Best of 2005 mix
Download from: here.
PLEASE NOTE THIS IS NOT A ZIPPED FILE! Don’t unzip or decompress it, simply download it and then change the “.zip” at the end of the filename to “.mp3″.
This is a selection of my favourite tunes of the year - mainly new releases, but there are a few tunes off retro-compilations that came out in 2005 as well. Plus the odd tune which I bought in 2005, but have no idea when it actually came out. It starts quite chill and gets progressively more banging. Roots, bashment and dub, comrades!
The mix is dedicated to Gladdy Wax and the staff of the Wax Unlimited shop, which will be closing at the end of the year. A fundamental part of my reggae education, and a pillar of real culture in the increasingly gentrified Stoke Newington. I’d like to believe they’d still be there if I’d given them more of my money, but I certainly did my best…
29 tracks, 71 minutes, 100megs. This is a live mix done in one take, so don’t expect any of the top of the range seamless perfection you get when me and Paul Meme do a mix together. My mixer is verging on completely useless these days as well…
Tracklist? Ha ha. That’s where the fun starts. Me and Paul have noticed that there are a load of people who download our mixes (which is great) but who never leave comments or get in touch (which is a bit depressing and not the reason we do this). And not only that, there are a few sites and message forums which seem to delight in linking directly to the file so that people hear our mixes without even seeing the context they appear in (i.e. the rest of the site/blog/etc).
Therefore the following conditions apply:
1) If you want the tracklist, send me an email at “spotter [at-sign] uncarved [dot] org”. AND include someting in the email about the mix which proves you’ve already given it a listen.
2) If I see people linking directly to the file, I will take it down. (Link instead to http://uncarved.org/blog/?p=770)
3) If my bandwidth goes ballistic, I will take the file down.
4) If I see anyone putting the tracklist on the web, I will take the file down.
5) A very limited number of CDs are available for dial-up people who have already been in touch with me (or who I know from internet forums, etc) - email the address above.
The mix will be up for about a week, all being well.
It’s been a great year for music. Despite vowing to listen to things other than reggae, that’s still been my staple diet. For all its faults it’s still the only genre which consistently excites me, and 20o6 easily has the potential to be even better.
It should go without saying that people should seek this music out - and buy it - if they like the mix. There won’t be any more of these tunes if the producers, labels, singers and players don’t get a fair wage for their work.
ed:
yum!
29 December 2005, 3:24 pmAndren:
Thanks for the mix. I know exactly what you mean by the leech mentality. I try to point people to quality music and on occasion mix my own material for my blog and rarely, if ever, get as much as a comment. When I post an entry on a particular mix or set of music, I do my best to write-up some material, ‘giving props’ so as to give back to the artists or DJ’s themselves.
Oh well, this dood appreciates what you are doing. =)
Cheers, Andren
p.s. Hit me with the tracklisting when you get a minute.
29 December 2005, 5:54 pmtheewatcher:
Exactly John, I know exactly what you mean about people who expect tunes on tap of the rarest material it has taken decades to collect — and they barely ever even say thanks before they ask for another….. I notice that the download generation has created a greedy ” I want it all on disc and I want it all now” generation, of people that don’t understand the years of love and searching and scholarship and reflection and hard earned pennies that went into geting the tunes in the first place…
I remember making a cd of rare rare rare music for a colleague about three years back — this guy was someone who obssessivley bought all the DJ drum and bass magazines, collected cdr’s of drum and bass nights obsessivley ,and filed/cross referenced them all in pastic bags, you know the sort… My cd for him was of of the crispest, most haunting Bim Sherman rare gems etc etc, coxsonne rarities, only to find a list on said colleagues work desk later on, ticking and crossing and rejecting “the worth” of certain artists judged from the cdr i gave him, which came from my 30 years of collecting rare tunes — tunes he would otherwise never have even heard…. The sublime genius of Bim Sherman had a cross next to his name and a simple comment — “Boring” “soft” next to it. The rawest Tubby’s and Coxsonne tunes were labelled , “Alright.”
I didn’t know why I had bothered!
29 December 2005, 11:44 pmPeter M:
cool bananas!
30 December 2005, 12:15 amcdr on the way, computer says so pt2
Loki:
Rest assured some of us come here for the sideways excursions into Iron Butterfly’s occult history rather than leeching the mixes from the system… my dial-up never has a prayer with anything anyone puts up… I’m generally content just to imagine what the tracks sound like and mentally file away some of the names for the next time I’m browsing… don’t get downhearted because of the dementors out there, just slip them the odd nasty Debbie Gibson / Jive Bunny megamix or some Merzbow teeth-pulls every now and then to keep em on their toes…
30 December 2005, 9:19 pmPer:
Good stuff!
30 December 2005, 11:08 pmcHOPS:
Can’t wait to listen to the mix - but I wanted to give thanks in advance because I also have you Lyric Maker mix and I am just loving that mix. Big ups!
Respect coming from Toronto, Canada!
31 December 2005, 3:07 amjohn:
Thanks for the love, comrades!
Thee Watcher - heartbreaking story, that one… some people don’t get it. But some people DO, which is good enough for me.
PeterM - wicked, will look forward to it. I can’t get the files you sent to work, cos I am thick.
Loki - how do you The Idiot’s Guide on dial up? I’m not downhearted just trying something new and groovy to see how it goes! You are definitely on the CDR list if you want one (ditto thee Watcher). Email me where to send them if you want a disc thrusting through your box.
Respect to all and a happy new year.
31 December 2005, 8:31 pmLoki:
John… cheers for the offer… I’ll send an email… as for how I do idiot’s guide on dial up well…lots of waiting for small spinning discs to stop spinning and lots of other time watching as downloaded tracks creep towards completion… it’s the main reason I keep no music on servers at the moment but in the new year mr broadband is coming knocking and Idiot’s Guide might even start getting interesting… happy new year…
1 January 2006, 11:10 amMikael:
I always like your mixes - Shake the Foundations and Lyric Maker particularly - and they have pointed me in new musical directions. Thanks and happy new year from Stockholm, Sweden,
2 January 2006, 10:50 amed:
mighty mighty selection,
would love to get a tracklist, please, especially those 1st couple of tracks.
these days i rely completely on the computer for music, so i love these mixes, and i’m too greedy at downloading… i’ve got plenty of mixes off dissensus that i never had time to really get into. (course your mixes are always a bit special, star, this ones’ already on been on heavy rotation!).
it’s worrying that if shops like Gladdys go then that’s another nail in the coffin for small artists who don’t get paid by freeloaders like myself, it’s apity that distribution thru the net is not so far accessible enough, specially for reggae artists, to replace the vital vinyl/royalties system…
thanks for a lovely mix, selector, and happy new year to all!
2 January 2006, 10:06 pmxxx
paul.meme:
Is Gladdy’s being taken over by some cuntish property developer?
3 January 2006, 8:59 pmjohn:
I guess the building which houses Gladdy’s is already owned by a cuntish property developer of some sort, but they reckon the main reason they can’t pay the rent and keep the shop going is because of “this computer ting nowadays” - i.e. ordering tunes online, or downloading. But they are setting up their own web shop so it’s not game over.
4 January 2006, 9:13 amtheewatcher:
Nice array of responses there John, so clearly people do, very much appreciate what you are doing.
Nice one. It’s a good site, in all its diversity and willingness to cross over boundaries and conventions and categorising. Orthodoxy, conservative attitudes in musical composition and rigid formula are dull ( and for me, at least, wholly responsible for the stone cold death and burial of 99.9% of reggae and dub in 2005, though I know you and many others disagree with such a view ).
4 January 2006, 1:27 pmmatt b:
an excellent mix as always john- i listened to it whilst bolloxed last week and (from what i can remember) liked it a lot- but will listen to it properly asap.
and thanks for the kind comments you made about the ‘blog’, although i knew some reggae pedant would slap me for not knowing the original name of the rhythm
could you email me a tracklist? ta.
4 January 2006, 2:46 pmtheewatcher:
Matt wrote
//and thanks for the kind comments you made about the ‘blog’, although i knew some reggae pedant would slap me for not knowing the original name of the rhythm//
You don’t want to worry about that Matt — in my view, for what little it matters in the wider frame of things, it is that very same obssession with this or that rhythm that has turned reggae/dub into a form (again in my view only ) as conservative and formula obssessed as heavy metal.
Well, is’nt current reggae similar to heavy metal? Both are obssessed with mind crunching VOLUME ( “Woorragghgh, turn it up to number 11 mate!!! Heeeaaavvyyyy! ” ), both are very male oriented, both are macho, both are obssessed with conventional formula and orthodoxy over any ideas of innovation, both are apparently judged on little else rather than their HEAVY quota, both are frequently mysogynisitc, both relentlessly reference past musical structures/myth and so on..
Indeed, not pulling rank or age here ( that would be a stupid and pointless and undignified stance for a person my age ) but I am an oldie ( 40’s ) who has been with reggae since the late 70’s….( again, not awarding myself a stupid gold star here…so what? Who cares? )… my only point is, I can honestly say, that literally — 99.9 % of the reggae obbsessed, Shaka acolyte devotees I knew and record hunted with between 1978 and 1986…. barely knew or cared about the name of one single rhtyhm, even the most famous ones, even though their collections were astonishing, real 100% impossibly rare music…. These were people who REALLY KNEW their music — yet they respected the fresh, the original in sound — not some dead rhythm to collect and name ad nauseam…
In my view, ( for what its worth ) this OBSSESSION with naming and endlessley cross referencing this or that rhyhtm is a 90’s invention for the most part, and meaningless…..I can truthfully add, and this is totally true — from all the reggae engineers, musicians, singers and players I have met since 1978 ( and the list is fairly comprehensive, though nowhere near as complete and in depth as the REAL experts such as Penny Reel, Russ D and so on ..I am NOWHERE near an expert, just a long term follower of reggae) I can honestly say, 99% of them didn’t even remember the names of THEIR OWN RECORDS and compostions, let alone the names of x number of rhythms….fact….
In my view ( again, fwiw, no more ) the sooner reggae gets over this conservative obssession with this or that rhtyhm, the sooner it may get back to creating somehting fresh, original, new and exciting again….. God, when I first heard Black Ark, Tubbys, Johnny Clarke et al in 1977, 78 or so, the very LAST thing on my mind was “Ooooh, what’s the name of this RHYTHM? Gotta collect all 125 versions of it man” No, i was rather more shocked and amazed at THE NEWNESS of it all, and that it DIDNT reference any other forms, let alone other rhythms…. ( Of course, some of it was recycling earlier rhythms, its just i didnt know it….but it was only recyling some rhythms albeit in a fresh, unselfconscious, exciting way, about 5 or ten yrs old, and not endlessly obbsessing about 30 YEAR OLD rhtyhms as happens now….)
4 January 2006, 3:19 pmdroid:
Riddim names are exceptionally useful for a DJ who juggles. It can be nigh impossible to collate riddims for DJng unless you have everything on 7″- so classifying things by the riddim is vital if youve got a collection thats spread out into compilations and LPs, or you want to play stuff produced before the 90s… whilst it may have been less essential in the 70s and 80s - most of the big riddims have been reversioned countless times since then, and I find that the riddim ‘format’ is indespensable in tracing the connections and differences between the producers and artists from different eras of reggae… its a bit like knowing where all the Jungle and Hip-Hop breaks come from. Not essential - but both interesting and useful…
Hey Matt ya waster! didnt you have a pressure slide selection on your ‘Lifes Road’ mix? I seem to remember ranting about it over o Dissensus,,,
4 January 2006, 5:30 pmmatt b:
thewatcher: i don’t care about rhythms (in and of themselves) really! mainly because my brain just cannot deal with the collation of them. i do enjoy discovering new versions on a favourite rhythm, although this mainly happens by chance months, if not years after making a new purchase. there again i don’t play out (anymore) so it doesn’t matter to me as it might others
yes droid! ah yes! pressure slide is on there. not a selection though, just a single tenor saw version.
4 January 2006, 6:23 pmjohn:
See, this is exactly what I want my living room to be like some weekends!
4 January 2006, 6:35 pmtheewatcher:
Yes Matt, I agree with your attitude.
4 January 2006, 6:39 pmtheewatcher:
Nice one John, and nice website — it’s good aswell, to have the quite neutral, unorthodox space to post these views and to debate their relative merits. If one does so on the “other” boards, one immediately gets three or four orhtodox obssesives on your back, who think you are trying to be a spiteful demagogue, or a flamer or other posters who think that these kinds of views are negative, destructive, elitist, and “spoiling” their fun somehow — whilst to me, this kind of debate is none of the aforementioned at all, but simply an honest investigation/expression based on differing perspectives….
Thanks for the space John….an open minded man….
4 January 2006, 6:44 pmdroid:
Cant wait to hear this (and then post a pirate tracklisting on the blog ;)) - STILL on my christmas hols - so no broadband to DL at the mo…
5 January 2006, 1:34 pmjohn:
Thee Watcher - it’s only an open space because people are so nice.
5 January 2006, 1:59 pmDroid - ding me when you get back and I’ll sort out a yousendit or something (or email me an address and I’ll send you a CD?). Still on your holidays? You lucky lucky…
marcusman:
superb selection mate. loving all the stuff i managed to find since i got hold of ’shake the foundations’
any chance of that tracklisting mate?
9 January 2006, 1:44 pmjohn:
Nice one Marcus - will try to email you tonight.
9 January 2006, 5:50 pmMelchior:
Oh noe! I go away for a few weeks ad when I get back there’s a solid looking mix that I’ve missed! Any chance of a yousendit?
10 January 2006, 9:32 amdroid:
Goddit! Cheers John…
16 January 2006, 12:51 pm