uncarved.org blog

Previously in the Blogariddms #50 tag team throwndown: Nomos.

June 2006 - October 2008

Quiet and hooded, his eyes stared out,
small hands make patterns on the window.
Body shifting on wood, dog outside the door,
flickering memories as trains manoeuvre
in old men’s eyes.

So, farewell to Blogariddims - retiring at the sprightly age of fifty episodes.

The whole thing was Droid’s project and the way he has managed to get it out on a regular basis and dealt with some, ah… eccentric people proves that the fine art of herding cats is alive and well in Dublin. He leaves behind him as a legacy an archive of over 50 hours of excellent, inspiring and engaging music. Respect is more than due.

Actually I’m a bit humbled by how many of these Droid let me contribute, what with my cack-handed mixing and lack of IT savvy and general grumpiness. Here is the rundown:

4: Dancehall Pressure - with Paul Meme (additional commentary here)

12: Office Party Mix (tracklist here)

19: Bounce Me Back To 98 (commentary here)

40: Grime In The Dancehall - with Paul Meme

In fact, looking back over the archives there are so many highlights it’s really hard to single anything out for newcomers - if you haven’t subscribed, you’re in for a real treat here.

Of course Heatwave’s “An England Story” is the obvious success story - a podcast so good that Soul Jazz turned it into a quadruple album. But alongside that you have some genuinely out there, thought provoking stuff from Soundslike1981 or Droid & Slug. Or Mr Bump’s Rude Interlude, or some actually pretty amazing stuff on the fringes of dubstep, or some more reggae biz from Matt B and Dave Stelfox.

Blogariddims is like a lucky dip grab bag of music which has all your favourites guaranteed, but also some stuff you never thought of checking before.

The final Blogariddims Brock Out Bonanza features the return of many contributors - Paul Meme and myself (but basically Paul this time, for reasons too tedious to go into) have contributed a mix up of instrumental grime, echoing our previous Grime In The Dancehall special.

We are preceded in the mix by the lovely Paul Autonomic, whose commentary on his selection is characteristically top notch.

Next in the chain of blogposts is Paul Meme, so I will let the Grievous Angel himself explain his mixing tricknology and tracklist more fully.

But I think this the point for me to say what should be obvious by now - I got into Grime because of the MC-ing and lyrical skills, but slowly got seduced by the incredible sounds and beats along the way. In some ways Grime seems much less hamstrung by formulae than dubstep. Sure there are particular sounds in the palette and occasionally the textures are predictable, but because Grime (like dancehall) has always been so MC focussed, the producers are more free to just chuck stuff around and see what works.

Details of the final (sniff…) Blogariddims here: http://www.weareie.com/2008/10/blogariddims-50-terminus.html

Go and download it at your earliest convenience. And then (re)check the other 49…

(or: Smash the National Front - part two)

A little bit of audio for you after all that book-reviewage last week:

 

 Chant Down The National Front [15:58m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Here is a short mix of reggae tunes concerned with the National Front. There is a track by track breakdown below, but what I found surprising was how few tunes there were given the NF’s popularity in the seventies when conscious reggae was coming into its own. Indeed one of the defining factors in the explicitly anti-NF Rock Against Racism movement was UK reggae bands sharing stages with punks.

Above is a photo of members of Steel Pulse and The Clash standing outside NF head honcho (and closet homosexual) Martin Webster’s house, for example. (Obviously I wouldn’t bother to mention his sexuality were it not for the fact that he was a key player in a movement which sought the extermination of homosexuals.)

Steel Pulse’s most famous anti-racist tune is “Ku Klux Klan”, released in 1978 on Island. I’ve always been slightly curious about this, as obviously the KKK have had virtually no presence in the UK. A bit of digging around turned up this 1978 NME article on the rather excellent unofficial Steel Pulse site.

Seems that many black West Indian families who settled in Britain during the early ’50s and strived peacefully to integrate themselves into their new surroundings, haven’t - in the present imflammable atmosphere of racial disharmony - taken too kindly towards Steel Pulse making waves by performing songs with titles like Ku Klux Klan and National Front.

So the group actually had a tune named after the NF, but didn’t release it? Reading on, the possible reasons for this become clear:

And, according to Steel Pulse’s main man David Hinds, himself a first generation British born black from Handsworth, they haven’t been reluctant to voice their disapproval. “They feel,” says Hinds, “That we’re being too heavy, too outspoken.” Apparently, after seeing Steel Pulse in a recent Sight & Sound programme attired in Klansmen’s hoods chanting Ku Klux Klan, friends of their families warned them of openly inviting trouble. “They want to avoid any trouble with the white community…want to keep the peace and don’t think Natty Dread helps keep the peace. See, the truth only stirs up trouble!”

If, in Hinds’ opinion, speaking the truth causes a degree of trouble, so be it. Even if it means that despite its chart entry, Ku Klux Klan was, with few exceptions, ignored by practically every radio station in this green and pleasant land. “The radio stations don’t ban records any longer because they realise it only helps to sell them and when such a record makes the charts, they’re embarrassed because they’re not playing it.”

But the National Front do get a mention in “Jah Pickney” on their 1979 Tribute To The Martyrs album:

Rock against Racism, smash it
Rock against Fascism, smash it
Rock against Nazism, me say smash it
I’ve come to the conclusion that
We’re gonna hunt yeh yeh yeh
The National Front - Yes we are,
We’re gonna hunt, yeh yeh yeh
The National Front
Cause they believe in apartheid
For that we gonna whop their hides
For all my people they cheated and lied
I won’t rest till I’m satisfied

Unfortunately I only found that out after I’d done the mix! Steel Pulse are still a bit of a shameful blindspot in my knowledge of UK reggae.

The scene in the film Babylon where Ital Lion’s HQ is turned over and vandalised with fascist grafitti is rumoured to be based on a real incident which happened to Aswad.

However the Rock Against Racism band which came off worst for wear is almost certainly Misty In Roots. Misty grew up together in Southall, West London. They worked collectively, opening a squatted community centre called “People Unite” as a place for people to gather, rehearse, get free food. People Unite was also the name of their record label.

Southall is inextricably linked with the history of the far right in the UK. In the 60s some of the then predominantly white population were so shocked by the influx of asian immigrants that the residents’ association ended up supporting British National Party (NB, this BNP predated the NF and was eventually absorbed into it) candidates in the 1963 local elections, where they polled a respectable 27.5% and 13.5%.

Tensions remained high, it seems. Then in July 1976, 17 year old Gurdip Singh Chaggar was murdered in a racist attack in Southall. His attackers were 3 white men who were apparently inspired by the National Front (although I have not been able to pin this down with a reference). Southall youth took to the streets.

Sir Robert Mark, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner commented “The motive was not necessarily racial.”

The response from NF chairman John Kingsley Reid was “that’s one down, one million to go”. When Reid was tried for inciting racial hatred for this unbelievable outburst, the Judge lined up behind him: “In this England of ours, we are allowed to have our own view still, thank goodness, and long may it last…I wish you well in your project”.

So when the NF called an election meeting at Southall Town Hall on St George’s Day 1979 most people were clear that this was nothing less than a provocation.

The People Unite community centre was used as a base for the protests and the police decided to close it down: “The building was so badly damaged by the police action that afterwards, it had to be destroyed. Officers with batons smashed medical equipment, a sound system, printing and other items.”

And people. Many of Misty in Roots were present. Clarence Baker, Misty’s manager, was beaten into a coma by the cops. Two members of the group were arrested and jailed on trumped up charges. Perhaps they got off lightly - Blair Peach, another anti-fascist protester, was killed later in the day after a blow to the head from a member of the Special Patrol Group.

The day and aftermath is chronicled in more depth here.

There are some comments from Misty’s singer Poko here, but I particularly want to highlight this:

For the people of Southall it was something that could never be forgotten. We had all been involved in an uprising, the police had bloodied us, and they were still there terrorising us long after the protest had finished.

But among the fear there was also a sense of unity. The whole thing raised the consciousness of the young Asians in particular. And there is still a connection to 1979 to this day.

Across Southall there are Asian-run reggae sound systems – a tradition that started not long after the uprising. A lot of Asian kids began to relate to the spirit of resistance that you find in reggae.

It is easy to forget, when reading the above, that fighting the NF wasn’t always big demonstrations like Lewisham 77, or concerts, or marches. It was a two way street with Enoch’s “rivers of blood” in the gutters.

NF supporters were suspected of firebomb attacks on music venues like the Four Aces in Dalston, and Acklam Hall in Ladbroke Grove. Not to mention the petty intimidation and outright racist violence that was part of the everyday landscape in the 1970s.

The “cultural war” of Rock Against Racism has to be seen alongside the groundwork of community organisations, politicos, “squadists”, and even everyday people who just had a chat with their mates when they were spouting bollocks. Compared to all this it seems a bit pathetic to be rummaging through some dusty vinyl once again, but that is what started me off on this whole post which has now spiraled slightly out of control. So here goes:

Chant Down The National Front: tune by tune

The Phantom - Lazy Fascist (Cool Ghoul 7″ 1978)

This is quite a mysterious record, produced by persons unknown.

There are a number of quite suspicious aspects to the track- the vocalist’s accent is faux American rather than (faux) Jamaican, “Cool Ghoul” could be a “ghost face”-esque reference to whiteness? At least one record dealer has speculated about it being a secret project of Tom Robinson, but that may just be to shift records, so I am sceptical. More importantly the lyrical content focusses more on the economic aspects of colonialism: “you call us when you need our labour…” than the more usual slavery and displacement.

The “chase those fascists out” chant is straight off a lefty demo and the line “If this song offends you - you’re a fascist too… fascist!” IS Vivien off the Young Ones.

The less said about the racial stereotyping of “You pad your pants to try and look like a man / And we’ve been pumping iron gonna move like lion” the better - except to point out that the “lion” is the track’s the only nod towards rasta imagery.

One of the people involved was interviewed in Black Music magazine and quoted in Dick Hebdige’s Cut and Mix book:“[The National Front] love to hear the Rastas talking about repatriation ‘cos it makes their jobs a lot easier”

I find this interesting when contrasted with the ambiguous comments made by Jah Shaka on the subject which lead to an extended discussion on the Blood and Fire board.

Blazing Sons - Chant Down The National Front (DiKi 12″ n.d.)

This also originally came as a Cool Ghoul 7″, but was re-released on a Belgian label as a 12″. A marked improvement both lyrically and musically, with some nice steppers business on the version.

Sufferer Sound - National Front (Tempus 12″ 1978)

I can’t put it any better than Bill Dew in his article Dub - The Vinyl Frontier:

A delightfully, distinctively British cut from a label most commonly associated with Dennis Bovell. Indeed, I would hazard a guess that Blackbeard had a hand in this production, a very loose rendering of ‘Norwegian Wood’ positively brimming over with idiosyncratic flourishes. The dub spotlight glances off the melody, extending and accentuating certain key notes by accident and design before imploding, ‘transformer’ style, in an ecstatic liquid rush of stellar phase effects. Can nobody mix dub like this anymore?

Bovell has always been pretty outspoken about the effect that Enoch Powell’s speeches had on black people living in the UK. His band Matumbi played the first ever Rock Against Racism gig at the Royal College of Art in December 1976.

But this is an instrumental…

Linton Kwesi Johnson - Fite Dem Back (From “Reggae Greats” compilation, Island, but originally released on “Forces of Victory”, 1979)

Admirable militancy from the man like LKJ. I could also have included “Reggae Fi Peach” (in tribute to Blair Peach, see above). But this is more fitting for the mix, really. Dennis Bovell produced the track, of course.

“Fight Dem Back” is also the name of an Antipodean anti-racist organisation. I know this because the nice man who runs the Slack Bastard anti-fascist blog steadfastly links to my piece on Nicky Crane every time he comes up in conversation.

Al Campbell - National Front (Soul Vybz 7″ 2006)

Proof positive that the fight against fascism is always with us. I believe this is a French reworking of a tune off Al’s 1985 “Forward Natty” album (but I haven’t heard that - can you help?). So it’s now directed straight at the head of Le Pen and the French NF. I really like this because it avoids preachiness by including great lyrics about how Al is going to:

“Hit them with the bassline
Smash up them waistline
Hit them with the riddim
Stop them ism and schism”

BEYOND THE iMPLODE: 9 THINGS I HATE ABOUT ANTI-NAZI MARCHES IN LONDON

A timely intervention from Martin!

Dave Stelfox guesting on DJ /Rupture’s Mudd Up show on WFMU last night. Check the audio and playlist here:

http://wfmu.org/playlists/dr

Lots of discussion of UK fast chat.

Actually, don’t go out of your way to smash them. They are tiny these days and have been completely eclipsed by the more sophisticated British National Party.

In the mid-70s, though, the NF were a force to be reckoned with, both electorally and on the streets. Which naturally put the wind up a lot of people.

For liberals the NF became a sociological problem which needed to be explained and dealt with. For some others the problems created by popular fascism were more immediate. My focus here is mainly on the former.

Martin Walker - The National Front (Fontana, 1977)

Walker was a Guardian journalist who managed to interview a surprisingly large section of the UK far right in the mid 70s. The book is therefore a pretty good resource for insights into the internal politics and mechanisms of the party. It also includes some great bitchiness about different factions which is always great to read, eh?

I found this especially worthwhile for the detailed look a the NF’s formation out of various strands on the far right - former Blackshirts, “empire loyalists”, community groups opposed to immigration, sections of the Tory “Monday Club” and outright neo-nazis.

Whilst the subject matter is obviously quite grim there are some hilarious asides, my favourite being some disgruntled NF members who were kept waiting for two hours during their first visit to Germany while John Tyndall ponced about in a shoe shop trying for find the most nazi-looking jack boots to buy.

Michael Billig - Fascists: A Social Psychological View of The National Front (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978)

Billig was a lecturer in psychology at Birmingham University when he wrote this interesting book. It is perhaps a little too academic in tone for some, but is actually clearly and insightfully written, especially when compared to some of the convoluted pomo gibberish which passes for academic literature these days.

There are three sections to the book:

The first part looks at various methods which have been used to analyse “the fascist personality”, including Adorno, Reich and especially Fromm’s “F Scale” of authoritarianism/fascism. Whilst there is some merit in this approach, Billig is clear about its limitations. It should be blindly obvious to anyone with a vague interest in extreme politics that people are attracted to ideologies and political organisations for a whole host of reasons including status and the social.

The psychological approach towards analysing poltiical activists can also be used to demonise one’s enemies - it’s a technique used just as much against anarchists and communists by the mainstream media as with the far right. Demonisation may make people feel like they have the moral high ground but that isn’t a useful tool in the fight against fascism. Understanding why people are drawn towards far right groups can be a key factor in preventing this happening or providing an anti-fascist alternative.

The second section examines the ideology of the National Front with particular reference to its publications. I found Billig’s meticulous analysis of John Tyndall’s Spearhead magazine especially useful. He charts the rag’s development from independent pro-Hitlerian organ to an official NF journal which was outwardly racist but not nazi. Billig is adept at uncovering the coding at the heart of the “respectable” facade which allows fascists to retain their virulent anti-semitism by substituting phrases like “rootless cosmopolitan bankers” for “jews”. Of course this is now widely known but I haven’t seen it explained as well anywhere else.

Also included is a cogent overview of the NF’s use of IQ and Race theories to bolster their prejudice. This material also formed the basis for Billig’s Psychology, Racism & Fascism pamphlet which I have previously mentioned here.

The final section of the book concerns interviews with several National Front members, with transcripts.

Searchlight - From Ballots To Bombs: The Inside Story of The National Front’s Political Soldiers (Searchlight, 1989)

Pamphlet covering the weirder ideological developments of the NF in the mid 80s. I.e. toadying up to Gaddaffi, trying to be mates with the Nation of Islam in Hackney, etc. Fascists desperately scurrying around trying to find some new ideas when the electoral route didn’t pan out (their ideas ripped off by the tories, the cultural war lost to the anti-nazi league, and John Tyndall grossly over reaching what the party was capable of in the 1979 elections and nearly bankrupting them in the process). This era saw the front moving increasingly towards elitism and terrorism when it became clear how marginal they were. A salutary lesson in how fascism operates in different ways at different points in history - and that this requires different tactics.

After the introduction, the format used is a bunch of autobiographies of people who became disatisfied with their involvement with far right politics. The “people” are composites though, which opens the door to a whole can of worms about the role of Searchlight’s contacts and infiltrators, the organisation’s pride in its relationship with the police and the secret state, and more basic issues about whether the booklet is propaganda or investigation.

Still worth a read if you’ve been following the furore about Tony Wakeford (and his associates such as Richard Lawson) and their involvement with the NF during this period.

Part Two will follow next week.

Spotted on the south bank today.

What next, an ants invasion?

Interesting recent interview with the reformed Flux over at expletive undeleted.

I suppose the main themes are how time and growing older give you some perspective, but also the vilification of Derek Birkett - the member of the band who went on to run the now very large One Little Indian Records.

As I said here, I found Flux’s later work more intriguing than their earlier punkier material. So slightly depressing to see the rest of the band dismissing that as solely down to Birkett. And also a bit odd as the “Uncarved Block” album featured collaborations with On-U Sound people, and singer Col Latter’s side project Hotalacio was produced by Keith LeBlanc.

And some of the things they rail against these days are a load of bollocks as well…

Copies of this classic book now in stock at the uncarved shop.

A couple of nice events coming up in Stoke Newington:

‘PRESSURE DROP!’ LAUNCH PARTY!!!
Friday 19th September
(& 3rd Friday of every month)
@ THE OTHERS
Top floor
6-8 Manor Road
London
N16
020 8802 3755
info@theothers.uk.com

Doors: 8pm til 2am
Gate pressure: £3 before 11pm / £5 after

Music Policy: Scorchin’ Ska, Rockin’ Reggae, Bubblin’ Blue Beat, Raw Roots & Dangerous Dub!!!

Residents: Gladdy Wax & Mistah Brown
Guest selectas: Alan McKay & Tim “Bilko” Wells

Expect the wickedest Jamdown sounds ever to grace a pair of turntables, as legendary sound system veteran GLADDY WAX, joins forces with Tighten Up’s MISTAH BROWN to launch - “PRESSURE DROP” - a brand spanking new Ska & Reggae happening in the heart of Stoke Newington!!!

Gladdy will be bringing his usual relentless energy, incredible musical knowledge and phenomenal vinyl museum to the proceedings whilst Mistah Brown attempts to tear the roof off the place with crowd-pleasing classics galore!!! Joining us for our launch will be our old muckers - “local boy made good-ish” - TIM “BILKO” WELLS - paying tribute to his late, great musical heroes - Joe Gibbs & General Echo - plus Camden Town’s finest - ALAN McKAY - dropping a non-stop, no-nonsense “Roots-Rocksteady” selection!!! You cant say fairer than that!!!

REACH!!!

More info check: mistahbrown@hotmail.com / info@theothers.uk.com / www.reggaeunlimited.com

Vibescreator & The Vibes presents
A Night of Musical Upliftment and Entertainment

Cease And Settle
basement sessions

REGGAE ROOTS DUB

…from way back in the day to present time
from Jamaica to UK and beyond…

Selectors:
Flo (resident)
Peter Vibes (resident)
Crofton (I-ality Soundsystem)
Jagu & Beez (Fable Soundsystem)
+ MC Stamina Li
And Surprise Guests…

Saturday 27th September 2008

at 58 Stoke Newington Road, 9pm to late, FREE entry all night…

Reach early to be sure to get in! Dance will finish when its done.
Strictly good behaviour. Nice bar prices. Smoking available.
Everyone Welcome!

We featured Young Dot in Woofah issue 1’s feature on upcoming Grime MCs, but we missed something then which fits so nicely into the Woofah worldview that I’m kicking myself now.

Young Dot subsequently mutated into Dot Rotten, and killed off his former incarnation with the excellent “RIP Young Dot” mixtape. It’s one of my favourite grime releases of the year so far, resolutely sinister, downbeat and almost veering into the gothic territory of Wu-Tang.

After I’d played the CD a few times I checked the sleevenotes, and there it was:

“Special Thanks To Dennis Rowe”

I froze. And smiled. WIDE.

Dennis Rowe… fuck. Dennis Rowe is the don - manager of Saxon Studio International, UK soundsystem legend. The man who oversaw the first serious outbreak of the UK MC virus.

Was it the same one? How did that happen? So many questions.

Fortunately the man like Blackdown has answers - in this extenisive interview with Dot Rotten.

I’m not gonna post the juicy bits here, check out the whole thing…