This is the first proper mix I ever did, back in those pre-blog times of 2002. I was interested in tracks that blurred the lines between reggae, dub, electronica and dance music. I still am, but it seems harder to find interesting angles on it these days.
Thanks to Jim Bakhaus for helping me out with a copy of the mix when I found out that my CDR master had gone glitchy.
This was done in 2003, a transitional time for online music. By then most people I knew had the internet at home and/or work. But very few of us had broadband, and hosting was still fairly expensive. So the favoured means of distribution was burning mixes on CDR, making a nice sleeve, and then giving them to mates in person or sending them through the post. I actually prefer that to uploading and downloading, but it seems very quaint today.
Promotion was done through internet forums like Uk-Dance, Urban75 and the like. People got really into it – possibly because not many people were doing mixes of this sort of thing back then – there was lots of techno and other dance music to be had in the circles I moved in then, but not much reggae to be had.
It was a wicked time for music, with the “one drop” reggae stuff really coming to the fore. I lived near Gladdy Wax’s shop “Wax Unlimited” in Stoke Newington and would try to get there every Saturday to find out what was new. That coupled with David Rodigan’s show on Sunday nights on Kiss, I was well stocked up with some incredible tunes.
In fact, this is probably the most popular mix I have ever done – people still remember it and ask me for a copy. I think this is mainly because it came out at a time when it really stood out, and also because it’s not really been available online for ages. (Marc D hosted it on his Bassnation site for a while).
Some of the music is taken from the Lovers Rock mix I did with Paul Meme. I find this recontextualisation very interesting (and saddening). These tunes may have been the last sounds that 13 of the people at 493 New Cross Road ever heard. (14 are commemorated on the plaque and elsewhere because Anthony Berbeck, who was also present on the night, committed suicide two years later for reasons believed to be linked with the trauma of what he witnessed.) So the heartbreak and love evoked by the songs
Great round up for London dancehall runnings from Gabriel Heatwave with lots of photos and youtube business. There’s loads going on and this made me feel completely out of touch! Which means lots of lovely new stuff to check out, so that’s fine by me.
On a similar note, the Heatwave crew just uploaded a new London Bashment mix with some ace selections and a good few specials as well as contributions from their MC Rubi Dan (who Paul Meme borrowed for the anthemic “Move Down Low”).
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 week all the producers have been going potlatch crazy and giving away tons of tunes for free. Dot Rotten has given away seventy instrumentals today, apparently!
I’ve not got time to wade through it all to be honest, or even check radio shows. But when Stinky Jim posted a link to Footsie from the Newham General’s new EP, I was drawn in like a moth to a flame.
It’s FREE and you get four wicked grimey reggae refixes, including the Cuss Cuss riddim and Barrington Levy’s “Under Mi Sensi”. Download from the link up top.
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.
Absolutely awesome interview with Ras Kush about reggae in New York covering everything from the connections with hip hop, soundsystems, Wackies the underdog, Super Cat, Jammyland, binghi sessions and black consciousness. And also the long reach of sleng teng, Jah Shaka and Xterminator from overseas.
Essential reading and definitely one to print off for the bus/train/tube journey home.
Wackies and Jah Shaka are interviewed at length in this new publication: More Axe #2.
A 150 page perfectbound book featuring some nice archive interviews and writing. Of particular note is the piece on Peter King – Saxon soundsystem’s fast chat originator.
It’s slightly let down by its design and typesetting but is professional produced overall and very readable.
Books on rocksteady and deejays also available. Order via the link.
junior delahaye & jerry harris with original master tape reel
And if that’s not enough Wackies for ya, check out this recent Wackies Alumni radio show in NYC by the man Carter Van Pelt and featuring Jerry Harris, Junior Delahaye, and Prince Douglas reminiscing on their musical history and contributions to the Wackies sound.
