The cover doesn’t do this album any favours. There’s obviously nothing wrong with summery island imagery (that’s where the music originates!), it’s just that this sort of graphic is more usually wrapped around yet another generic compilation featuring a bizarre mixture of Ace of Bass, Marleys Bob and Ziggy and Inner Circle’s “Girl I’m Gonna …
Continue reading ‘Crazy Caribs – Dancehall Dub (Ariwa/Mad On Jamaica CD)’ »
UK reggae has seemed increasingly detached from current affairs in recent years, but anyone who’s checked my eighties mixes will know it hasn’t always been this way. I guess the focus has moved to a more international market which means the particularities of life in specific areas of London or Birmingham don’t get a look …
Continue reading ‘2011 London Riot Songs (Reggae roundup)’ »
General Impressions on the March The Smiley Culture March for Justice took place the weekend before last and was a resounding success. About 1,500-2,000 people marched from Wandsworth Road to New Scotland Yard in militant but peaceful formation. My marching partner History Is Made At Night has already written his account of the day, so …
A public meeting was organised by David Emmanuel’s family tonight and the video of that event is now available on ustream: Once again the reports and footage seem to indicate a huge turn out, at least 500 people. I wasn’t able to attend but some friends and allies were, so hopefully they will post …
So what about this situation with the lovers rock versus dub scene? C: “A party is nothing without girls and the girls check for lovers.” (from Soundsystem Splashdown 1981 NME feature) As I said in my lecture at Audio Poverty, I got into UK MC reggae records because they were cheap, because I liked …
Continue reading ‘MIX: Grievous Angel & John Eden present: Lovers Rock’ »
1. Tony the Tiger Frosties Icon. Nowhere near as awesome as the Weetabix Skinheads, but still loads better than the Honey Monster or those goody goody Rice Krispie goons. 2. Tiger Woods Troubled golfer. Macka B did a song about him which came out as a seven inch on Mad Professor’s Ariwa label: 3. Tigger …
A good night out at the BFI on Tuesday for the world premier of The Story of Lovers Rock by Menelik Shabazz. Clearly love is in the air right now, with King Midas Sound also citing lovers rock as an influence. And as I’ve said before it really is the “cinderella sub-genre” of reggae, hugely …
The Resonance show was a blast. I met some great people and had a lot of fun. The tracklist is now up here: http://exoticpylon.com/pages/11-04-09.html As is an mp3 of the show, but you can also access that below. It’s well worth checking the archives as well, all the shows so far are available to hear. …
This year has not been great for music coming out of Jamaica in my opinion. It’s just my personal taste, but I haven’t been feeling the dancehall side of things – lots of autotune and soca-ish dance craze stuff. The Heatwave crew are on top of all that if you’re curious. Similarly the one drop …
The UK is already the western democracy which has the power to detain people for the longest length of time without trial. Apparently that isn’t sufficient, what with all this terrorism we are having. Parliament has just agreed that detention can be increased from 28 days to 42 (Douglas Adams has a lot to answer …
Continue reading ‘police in “demanding more powers” shocker’ »