uncarved.org blog

See, people go on about how the youth of today are all horrible, but one of my teenage neighbours just helped someone else on the block get into their flat (possibly just to end the horror of me attempting to post my daughter through a tiny window).

And earlier today 17 year old Grime producer J Beatz asked very nicely if he could send me a promo of his latest EP. So of course I said yes, even though most of the music I get sent these days is rubbish.

I’m not the world’s hugest fan of instrumental grime, but I’ll definitely take that over generic wobble-step if given the choice. This is good gear, thank fuck.

Dutty‘s beats are exactly the correct combination of swing and stiffness and all the freaky growling + airy synths over the top of them do some nice things to my head. Cash Point is a bit more full-on and ravey (i.e. exhausting, for old gits like me) with some good video game type sound effects.

Tazer really reminds me of grime beats circa 2003 – plucky strings, weird bubbling beats, sinister b-line. Top stuff – almost like a Jon E Cash / Black Ops joint!

Ragga Muffin obviously piqued my interest. Am I just biased or do grime people make reggae pastiches a million times better than dubstep people? This is great – some UK Dub-style skanking going on, lickle sample of a soundman and soundsystem effects. It works precisely because it isn’t a really obvious mahoosive bassline over a really obvious reggae vocal. I definitely want to hear an MC over this one…

Anyway, I reckon this is well worth investigation, but don’t take my word for it – there’s a youtube promo clip up here. (Ragga Muffin starts at about 4:35)

J Beatz: 1 Dutty EP – out on digital and vinyl on Crown Jules Records on July 19th.

http://www.myspace.com/jbeatzproducer
http://www.facebook.com/jbeatzmusic
http://www.twitter.com/jbeatzmusic

MUSIC OF THE MONTH:

The Men Who Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing – “Now That’s What I Call Steampunk vol 1″ (Leather Apron)
Victorian punk, forsooth! Could be awful but is actually fantastic – excellent lyrics which show a love for the subject matter which goes way beyond merely dressing up. “Goggles” conjurs up an alternative Victorian era in which sexual repression is stripped away and women are desired for getting mucky with engines instead of being prim. It’s enough to make a man’s monocle steam up!

“Charlie” pretends to attack Darwin for contradicting the Bible but is quite clearly actually celebrating this instead. And “Sewer” injects some much needed class-consciousness into the scene (too much poncing about as the Lord or Lady of the Manor!) – it tells the story of a working man’s grave being disrupted by the posh nobs to build a sewer.

It’s blisteringly funny and FUN, the humour doesn’t overshadow the songs or music, so you can singalong with The Men Who Will Not… inna musichall stylee for some time to come. Check their steam-driven myspace for more details. And yes, they are the first group to release a Wax Cylinder for about ninety years.

Ekoplekz: Volume 1
Awesome ambient electronics from the man formerly known as Gutta. All the influences you would expect are present and correct – “Hole in my sound” catches Cabaret Voltaire at their eeriest. “Rebus Neu”is like Throbbing Gristle doing background music for Dr Who circa Tom Baker. It’s always a bit weird getting music off people you know, but to my shame I’ve never met Mr Ekoplekz in the flesh so I guess I can at least pretend to be objective. So let me say that this is no mere pastiche of the bands he loves, it has an identity all of its own and must be the product of many hours of tinkering away with the kit. If Nick is unlucky he’ll be lumped in with the Hauntologists – he deserves better than that.

In terms of practical feedback, I like the fact that the tracks are so short, but over an hour of this was a bit much for me. One to go back to though!

Full marks also for presentation, lovely spraypainted  cover, the stains on the inside clear evidence of the sleeves rolled up DIY approach to the project. This is a strictly limited CDR which I think I got the last copy of. But more info and updates are available on the Ekoplekz Bulletin Board.

Mad Tone -”I-Society” / “The Tiranese”
Pete Madtone comes again with some characteristicly excellent techno tinged dubbage. “I-Society” has all the ingredients for some hot stepping in your living room: brooding bassline, echo aplenty and some great doorbell bizness. “The Tiranese” is a bit dreamier, whimsical piano sample and incoherent vocal snippet. One for the beer on a hill in a festival on a summers’ day posse.

Quite why he isn’t better know than he is I have no idea, this is infinitely better than most of the shit I get sent these days. Keep on it, Pete, I’m listening even if no-one else is… Show YOUR support, dear reader: http://www.myspace.com/onedeckmadtone

REGGAE / DUB / BASHMENT / AND TING:

King General – “Broke Again” (Conscious Sounds)
Proper minimal digital roots in a 2010 Hackney style with all the casio flava which was originally heard in the Borough when Unity Hi-Fi were laying down tracks over Regal Records in the mid eighties. I got mine here, so check out the sound sample. Flipside is a fast paced stepper which has gone down well with the daughter because she likes “all the space alien noises” on it. A RARE ENDORSEMENT!

Mr Palmer - ”Respect Champion” (Coxsone Outernational / Blacker Dread)
UK MC lyrical history! Takes off from where Asher Senator’s “Fast Style Origination” finishes.

Mungo’s Hi-Fi – “Bad From riddim” (Mungos Hi-fi)
Ace bubbling UK dub with a microscopic trace of amen break in. X-amount of cuts from vocalists old and new.

Hempolics – “Serious” (Reggae Roast)
Zurprisingly good shuffly reggae on a sunshine tip. Quirky versions. Yes. Coming out on a seven inch soon.

Jah Grasshopper – “Ghetto Symphony Riddim” (True Sounds)
Interesting riddim which combines downtempo techno with a bit of folkish fiddle. Doesn’t really work for me I’m afraid, but full marks for trying something different. I think it’s a bit too much like those acoustic one drop riddims for my liking. Vocal cuts from Turbulence and YT, both of whom do good works here.

DUBSTEP / DANCE / STUFF:

King Cannibal – “So… Embrace The Minimum” / “Dirt” (Ninja Tune)
Last thing I heard of his was trying to out-ragga The Bug, and not doing too much of a bad job. The A-side here is much more interesting though – tinges of dub techno from before Basic Channel, tuneful yet dark. B-side bring Daddy Freddy in and is typically aggy, with a slightly more roomy abstract finish that I liked.

Decyfer – “Playtime’s Over” / Surje “Juxta” (Studio Rockers)
Tony Thorpe in the place – surely everyone has read Joe Muggs’ epic piece on the man in the new Woofah by now? Here he is showcasing some younger producers. Decyfer strays a little to close to dubstep proper for my liking, but has some great little tweaks going on, like a child’s music box. Surje is much more wonky. Worth a look.

ANS “Everyday Bullshit” / “Always Sharp” / “Holki” (Studio Rockers)
Track 1 has some nice epic soundtracky synths and man telling me “It’s bullshit” before the horrid bassline comes in. Deceptively simple. Track 2 has a sample of someone who might be Luciano singing “This one’s for the Soundbwoy” which is pretty great, but as usual I’d rather hear the original than the dubstep version. Old, is what I am. Track 3 has a fucking FLUTE on it! Bollocks to that, frankly.

Flore – “Feel Me (Peo Pitta Remix)” (Botchit & Scarper)
Block rocking breaks with sassy female vocal. I got mashed to so much stuff like this in the late 90s, it fair brings something of a tear to my eye, stupid huge snare roll included.

Son of Kick – “Byrdkick” (Botchit & Scarper)
Clicky samba booty shaking beats with sassy female vocal. The S.O.K. 4KL remix is greatly enhanced by some spaghetti-western humming and generally being really glitched up to blazes.

Planas – “Look Into My Eyes” / “Roots Music” (Immerse)
This made no impression on me whatsoever until it finished. Probably my fault?

Joker – “Tron”
Jean Michelle Jarre in a really foul mood.

Blame feat Fuda Guy and Tinchy Stryder – “On My Own”.
Not really poppy enough. Not grimey enough either. Sorry.

First vinyl release on Ruff Revival, following on from the tremendous debut of Naphta’s “Long Time Burning” album on CD. (See my gushing review in Woofah issue 3). And yes, some heavy involvement from Droid, so I am biased – but only because his programming ensures he always comes correct with this stuff.

El-B‘s remix of “Soundclash” complements the Grievous Angel cut on Keysound perfectly – where Paul Meme boshes it out and makes your adrenaline pump, El-B makes your hairs stand on end with slinky dread bizness.

“Fully Loaded” sees Naptha busting out some proper junglist sub and breaks underneath some cold yardie vocal samples. The minimalism of the intro reluctantly giving way to an incredibly satisfying, yet dangerous maze of warehouse sonics.

Some serious time, effort and thought has gone into this…

http://www.myspace.com/ruffrevival

wow, some “dance” promos which are actually worth writing about… lots of people will hate these – if you’re a reggae purist or some kind of minimal techno spod, then you need read no further!

Talen – Kingston Book (Mouthwatering Records)

Time to note the effect that globalisation has had on the ultra-localist dancehall world, I guess. As Stelfox pointed out in his Guardian piece a while back, music sales are especially down in JA (bootleg CDs being the main method of circulation). But vocalists can still turn a dollar by performing and especially by voicing dubplate specials.

So this global network has evolved of little studios (in some cases simply one man and a laptop) who record artists on tour and offer up dubplate specials over the internet. This is potentially quite exciting as it means anyone can in theory access the the cream of the crop of JA’s vocalists and get a personalised vocal off them. The only limits are of course whether or not you can afford it and the gentleman’s agreement that the vocal won’t come out as a properly released tune.

Of course there is no guarantee you’ll get a decent performance out of said vocalist. Generic dubs along the line of “[name of your sound] is the champion, come to mash down all soundbwoy, [name of your DJ] is the greatest selector yadda yadda yadda [insert catchphrase or well known chorus of vocalist here].” abound.

But morally and economically this is more tenable than simply ripping off another bogstandard accapella and sticking a wobbling bass underneath it.

The studio network also opens up the field for more interesting collaborations. This release from Swiss crew Talen features both Sizzla and Cutty Ranks. They have got some nice performances out of both of them, so clearly some work has been put in by all parties – although the dubplate culture is pretty transparent with all the mentions of “Talen Sound”.

Sizzla chants down the “undercover cops who investigate the music” over a rasping synth and shuffly beats. Proper “big room” chorus. Stereotyp provides a cavernous remix which sounds like an offcut of The Bug’s output. Which I think is fine – there is more room in my world for noisy ragga filth, especially with Sizzla on top. This lacks some of the fine detail of Kevin Martin’s palette, but still provides that critical adrenaline fix.

Cutty Ranks isn’t really known for his customer-focused approach to business, even by reggae vocalist standards. But here he really brings it with rhymes like “viper/hyper/sniper” and many many more. Backing is a bit more restrained with some spag-western touches. Markus Kienzl (who?) starts his remix with slightly jarring Boards of Canada-esque ambience and then slams in them “dancey”-ragga beats and some nice stabs.

There’s some good energy here – might be a bit too “big room rave” for some. It is what it is and I’ll take this over monochrome DJ mix fodder any day of the week.

myspace.com/talench

321 vs TIM HEALEY & DEEKLINE – Bring It Back  (Giant Pussy)

“Shake shake shake it all abaht, man’s got bare champagne in me mouf”

Blimey, it’s gone a bit cockney yardie again – good oh! Nice combination of pumping bass, steelpan, carnival whistles and samba beats. And lyrics about bringing back dances of yesteryear – bogle dance, butterfly, robot dance, running man – is good!

Six mixes which I suppose are aimed at keeping different types DJs happy. It all gets a bit functional really. But! 321, Tim Healey and Deekline collaborate on a couple of cuts which are the ones for me.

Deekline is responsible for novelty 2step hit “I Don’t Smoke” which sampled Jim Davidson, right? I always thought that was boss. No doubt I am alone in that, but [slams hand down on the table] my popism will triumph over every other fucker’s purism in the end.

On one mix they even bring Bounty Killer into the equation for what would seem to be an original vocal unless any of the spotter massif can correct me on that score. Bounty Killer! He’s hardly “rent-a-dread”, is he? Bounty Killer, ffs! Proper stupid bring-a-smile-to-your-face when you’ve had a shit week business.

www.myspace.com/giantpussyrecords/

My review of two new compilations from Soul Jazz is now up at the FACT Magazine website.

No, this isn’t some kind of road to damascus conversion, I just happen to have been given some dubstep tunes that I actually like for a change. I admit this is a surprise after several years of slagging off most of the genre for just not being good enough.

But as usual there are people working at the edges who are doing good stuff. In my own biased way I am still prepared to check stuff out if it is recommended by people I respect or if it’s made or released by people I like. The latter is true here, so the usual disclaimers apply.

Subeena – Boksd/Znare/Pepepe – Agosto Morado /2080  12″ (Imminient IMM004)

We gave Imminent’s previous release by Wagawga a nice review in Woofah, so I didn’t groan when this promo slipped through the letterbox. “Boksd” is a filmic night drive tune which is right up my street. Some of the melodies remind me of slightly melancholic techno like Colin Faver used to play.

“Znare” is much harsher – the opening made me worry about an incoming wobble fest. But my fears were displaced with the arrival of female MC Violet who I think is spitting in Portuguese (the language I have had the most troube with)? Subeena seriously messes with her voice throughout the track, giving it a nice glitchy feel. No doubt this will get played out the most, but despite its undoubted quality it’s my least favourite track on this release.

“Pepepe – Agosto Mordo (Subeena Remix)” – reminds me of the tale of a Czech canary called Pepik which I read to my daughter. Whilst Pepik is flying over the old town of Prague having escaped his cage, he may well hear the odd chiming melody. If you liked Orbital’s more ambienty tracks circa “The Box” then this is for you (it’s not a rip off, it’s just shorthand – I have to finish this entry before the other half shows up in a minute).

“2080″ is very special indeed – more great chiming, but this time laid over a great understated crunchy rhythm track.

Subeena knows that you don’t have to smack someone in the face to make an impact – everything here is in the right place at the right time.

Spatial – 80207 / 70810 10″ (Infrasonics Infra001)

I met Mr Spatial at the Highpoint Lowlife Xmas bash I played some records at (and indeed at the previous affair at Shunt). The only word for this is minimal. And abstract. Right, the only two words for this are “minimal” and “abstract”. OK? Even the packaging gives little away, and I had to guess at what speed to play this at (33 and a third, in this house. If you want to do a Paul Meme and play everything at +8 then feel free, but not round here sunshine).

“80207″ kicks off with what could be an off key keyboard skank from a classic uk dub tune. But it isn’t, especially when accompanied by a glassy, brittle click track of a riddim. It would be too easy to dismiss this as another Basic Channel lite – I think there is a lot more going on here. The very simple female vocal refrain anchors everything and allows the deceptively simple beats to build up and gain in complexity. Where Subeena uses minimal ingredients to produce a joyful landscape, Spatial is far far colder with his tools. But then, as the good Dr once said, it is cold in Babylon…

“70810″ – “is that weird music or is something knocking?”. Well it’s both really. It’s an orchestra stripped of most of its instruments trying to get in, it’s a stoned cosmonaut trying to reconnect to the mothership. It’s…

http://infrasonics.net/dubs/infra001

[at this point the review was terminated so that we could watch "Special Needs Pets" on More4]

“Raggamuffin Nasty Jack inna de area, me a true grime star…”

Don’t tell the better half, but by my reckoning I have bought 14 grime mixtapes this year. The imminent release of the 4th installments of both Jammer’s “Are You Dumb?” and Trim’s “Soulfood” will surely increase this total (and we’d better not mention the numerous 12″ purchases either…)

It’s rare for me to get sent a Grime Promo CD – and rarer still for it to be any good. But when Nasty Jack’s “Shotta Music” turned up just after we’d put Woofah issue 3 to bed, I had high expectations.

We’re talking pedigree here – learning one’s trade in N.A.S.T.Y. Crew and some infamous lyrical beef with Wiley. Jack’s “My Name Is” 7″ on Adamantium was one of last year’s highlights – proper raggamuffin grime which was cruelly expunged from the grime in the dancehall Blogariddims mix – purely because Paul Meme and I had so much great material… and something had to go.

“Shotta Music” is essentially a UK ragga album – many of the riddims feature sparse drum and overdriven bass, soundsystem style. High-octane war lyrics and party rhymes abound. On “Sandakarn” Nasty Jack gives thanks and praise to Ninjaman, Nicodemus and Super Cat and pays tribute to the 90s JA deejay style. This is followed by Stormin’s ganja-fuelled take on the same riddim – a proper treat for all version excursionists.

I played the “Skyjuice riddim” on RSI Radio 3 and you can hear it on Nasty’s Myspace. I’ve also bigged it up in FACT Magazine’s “Tunes of The Week” – seems like they agree with my assessment cos they’ve put it in at number 2. The tune features Flowdan, Skepta and Teddy Brukshut alongside Nasty Jack and is outrageous – get to know.

“My Name Is” also features on the CD (I’m guessing that the seven inch is now pretty hard to come by) as do long awaited tunes like “Burn You”. Brukshut and Stormin’ bust out their best rhymes. There is some great interplay between rockstone gruffness and the occasional sprinkling of melody. Oh yeah and dubstep fans will love the vocalling of Zombie’s “One Spliff A Day” relick.

Apparently the forums have featured some rumblings of discontent about Kiss FM DJ Logan Sama hosting the album, but his vocal introductions are unobtrusive and I find them pretty entertaining myself. Oh yeah, apparently some versions of the CD release include a bonus CD of instrumentals, so watch out for that.

A lot of JA music seems to be in the midst of an uninspiring phase for me recently, so it’s been a relief that so many exceptional UK (and outernational) releases are filling that vacuum this year. Do yourself a favour and check this one out.

You’ve all been caning the “London Zoo” album, right? One of the releases of 2008 in this house, for sure. Full review from me in the soon come Woofah 3.

Interesting feature in the new downloadable Xlr8r mag with Kevin, Warrior Queen and Flowdan.

Ganja/Flying single now out on mp3 and 12″ via Ninjatune.

Ganja is on the London Zoo album and is essentially a sonically fucked up reversion of the Weedman tune on Roll Deep’s “Rules and Regulations” mixtape. Didn’t it also come out alongside The Bug’s collab with Tippa Irie, the excellent “Angry”? Maybe that was strickly digikal release though.

Anyway, Ricky Ranking’s “Flying” is worth the price of admission alone – proper pared down minimalism with that edgy intensity no other fucker can carry off. Which brings us to…

King Midas Sound 12″ on Hyperdub. Yeaaaaaah.

Not managed to get this yet, which is pretty stupid considering how long I have been gagging to get hold of some of the KMS stuff.

And apparently The Bug will be supporting Nine Inch Nails during some of their US tour. Heh heh. Great news, but I do wonder how that will go down with some of the more, ah, metallic elements of the NIN fanbase…

The unintentionally hilarious comment below from a neo-nazi has reminded me that I haven’t mentioned this essential new release from Soul Jazz.

If you’ve been following this blog and the mixes I’ve done for the last few years, you’ll know that I think the history of UK MC culture has been massively under-exposed – this is fantastic start to redressing that error.

The album is compiled by the comrades over at The Heatwave and is based on their excellent blogariddims mix.

Full review to follow in the next issue of The Wire, but do yourself and favour and grab your copy now – you won’t regret it. If there is a release more important than this in 2008 I will be very surprised.

The album also functions as a beautiful antidote to the socially constructed concept of “whiteness” that my correspondent seems so keen on.

Full tracklist and samples at the Soul Jazz site.

Time Out feature.

Gutterbreakz: TEN RECORDS HIDING AT THE BACK OF YOUR COLLECTION THAT NO GROWN MAN SHOULD OWN

Ah.