva’s lyrics and flow but often found his beats a bit… I dunno… too clever, maybe? Hip hop isn’t my main thing (as I guess is obvious) and UK hip hop has largely passed me by…

“Duppy Writer” is a brilliantly executed project – Wrongtom’s production varies between swingy mid 80s digikal style and more classic rootsy business. And boy, he knows what he’s doing. You’ll find no bland “festival reggae” or stiff techno flourishes here. In fact the whole album works as a kick in the pants to all the bedroom producers out there churning out generic dub tunes whether they be UK roots or dubstep.

Calling this a remix project is doing it a disservice – it’s a complete overhaul which stands as an accomplished UK reggae MC album in its own right. It’s one of the few new albums to get me excited this year, the other being the King Midas Sound one, but for entirely different reasons (“Duppy” is exuberant where KMS is introspective, in fact they function like opposite sides of the same coin, maybe.)

Best tracks to investigate: “Rebuff” with proper cross-fading digi bass soundsystem madness, the soulful “Jah Warriors” with its moody keyboard line, and “Chin Up” which has me skanking around the flat whilst trying to write this.

The album comes wrapped up in a full colour cover by Tony McDermott (who did all those great Scientist covers for Greensleeves, and who I have a brief piece about in the current issue of The Wire magazine).

Duppy Writer is released tomorrow – and there are a couple of launch events inna local style:

“Come and meet the Ghost writer behind all the Roots Manuva Classics.Rodney’s dead twin from Duppy Land will be haunting East London 2-6pm. Can’t stay long he has to get back to being dead.”

Or to put it another way, Roots and friends will be celebrating the release of the record by taking over the shop Pelicans & Parrots at 40 Stoke Newington Road, Dalston, N16 7XJ; 2-6pm; Monday 6th September!

A mixture of instore, pop-up shop and chaotic mess, come through, listen, smile, buy something and get it signed. Should be fun…

Roll up, roll up for a Rootical extravaganza. To celebrate both the release of Roots Manuva meets Wrongtom’s ‘Duppy Writer,’ and the birthday of Roots Manuva himself, Big Dada is throwing a party on the 9th September.

There’ll be all kinds of great music from Roots and Wrongtom, the legendary Don Letts and the debonair Ricky Ranking, as well as first rate record playing from Photomachine. It all takes place at a newish venue called the Alibi, which, we’re assured by them that know, is the place to be. It’s free to get in, but there are only 100 or so places (strictly on a first come, first served basis), so get there early to guarantee entry.

[added later]

Roots Manuva

Roots Manuva alongside Wrongtom

Kevin Martin watches Don Letts

Musical Fever next Saturday

4 September 2010, 7:17 pm

Latest of these highly recommended events: Excellent sessions for the young and old!

Here is the lowdown from the organisers:

Dear musical fever massive,

the next MUSICAL FEVER event will be happening in the hot bed of London nightlife that is SHOREDITCH – and were sure you´ll agree that we have one of the HOTTEST BILLINGS possibly imaginable in the world of revival reggae.

anyone familiar with our previous events or the vintage reggae scene in general, will need no further introduction to the names above.

suffice to say ASHER G, with his DEEP AUTHENTIC sound-system pedigree [MUZIK CITY], wealth of specialist knowledge and experience of playing JA to all and every type of crowd from the foundation of blues-dance and house-party and on – is arguably THE TOUGHEST REVIVAL SELECTOR in the world at this moment in time…

and for this special exclusive session, he´ll be playing alongside probably the worlds deepest collector at the moment, TOMMY ROCK-A-SHAKA [DRUM AND BASS RECORDS] from OSAKA – JAPAN,who as traveled the world over many times during the last decade or so, and been back and forth to JAMAICA to hunt down the rarest, most coveted, sought after gems of REGGAE MUSIC.

Once again, support on this momentous occasion will be provided by one of the handful of original JA MUSIC PRODUCERS still active on the scene -coming from NEW YORK – the right honourable CLIVE CHIN of the legendary´RANDYS´ studio and production house. AND another GIANT of the UK´s´directly linked to JAMAICAN SOUND-SYSTEM´ scene, one to whom an original 60´s / 70´s mantle has been passed down – MR CHUCKY DOWNBEAT.

With a LINE-UP this big, in such a central location [´THE JAMM BAR´ islocated right on the junction of Shoreditch High Street / Old Street /Hackney Road – less than 10minutes from LIVERPOOL STREET STN]- the only slight snag is that the venue only has a 1am license – and accordingly, we´ll be starting the MAIN EVENT PROMPTLY at 10pm to preserve the original style ´meets´ format of presentation. THERE WILL BE NO ADVANCE TICKETS FOR THIS EVENT. We advise everyone to COME EARLY to guarantee entry and avoid disappointment – it´s not like the supporting acts could in any way be regarded as warm-ups!!

we look forward to seeing you there,

best regards

ska_nick & maharishi hi-fi

[added later]

Penny Reel on Stoke Newington Reggae Record shops in the 1970s

3 September 2010, 1:02 pm

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 these shots, as things have changed a fair bit in the meantime. I figured veteran reggae writer and lifelong Hackney resident Penny Reel would know. I grabbed him on the Chatty Mouth reggae forum.

Can you ID the locations of these shops in Stoke Newington taken from a 1976 film?

The top photo is Roy Shirley’s record shop cum studio on Birkbeck Road. The male in the doorway is Mr Shirley himself.

The bottom picture is Mr Johnson’s cafe on the corner of Sandringham and Birkbeck Roads. These two premises were within 20 yards of each other. In the back room of this cafe one could buy £5 deals of hashish and grass. It was the first Afro-Caribbean business on the street and is now a hairdressing salon.

Roy Shirley is pictured on the left of this photo. Back in the early 1970s, I used to go to blues dances in Birkbeck Road, off Ridley Road market, in the company of man like Ras Painter, Ras Paul, Gene Rondo, Sir Collins, Sir George, Roy Shirley and the rest of the Stokie rasses.

Many thanks, Mr Reel! It should go without saying that Stoke Newington has changed massively since I first visited in the late 80s, but it’s pretty much unrecognisable compared to 1976…

You should have seen Stoke Newington Church Street in the 1960s. Forget the Queen Anne villas and the “big houses”, back then it was a street of second hand shops. The whole area had lost its 18th century elegance and was now a slum street, full of thrift shops, second hand clothes and furniture shops, junk stores, indigent newsagents, cheap cafes, fish and chip shops, etc.

It was not until the Greenham Common lesbians moved in during the early 1970s, followed by the architects, media folk and squatters in the later ’70s that it turned into the wholefood, latte, sub-Hampsteadian parish it is today.

All the proles have moved to Herts and the provincial middle-class have temporarily moved in. However, once these people have children of five years old, William Patten school will not do for them and they will all move back to Devon, where they rightfully belong.

Penny Reel is the author of the essential Deep Down With Dennis Brown (Drake Brothers) which also includes a wealth of information about the reggae scene in London.

He also edited and wrote most of the 1981 Soundsystem Spashdown feature in the New Musical Express.

Box Set Go Go

30 August 2010, 9:24 pm

Hanging out at my mate Chris’ place this afternoon confirms my thesis!

Cybore: Box Set Go

30 August 2010, 1:18 pm

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 also the excellent Arkology 3 CD set on Island.

Sort of “Occult Roots of Big Beat” set, featuring mad breakbeat tunes from across the board. I got this ridiculously cheap (I think 6 quid?) from Berwick Street in the mid 90s.

Test Dept’s first LP with grainy photo inserts. This must have been the first box set I ever bought, in the mid eighties. Ordered via the back pages of “Record Collector” magazine. Also the first record I ever picked up from a Post Office depot, something which seems second nature now! Some if not all of this was produced by Genesis P-Orridge. Another Some Bizzare classic.

This used to be ubiquitous – peaking out of people’s record shelves at you when you visited them for the first time. Shorthand for a particular background and all-encompassing worldview which many of us have now jettisoned most of – but the traces remain. Lots of 4o year old anarchopunk “sleepers” out there, biding their time.

This set includes a whopping great booklet featuring the tragic tale of Stonehenge Free Festival founder Wally Hope. And a full colour poster by Gee Vaucher (which mine is missing, boo!)

I had this on tape for years and then finally found a copy in Reckless Records in Islington (RIP) for a good price in the late 90s.