uncarved.org blog

This is an absolutely breathtaking mix to download from none other than The Rootsman.

An unbelievable line up and some of the best performances you will hear from name artists on dubplate. You cannot buy this music anywhere…

THE ROOTSMAN Featuring D.BO GENERAL - FROM THE DUBPLATE BASKET VOLUME 1

1. ROBERT LEE – BANG BANG
2. MICHAEL BUCKLEY – CRY OF A SOUNDBOY
3. SUGARBLACK – RUB A DUB
4. ANTHONY JOHNSON – OH WHAT A DAY
5. EARL 16 – REGGAE ROCK
6. U BROWN – ROOTSMAN SOUND
7. TONY G – IF I EVER
8. SAMMY DREAD – THEY DIDN’T KNOW
9. GYPTIAN – JUDGEMENT NIGHT
10. YT – WICKED ACT
11. D.BO GENERAL – MAMA
12. ECHO MINOTT/HOPETON JAMES – DON’T TEST
13. JOHNNY OSBOURNE – HE CAN SURELY TURN THE TIDE
14. TURBULENCE – ON MY WAY
15. FRISCO KID – REVENGE
16. ROBERT LEE – LIVE GOOD
17. D.BO GENERAL – STRANGE THINGS
18. PHILIP FRASER – COME ROOTSMAN
19. BRAVEHEART – RED EYES
20. EVERTON BLENDER/DETERMINE – TIME LIKE THIS
21. JUNIOR DELGADO – KING OF KINGS
22. D.BO GENERAL – FREEDOM
23. TAFFARI – MORE ROOTSMAN
24. JOHNNY CLARKE – BABYLON
25. BUSHMAN – YADD AWAY HOME
26. BONGO CHILLI – READ YOUR BIBLE
27. LUCIANO – FINAL CALL
28. EARL 16 – CHANGING WORLD
29. FRED LOCKS – BLACK STAR LINER
30. JOSEY WALES – SLACKNESS DEAD
31. EARL 16 – PRESSURE
32. TURBULENCE – NOTORIOUS
33. LYMIE – LOVE WE MUST HAVE

Download from here while you still can.

“Every man does his thing a little way different”
Errol Dunkley

“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…”
Loki

This mix is the first one I ever recorded, back in 1998. I’d got a new job a few years previously and used the extra cash, month by month, to gradually sort myself out with a decent hi-fi and then eventually saved up to buy one deck, a mixer, and then another deck.

The mix was originally conceived when I had one deck, a mixer and an ordinary domestic CD player. So, no beatmixing but some nice looooooong ambient pieces. It was eventually reworked with two records and a CD playing at the same time when I had amassed all the kit. I didn’t really do very much with at the time, partly because I had no way of copying tapes and partly because I was still labouring under the illusion that I’d become some kind of shit hot drum and bass DJ. Quite clearly that was never going to happen, but it was great fun mucking about with records. And still is.

A lot of these tunes represent the last gasp of my serious interest in industrial culture before plunging into dub in a big way. With the exception of one track, it still sounds fantastic to these ears.

In many ways it is a sister mix to Paul Meme’s classic Ambient Industrial selection

Another live mix. 48 minutes long because it was designed to fit on one side of a C90 (remember them?).

Download a zipped archive including the mp3 file, cover art and details of how to get a 4 page pdf of sleevenotes from here. (65megs).

Rules:

1) If I see people linking directly to the file, I will take it down. (Link instead to http://uncarved.org/blog/?p=790)
2) If my bandwidth goes ballistic, I will take the file down.
3) 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 me or leave a comment.

The mix will be up for about a week, all being well.

“…a soundclash of King Tubby versus Scientist inna Anchormix style. The goal was to pay tribute to two dub heavyweights while using the songs as elements themselves and weaving in the vocal talents of Omnibus MC.

In a four-round clash, DJ’s Andren and Scott Allen took turns re-mixing, looping and dubbing each track into a brand new song.

Our modern take on dub is to remix the dub tracks on the fly and create a ‘dub soundscape’ that, when mixed with live vocals provides a live element that can never be recreated.”

Download the standard version over at Anchormix Radio

Register on their forum for access to a high quality download and more besides.

Anchormix Radio have moved to their own domain, with a nice forum. Still huge amounts of great mixes to download including the essential Anchormix Radio : Version Three : The Jungle, which includes some choice Scientist and Wackies bizness.

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.

Awesome-looking live session mix from Droid over at the essential weareie. Complete with the usual brilliant sleeve notes too!

Never was a blog better named than Matt’s Idle Thoughts for Idle Moments. He could never be accused of being an obsessive blogger (which is to his credit) but instead just bungs up the odd interesting post now and then.

He’s been unusually prolific of late, with posts covering his trip to New York and a piece on a new mid-price compilation of George Phang productions (which was already on my list to get!)

Also a superb Invasion riddim mix. Fantan Mojah’s “Hungry” is one of my tunes of the year, so it’s great to hear it with a bit of aural context.

In terms of the history of the riddim Matt points out that the most famous cut is “Oh Mr DC” by Sugar Minott. Tho like many of the riddims the granular one used at Studio One, he was treading ground already covered some years before. Anyway, it’s a top tune about a ganja dealer begging a lawman not to take his stock because he has to provide for his family. It was inexplicably left off the Soul Jazz Minott compilation, so you have to track down the seven really.

This has the advantage of including a great “part two” which retains a lot of the vocals over a minimal backing, plus harmonica solo. On the downside, my repress sounds like someone frying bacon whilst turning up the static on their malfunctioning telly to the max. Whilst a family of 18 simultaneously put milk on their rice krispies.

Sometimes reggae trainspotters’ obsession with getting the original press of records makes perfect sense to me. It’s been asked a million times before but how can vinyl produced in the 21st century sound so much worse than records which were pressed 25 years ago? There was a classic thread about this on the Blood & Fire Board a while back where someone was advertising a “Studio One” plug-in for Soundforge - make any record sound like Studio One represses by adding skips, warps, incorrect b-sides, hissing, etc. We have a lot to thank Soul Jazz for, really - perhaps their reissues aren’t done with enough “reverence” but in terms of sound quality they are a bloody sight better than the stuff old man Coxsone released himself. Er… anyway… a bit of a digression there I think.

Of course Mr Minott wasn’t the last person to use the riddim (and indeed returned to it himself with none other than George Phang iirc). Yellowman’s “Mr Yellowman” album from 1982 includes the MASSIVE “Two Two Six Supermix” on Junjo’s charateristically sparse, funky and pounding version.

Winston Riley got in the act in the 1987. Super Black’s “Nowadays Girl” sits on top of a genius downtempo electronic version which always does it for me, especially when it rolls into the super-spacey ambient dub. This is on the crucial Maximum Pressure “Dancehall Techniques” compilation, along with a Cutty Ranks cut. But yeah, ner de ner, I’ve got it on 12″ as well. High time I had some reggae label scans on here again, it doesn’t feel quite right without them…

1987 was also the year Germain Donovan released a shedload of his cuts of the riddim, including Audrey Hall’s cheeky “One Dance Won’t Do”. Audrey dances with a guy and then confesses “I was dancing with you - just to see what he would do.” - she’s been holding this bloke close while watching her boyfriend all the time to wind him up! She is so out of order, but it’s clear she can get away it due to being a sexy minx. Them’s the breaks!

Some nice things happening in my absence.

Firstly, 4 mixes which need your attention:

Droid inna Dancehall vol 2: Alternate Roots

Droid’s mix 0f 90s bashment was a big hit round these parts and I’ve been loving his 90s JA roots mix just as much - an absolutely essential listen if you are into classic Xterminator tunes, or if you are seeking a nice introduction. Includes some alternate takes of the “China Town” riddim me and Paul used in our On The Wire mix. Great sleevenotes as well. (Oh and a new jungle mix for download by his partner in crime Naptha too!)

Matt B - Life’s Road mix

Matt B over at Idle Thoughts doesn’t blog that often but he’s always well worth checking. This is a superb eclectic reggae selection, covering everything from 70s roots to 80s digital ragga to UK/Dutch/JA steppers. Great riddim mix on “Rumours” too. Includes “The Morwels & Prince Jammy- ‘Jammin for Survival’, which Paul de-mixed to buggery on the On The Wire Mix. Swingin’!

Wayne & Wax - Dubble Dub mix

However, Paul’s messing with Jammy is small fry compared to the wholesale fuckery which is going on over at Wayne & Wax. His Dubble Dub is a fanatastic example of where mixology is going - a wicked selection of dub new and old, looped and crafted together for your listening pleasure. Nice!

There were a few copies of this promo mix CD by DJL floating about free of charge for the Blood & Fire board massif. Chuffin’ excellent it is too. I dunno how easy it is for other people to get hold of but you could try emailing johncfrec at yahoo dot com.

It’s a tearing selection of digital dancehall business, mainly focussing on New York but also including some Jah Tubbys cuts like Peter Bouncer’s “Rough Neck Sound” and Errol Bellot’s “Sound Inna Fury”. It’s a “proper” street mix CD with some great exclusive intros by NY stalwart Scion Success, even including some purpose built cuts on riddims like Drop Leaf to cool down the pressure at the end.

In addition to making me brock out around the flat, this CD has had the desired effect of making me want to by the 5 Borough Fire: Philip Smart Productions From The New York Dancehall (Street Platinum and Gold) which it is promoting, so more news on that in due course!

So it looks like the pilot issue of the english-language Riddim Magazine sold enough copies to warrant a second. Some people were a bit critical of the quality of writing, but I think the main thing is ensuring the continuation of any kind of specialist reggae print media. The writing is fine for now and will get better. This time around we get some good pieces on the 3 big names - Sean Paul, Shaggy and Damien Marley. Good to see them being interviewed by someone who knows what they are talking about. For the more hardcore there are interviews with Warrior King, Niney and Bobby Digital which are well worth checking. Plus lots more, reviews, photos, etc. The CD includes some big tunes and excerpts from a soundclash, as well as a pretty good comedy skit from Twin of Twins, who seem worth investigating further.

Distribution seems to have improved a notch also - you can get it from Dub Vendor mail order as well as bigger newsagents.

Finally, please see Dancecrasher for a great source of reggae news, nights out in London and some very stylish t-shirts.

I don’t normally crosspost threads from forums here, cos it isn’t in the spirit of net communities, really.

However, this is a massive treat from the Blood & Fire board which fair boggles the mind.

Paul got new tunes for you to download inna rump shakin’, window rattlin’ style and fashion.