Nice piece on Sleng Teng over at Search And Delete.

Some stuff to check for sure. (Thanks as ever to Matt for the link).

My tuppence worth:

Tenor Saw’s “Pumpkin Belly” is arguably far better than the original Wayne Smith cut.

On the same lyrics over different backing tip, Alozade & Hollowpoint’s “Under Mi Sensi” on the Clappas riddim is well wicked, high energy stuff.

You should also look out for Kenny Knots and the Bush Chemists track “Good Sensimiella” which came out on a Conscious Sounds 10″ last year. Great vocals and dub of an absolutely seismic reworking of the riddim by Dougie Conscious.

Nice to see some mention of the pre-sleng teng digi stuff also. Paul Blake and the Bloodfire Posse’s “Rub a Dub Soldier” is a current household fave here, with the daughter demanding that we sing the opening lines on a regular basis:

“I’m… just a rub a dub soldier – fighting… to keep the rockers aliiiiiiiiiiiive
I’m… just a rub a dub soldier – working… from a nine until fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive.”

Also features a bit of just about ok scratching in the dub bit, which I’m sure isn’t a common occurrence.

What’s interesting about early 80s productions of people like Junjo and Sly & Robbie (and Scientist’s dubs) is that they were getting increasingly sparse and robotic – as if the culture was reaching out for the technology long before it actually became available or affordable.