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Hungry for more, huh? Here are a few thoughts on the riddims themselves…

I had planned to try and outdo Droid’s recent commentary on his raggamortis mix, but time has not allowed this. Plus I realised that I would basically just be plagiarising large chunks of Dancehall Explosion: Reggae Music Into The Next Millennium by Baek and Hedegard. So you should just read that, yeah? Instead, here is a whistlestop tour through the mix with my characteristically shabby research shining through.

Broke Bottle / Q45 / Desmond & Rupert Blake
A nice bit of brittle minimalism to kick off with. Egg Nog isn’t the meanest name “on road” but comes across as a fairly convincing gangsta on this. Beenie’s cut includes a nod towards Dee-Lite, one of those bizarre incursions into dancehall by rave/dance culture that I am so fond of. Harry Toddler wins the prize for the first reference to John Gotti on this mix - the first of many, but can you spot them all?

Baddis Ting / Hi-Profile / Richard Browne
Baddis! Prepare for a pounding by serious bass action. If anyone ever did “screwed and chopped” gabba, then it might hope to sound this good. The riddim was re-versioned recently but for my money it’s all about the originals. Nice to see the producer being grilled on the dub! No doubt I have missed some crucial vocal cuts, but seemingly it’s all good. In JA a “jacket” is someone’s husband who is unaware that he is not the biological father of his children. See Tanya Stephen’s more tender “Little White Lie” for the other side of the story.

Black Widow / Shines / Shane Richards
I like the plinky plonky synths on this. Cobra announces that he has sufficient variety in the bedroom to keep any woman entertained whilst Goofy declaims the limitless opportunities for things to mess up in these last days.

Powerplay / How Yu Fi Sey Dat? / Redrose & Malvo
The piano reminds me of an old drum ‘n’ bass tune, but it’s the swirling maelstrom of a bassline that really makes this. Beenie on resisting what he sees as the decadence of the western world. Delly Ranks is demanding that the laydeez put on more of a performance for him, but Ghost is having none of it. And General B? Answers on a postcard.

Bagpipe / Steelie & Clevie / Steelie & Clevie
Bagpipe caused a bit of a stir when Droid included it in a previous mix. Kode9 went mental for it and I think you can hear why. Steelie and Clevie were the dons of this era - you may also remember their superb Nine Night riddim off the Boom Boom Bashment mix that me and Paul did. It’s incredible how they make such a perfect structure out of all those mad sounds. This is another brilliant example of how diverse a riddim can be - the opener is practically ambient, and then Zebra and Squidley ramp it up. Nice bit of dancefloor destruction on the remix also.

Medina / 2 Hard / Jeremy Harding
1998 kicked off the careers of Jeremy Harding and Sean Paul - big style. Harding became a producer almost by accident, progressing from DJ work to doing radio ads and jingles before being persuaded that his studio could also be used for voicing dubplates. He cites hip hop as a major influence but also groups like Nitzer Ebb and Ministry.

Sean Paul, Red Rat and Monster Shack Crew were banded together as “uptown raggas” as they all came from relatively well-to-do families rather than the ghetto. This was nothing new, though, Augustus Pablo also came from a well off background before giving it all up for rastafari.

Aphasic of Junk and Ambush Records used to kick off his DJ sets with “Wanna Make Noise” and quite right too. Medina is the shyer brother to the Playground riddim but there is something about it which allows the vocalists to stretch out a bit more. Great performances all round, but a stunner from Tanya - and worth keeping hold of now she has taken a more ballady (but still excellent) path.

Filthy/Filthier / Main Street / Danny Brownie & D. Juvenile
Yeah, so some of you might remember this one… sweep back to Vegas doing a link on the Mobos with a fawning Dani Behr. Apparently “Heads High” is a song for a young cousin, telling her not to feel pressured into sex too early. The message of female empowerment is only slightly marred by the (unrelated!) follow up “She’s a Whore”.

Fade Away / Opera House / Andrew Bradford
Buccaneer is singly responsible for introducing opera stylings to dancehall. Here, on an Enya tip. Where else do you get that, eh?

Now Thing / Redrose / How Yu Fi Sey Dat?
As used and endorsed by The Bug at BASH. This was also the title of the MoWax LP of bashment instrumentals they put out, not wanting to scare off the hipsters and techno fans with the vocals, methinks. Which is a great shame because the vocals are excellent - an ace smokers’ anthem from Tony Curtis and Future Troubles, Lady Saw telling the men to get their act together in the bedroom and Sean Paul tearing down the place once again.

Playground / Jeremy Harding / 2 Hard
All about the bass again, but there are some wicked vocals on this also, for example Dutty Cup Crew’s “This is a stick up give me everything you got, we haffi report fi check out all the gals dem sexy and phat” I’ve had a raw mix of this section for ages and I cannot play it without beaming away to myself and anyone in the vicinity.

Earthquake / Big Yard / Robert Livingston & Sting Pizzonia
Proper rave-mentalism. I could quite happily play these back to back to back, mashing up the version. But I doubt you’d want to hear an hour of that so I have relented here. Big Yard is Shaggy’s label and I think this (and what follows) prove that he knows the score. I always have to gnash my teeth when someone slags off Shaggy or Sean Paul, as if that was de rigeur because they’ve been in the charts a few times. Well it’s not, OK?

Sexy Gal / Big Yard / Sting International
Ridiculously over the top finish.

(if your copy of the mix is only 45 minutes long, then please download it again to get the full hour long version - it seems like there may have been some glitches with the server… thanks to Droid for is tireless perfectionism in hosting the entire series and resolving my retarded approach to technology in this instance)

riddim / original label / producer

Broke Bottle / Q45 / Desmond & Rupert Blake
1. Egg Nog – Getaway Driver
2. Beenie Man – Always Be My Baby
3. Harry Toddler – Get Gal Easy
4. Version

Baddis Ting / Hi-Profile / Richard Browne
5. General Degree – Miss Gotti
6. Chico – Grudgeful
7. Mr Vegas – Jacket
8. Version

Black Widow / Shines / Shane Richards
9. Buccaneer – Sha La La La
10. Daddy Screw - Baby Bounti
11. Cobra – No One Style
12. Beenie Man – Gwaan So
13. Goofy – Anything Can Happen

Powerplay / How Yu Fi Sey Dat? / Redrose & Malvo
14. Beenie Man – Nah Bow
15. Delly Ranks – No Talent
16. Ghost – What Have You Done
17. General B – Ziggy Ziggy
18. Version

Bagpipe / Steelie & Clevie / Steelie & Clevie
19. Nitty Kutchie - Happy Go Lucky Girl
20. Zebra – You See Me
21. Squidley Ranks - Tek It Off
22. Beenie Man – Year 4 (Sticky Remix)

Medina / 2 Hard / Jeremy Harding
23. Monster Shack Crew – Wanna Make Noise
24. Tanya Stephens – Bounce Me
25. Red Rat – Yu Nice
26. Sean Paul – Strategy

Filthy/Filthier / Main Street / Danny Brownie & D. Juvenile
27. Beenie Man – Let Him Go
28. General Degree – Traffic Blocking
29. Mr Vegas – Heads High

Fade Away / Opera House / Andrew Bradford
30. Buccanner – Fade Away

Now Thing / How Yu Fi Sey Dat? / Redrose
31. Mad Cobra – Nuh Watch De Pum
32. Lady Saw – Sloppy In A Bed
33. Redrose – Red Red Red
34. Sean Paul – Report To We
35. Tony Curtis & Future Troubles – Can’t Smoke The Weed In Peace
36. Version

Playground / 2 Hard / Jeremy Harding
37. General B - Scream
38. Mad Cobra – Pet and Pamper
39. Dutty Cup Crew – Stick Up
40. Beenie Man – Who Am I
41. Sean Paul – Infiltrate

Earthquake / Big Yard / Robert Livingston & Sting Pizzonia
42. Merciless – Sharp Shooter
43. Rayvon – All Day All Night
44. Version

Sexy Gal / Big Yard / Sting International
45. Merciless – One of Them

How to get it

http://www.weareie.com/audio/blogariddims/Blogariddims.xml
is the link. Here is an idiot’s guide of what to do with it

You can also download the mp3 direct from http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogariddims/ or via itunes music store.

You really should subscribe - just take a look at the rest of the mixes at that feedburner link. You want them downloaded directly to your player every fortnight, yeah? Exactly.

Suckers To The Side, I Know You Rate My 98!

Following on from Naptha’s thunderous 1993 selection, I am contributing a hot 1998 bashment mix to the blogariddims series.

Nine years ago I was going out every weekend and a lot of this stuff gradually seeped into my consciousness over time. A band called Chin had a residency at Disgraceland on Essex Road in Islington - they were outstandingly good, a true combination of hip hop and a little bit of punk. After their set, Danny (their DJ) would play a load of brilliant records including some Aphrodite jump up and this tune that went round and round in my head… something about “zim zimma”…

Buying some Scientist and Lee Perry records in the Rough Trade shop, I heard this crisp bassy tune coming out of the speakers and was entranced by its quirky percussion and vocals. I asked the bloke behind the counter what it was and he held up a copy of the latest Ragga Ragga Ragga compilation LP. Another addition to my Lee Perry collection could wait until next payday…

The climax of these encounters was a house party off Green Lanes in Haringey. I’d been told to bring some records along but it became clear that the usual highly competitive young dj politics were in play and there was no chance of me getting a go on the decks. Two italian crusties had decided that as there was two of them they could play their godawful acid trance for a 2 hour set. But there was this one guy…

He had the biggest box of seven inch white labels you have ever seen, many of them tied together with elastic bands. He didn’t do anything fancy with them, just whacked them on the turntable and whizzed over the crossfader. Tune after tune came out of the speakers - bass, vocals, eccentric percussion. Someone asked him what the a particular track was and I was able to lip read him saying “I dunno - look, they’re all white labels!”.

Maybe it’s me, but 98 seems like a much more innocent time in retrospect. Certainly none of the tunes I’ve heard feature people trying to outdo each other in murderous homophobia. It was also a year when what was happening in JA was exactly what was needed to fill an aching gap in the UK pop charts. (This happened most recently a few years back with the slew of Sean Paul and Diwali tunes).

So here is my tribute to that year. I’d love to be all cool and say that I bought all these on the day they came out, but the truth of the matter is my buying patterns have been somewhat erratic. Quite of bit of “back filling” has been required to get this tracklist together, which has involved me at my most nerdy. After taking the piss out of trainspotters with their spreadsheets and matrix numbers, I found myself getting deep into excel after realising that greensleeves alone released over a hundred seven inches in 98, most with exactly the same stock labels.

The 2nd hand tunes cost me anything between 20p and 4 pounds, but there were very very few absolute stinkers. Indeed, my hardest job was cutting the mix down to an hour - so there may be a part two at some point, possibly extending into 1999. But that is another story…

Greensleeves phased out their seven inches a few years later in favour of the now ubiquitous “Rhythm Albums” featuring 20 cuts of the same riddim. I can’t help feeling that people now pay less attention to the actual vocals. Some of the riddims on this mix came out in just 3 cuts, i.e. the ones that they got right! There also seems less scope now for big labels like Greensleeves and VP releasing “one away” tunes like “Fade Away” and giving them a big push. At the time of writing it looks like JA vinyl production is slowing down as selectors switch to digital formats. So perhaps the time is ripe for Greensleeves et al to fill the gap by releasing sevens again? I doubt I could make a good business case for it myself, but one can hope!

more commentary to follow - you don’t think you get off that lightly, eh?

another link for the answer riddim mix, by popular, and indeed international demand!

http://www.yousendit.com/download/T2dkTXRaTlE4NVUwTVE9PQ

Paul Meme: Blogariddims 17 / Tons of Boxes

Matt B: ‘rejoice jah jah children’

Here is my contribution to this week’s big news.

 

 John Eden Answer Riddimclash! [44:28m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

45 minutes of prime reggae, rocksteady and dancehall - on varied (but all excellent) cuts of the Answer Riddim.

A one take live mix, with a few exclusive contributions from Hackney’s best female MC.

Tracklist:

1 Slim Smith - Never Let Go (Studio One)
2 Lone Ranger - The Answer (Soul Jazz)

Starting out with a foundation selection because building a mix without a foundation is like building a house on sand.

3 Brigadier Jerry - Pain (Roots Tradition)
4 Little John - What is Katty (Roots Tradition)

“Pain” is dedicated to my wrists. “What is Katty” is dedicated to Paul’s wrists.

5 Sister Nancy - Transport Connection (Techniques)

Moving nicely with Sister Nancy while other selectors stand still.

6 Carlton Livingstone - Rub a Dub Session (Roots)
7 Early B - History of Jamaica (Roots)

Carlton’s off to dance the night away while Early B educates certain people who are new to all this and perhaps don’t know the full story beyond tunes and warring.

8 Tippa Irie & The Colonel - Just A Speak (UK Bubblers)
9 Daddy Rusty - No No Way (UK Bubblers)
10 Daddy Sandy - Riddle Bubble (UK Bubblers)
11 Tannoi - Gunshot Salute (UK Bubblers)

Bringing it back to mid 80s London with the cream of Saxon Studio International in full swing. Meanwhile the enigmatic Tannoi has had enough of the macho warring in the dance ‘cos it’s ruined his date.

12 Peter Metro - Police In Jamaica (Jah Life Time)

Peter Metro also did Police Inna England for Jammys. On this tune he ends up in the nick with Nicodemus and is concerned that his sparring partner is cracking under the pressure whilst he remains calm and righteous. No further comment needed!

13 Paul Blake and The Bloodfire Posse - Rub a Dub Solider (Revue)

Paul Blake brings the digital vibe pre-sleng teng. Goes out to the all the 9 to 5 soldiers!

14 Dennis Brown - I Can’t Stand It (Joe Gibbs Music)
15 Junior Vibes - The Man In Me (Joe Gibbs Music)
16 Little U Brown - Locomotion (Joe Gibbs Music)
17 U Mike - Loving Galore (Joe Gibbs Music)

Everyone raves about Junjo in the 80s but Joe Gibbs’ stuff is just as good in my opinion. Proper! Little U Brown may or not be related to U Brown, but he is right about being “Big Inna London”. Surprisingly I haven’t been able to find any tunes about MCs being “big inna Sheffield” but I guess Paul has cornered the market on those with his mix.

18 Earl Sixteen - Batman + Robin (S.C.O.M.)
19 Jah Screechy - Walk & Skank (Blacker Dread / S.C.O.M.)
20 version (S.C.O.M.)
>> Stephen Marley feat Damian Marley + buju banton - The Traffic Jam (Tuff Gong)
21 Eek A Mouse - A Wah Do Dem (Blacker Dread)
22 Capleton - Punchline (Blacker Dread)
23 Super Cat - Vineyard Party (Wild Apache)

Possibly the definitive post- Studio One version of the riddim - and it was recorded in London! Credited to Blacker Dread at Easy Street studios with a line up including Jackie Mittoo, Horsemouth and Peter Chemist. Nice bit of rave crossover with Earl 16 going on to work with Leftfield and Jah Screechy forming the basis of SL2’s “On A Ragga Tip”.

At some point Blacker seems to have recorded a mentalist cross-fader dominator version which seriously does the business anywhere. I first heard the Capleton cut on the Still Blazing LP and, well, blimey.

Traffic Jam is dedicated to Droid. Shout out to all the pedantic posse!

24 Smiley Culture - Police Officer (Fashion)

Classics? I hate to belabour the point, but it’s a London/JA thing. Failsafe party stormer which still gets hands in the air when dropped by The Bug.

25 Marcia Griffiths - I Shall Sing (Penthouse)

Marcia’s singing and so am I. Because I only sing when I’m winning.

You can check out Paul’s absurd attempt to outdo me here .

Once you have listened to both you can vote for which mix is the best (i.e. for me) over at Dissensus. (You will have to register if you are not a poster there already. It’s easy to do and you should check out Dissensus if you like this blog in any case.)

This mix came out as part of the excellent blogariddims series in December.

1. Elizabeth Welch – Stormy Weather
2. The Passions – I’m In Love With A German Film Star
3. Yazoo – Nobody’s Diary
4. Foxx – S-S-Single Bed
5. “Malcolm McLaren” (i.e. Bow Wow Wow) – Sexy Eiffel Tower
6. 2 Unlimited – Let The Beat Control Your Body
7. Technotronic – Pump Up The Jam
8. Divine – Native Love
9. Mel & Kim – Respectable (Club Mix)
10. Spy 51 – Cake
11. Mambo Taxi – Do You Always Dress Like That In Front of Other People’s Boyfriends
12. The Shangri-Las – Give Him A Great Big Kiss
13. The Angels – My Boyfriend’s Back
14. Shampoo – Shiny Black Taxi Cab
15. We’ve Got A Fuzzbox And We’re Going To Use It – Rules & Regulations (Splendiferous Mix)
16. Daisy Chainsaw – Love Your Money
17. Colourbox – The Moon Is Blue
18. Nancy Sinatra – Sugar Town
19. Angel Corpus Christi – The Day John Kennedy Died

A tip of the hat to Paul Nomos who assembled my quotes/clues into the following over at Dissensus:

Teens of Eden “I’m the Ice Queen” (1986)

Everything I have is gone
Trying not to pose
Perhaps if I held you
The pleasures of night
The pleasures of night

(Chorus)
Ice Queen
Ice Queen
All I have is gone
Ice Queen
Ice Queen
You know that I’m the one

It didn’t matter that he was tame
It penetrates your brain
A place to stay
I never get enough
Conversation is interrogation
You’re like a big expensive drug trip
She looked down on me
He’s not evil
He’s not evil

(Keyboard Solo)

Now you’re going to get a beating
Sleazy brown dirty macs
Leave your job and have some kids
Yes we do
Scorched and dieing
Never had a friend or wanted one
A criminal on the take
Criminal on the take…

(Chorus x4)

Winners

Joint 2nd place: Martin BTI and “Stinky” Jim

1st place: Jenks

Big up all the entrants and those too intimdated to enter who still told me they enjoyed the mix.

Less than two days to go in the Blogariddims Office Party Mix track spotting competition!

I won’t be doing an end-of-year-round-up but am instead doing a 2006mix which will only appear on a limited number of CDRs (i.e. you won’t be able to download it).

If you can identify more than 6 tracks in the Office Party mix (which you can download -follow that link!), you stand a good chance of winning one of these precious items.

Entries to me by midnight (er, UK time, I guess). Full details below…

A festive session featuring divas, teenagers, ice queens and those in between

1. “Everything I have is gone”
2. “Trying not to pose”
3. “Perhaps if I held you”
4. “The pleasures of night”
5. “It didn’t matter that he was tame”
6. “It penetrates your brain”
7. “A place to stay”
8. “I never get enough”
9. “Conversation is interrogation”
10. “You’re like a big expensive drug trip”
11. “She looked down on me”
12. “He’s not evil”
13. “Now you’re going to get a beating”
14. “Sleazy brown dirty macs”
15. “Leave your job and have some kids”
16. “Yes we do”
17. “Scorched and dieing”
18. “Never had a friend or wanted one”
19. “A criminal on the take”

How to get it

http://www.weareie.com/audio/blogariddims/Blogariddims.xml
is the link. Here is an idiot’s guide of what to do with it

You can also get it direct from http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogariddims/ or via itunes music store.

You really should subscribe - all the previous mixes rate amongst the highlights of my year. I’m slightly reticent about lowering the tone with this one, but only slightly
 

What’s it all about?

Blogariddims doesn’t have an office, which is just as well - given the people involved I doubt that much work would ever get done. That doesn’t mean we can’t have an office party, though, does it?

Crack open your chosen festive tipple and blast this out whilst wearing your most ill-fitting suit. For my part I created the correct atmosphere by chugging down a pint of mulled wine before even touching the turntables. So, swing your arms in the air… think about who you will try to catch under the miseltoe… scan in your arse. Despite my state of inebriation, I take full responsibility for the music here - this time of year is not the point to get obscure and credible.

Bonus blogariddims festive competition

Blogariddims being what it is, some of you may be less extrovert than others. Never mind lurking in the corner, we have a special ice-breaking party game for you lot. Being attentive to detail, you will have already noticed there is no tracklisting for this mix. Instead, each track is flagged up by a short quote from its lyrics.

Your mission, spotters, is to identify as many tracks as you can and then email the name of the artists and tunes to me by midnight on the 17th of January 2007. Use the [eden at uncarved dot org] email address with the subject line “blogariddims festive competition”.

The person who gets the most artists and/or titles correct will be sent a CD of my “Best of 2006″ mix, which will not appear online anywhere, and will only be burnt to 23 CDs. The full tracklist of the Office Party Mix will appear here on this blog on the 18th of January.

The man like BMC has come up trumps with a wicked Nicodemus meet Bingy Bunny and the Morwells mix.

Tim P and the Tighten Up crew have bashed out a load of classic tuneage also, and some recording of live sessions they’ve done which feature Champion and Leslie Lyrics (more of whom later).

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=A68E93F10C06DC8C

courtesy of Tim P and Bilko if I remember rightly.