Paul Meme’s album released today! A double CD set, with the 2nd disc being a wicked mix up of the tracks on the first.
Ordering details and sound samples here:
Saxon pon the Southbank
A nice sunny day by the river in the best city in the world, with the best soundsystem in the world. You can’t say fairer than that eh? Nice crowd of people including Danalcapone, Kevin Bug, Gabriel Heatwave and many many more.
The event was part of Massive Attack’s stab at the Meltdown festival and I reckon they did pretty good overall. Mark Stewart was wicked last week, doing two sets either side of the atrocious Stiff Little Fingers. Reports indicate Grace Jones was on top form, and that the acoustic reggae night was awesome.
Yesterday Trevor Sax kicked things off with a nice one drop selection, which got progressively deeper. Then the MCs took to the mic – Papa Levi, Colonel, Sandy and Rusty all present and correct (but no Tippa…)
They flashed some old lyrics, they flashed some new lyrics. Levi did all of “Mi God Mi King” acapella style. The audience went a bit mental, with the old Saxon soldiers chanting along to all the classics and bemused passersby getting sucked in to some proper London culture.
Daddy Colonel did a nice speech about how the fast chat style spread out from London to JA, to hip hop to grime and how people should be proud of London, proud of where they are from.
There were a few technical hitches with a bit of mic feedback and the breeze blowing against the turntables, but the vibes was high and the sound was booming.
Trevor took over after the display of lyrical gymanstics and flung down some classic Jammys riddims, also stuff like joyride, greetings riddim and a Super Cat medley before finishing off with a whole heap of Johnny Clarke dubplate specials.
I got so excited I even filmed a bit of Rusty on my camera:
on being less of a wanker
portrait of the author as an intense young man
Somebody with a dysfunctional email address writes:
What happened to you John? You used to be so vitriolic and teacher like. Now you’re all fluffy. Did having a kid make you less of a wanker? Good on you if did. I remember you being a full on immoral Whitehouse freak who thought that if you didn’t produce you weren’t a person. You came across as a product of a strict protestant work ethic based family.
Mark [surname I don’t recognise deleted]
Thanks Mark!
police in “demanding more powers” shocker
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 for). Predictably the police say they need 42 days and the civil liberties lobby say this is bollocks.
But what, you may ask, has this all got to do with obscure UK fast chat deejays from the 1980s?
You remember the early 80s, right? Or if you don’t you’ve seen enough footage of burning police cars and punks and rastas and “Ghost Town” on TV “list” programmes to have a fair idea about it.
Lord Scarman’s report into the 1981 Brixton riots did away with the “sus laws” and their legitimising of police harassment of black youth, but mistrust between the police and the public remained high in many areas (when is it not?).
Proposals in the 1983 Police Bill included powers to:
hold people for 96 hours without charge
set up random road blocks around an area
conduct forcible intimate body searches of detainees
use force in taking fingerprints (even of minors)
seize confidential information held by doctors, lawyers, journalists
and of course more stop and search powers, because you can’t have too many of them, eh?
It being the 80s, there was huge protest against the proposals (rather than today, when all you get is Shami Chakrabarti launching some balloons outside the Houses of Parliament). The HQ of the National Campaign Against The Police Bill was at 50 Rectory Road, Stoke Newington. Interestingly, the campaign seems to have received funding from Ken Livingstone’s GLC to the tune of £38,000 which lead to questions being asked in parliament.
Some of this money presumably was spent on admin and printing leaflets (some of which can be downloaded as pdfs here).
Thatcher’s right wing government was re-elected for a 2nd term in June 1983, helped in part by the resurgence of patriotism following the Falklands conflict, and flogging off council housing. The 1983 Labour party manifesto had included:
- Repeal the Police and Criminal Evidence Bill, because it infringes the rights and freedoms of individuals.
- Disband the London Special Patrol Groups and local SPGs, which have increasingly been deployed in aggressive public order roles.
but also a load of brave but unelectable policies such as abolishing the House of Lords, cancelling Trident nuclear missiles, etc.
“Kill The Police Bill” by Ranking Ann was released on Rough Justice Records in either 1984 or 85. It must be their only release (surely?). The 12″ was “produced by GLC Police Committee Support Unit” and published by Mad Professor’s Ariwa Music. I imagine by the sound of it that Mad Prof actually produced the music iin the studio rather than “the committee”, although that does conjur up some amusing images in my head.
So the Conservative government give Red Ken’s GLC a sack of money, which they then spend on a reggae record opposing proposed govt legislation. I bet that went down well.
Ranking Ann was born Ann Swinton in Croydon, but was discovered by Mad Professor via a contact in Wolverhampton whilst she was studying at university. Apparently she had some involvement with the Black Rock soundsystem which was run by her brother. Her first album “A Slice of English Toast” was released on Ariwa in 1982.
The tune itself is classic mid 80s Mad Professor stuff – a version of the Heavenless riddim with police sirens. Ann’s lyrics deal with police oppression in general, and the bill in particular as well as a first person (true or fiction?) account of her arrest.
The back cover includes all the lyrics for the benefit of those who can’t fathom Ann’s (rather light) patois. I imagine the record was well received by student lefties and guardianistas but that may be my own bias. Certainly Dick Hebdige, arch-academic of things sub-cultural, dedicated a whole chapter to the tune in his book Cut ‘n’ Mix (Comedia, 1987).
Furthermore Mad Professor himself makes the point that Ann’s material “was not appreciated until the late 80s, when academics and hippies from Exeter to San Diego demanded to see her.” in his sleevenotes to the excellent Ariwa 81 Sessions compilation.
Having said that, Green Gartside did appreciate her work and got Ann in for some toasting on Scritti Politti’s dubbed out remix of their “The Word Girl” single. Shortly after this burst of activity in the mid 80s, she moved away from reggae and into Gospel.
As Hebdige points out, the record and allied protests did not prevent the bill becoming an Act of Parliament at the end of 1985, following further conflict between the police and residents of Brixton and Tottenham. These riots lead the Metropolitan Police Chief to call for even more powers, including giving his colleagues access to plastic bullets whenever he felt like it.
The Thatcher government closed down the GLC in March 1986.
Reading all this back and thinking of the vast amounts of unrest in the 1980s (riots, the Miners’ strike, a terrorist threat from the IRA, 3 million unemployed, the prospect of the cold war concluding in nuclear annihilation) I am not convinced that there is more disorder now.
And I’d be pretty surprised if Boris Johnson used his mayoral funds to release a tune by a female grime MC tearing into the new Counter Terror Bill.
Make a note in your diary to read this post again in 42 days.
last call for Tighten Up
Last ever Tighten Up – tonight!
https://www.uncarved.org/blog/2008/05/tighten-up-rip-1999-2008/
Tighten Up takes place at Rhum Jungle, 70 Exmouth Market, Islington, London EC1.
The venue is just off Roseberry Avenue and is roughly 10 minutes walk from Angel, Farringdon or Kings Cross tube stations.
9pm till 2am
FREE ENTRY ALL NITE!!
Dress code: No hoodies.
songs about rape
Apologies in advance.
—–
From: Rattus Rattus
Date: May 14, 2008
Subject: Mix CD
To: John Eden
Hi,
I think you would enjoy my new mix CD. Either for formal blogging/review or for you own personal enjoyment. Its a fast paced mix of Dubstep, Electro, Grime, Funky, Bassline and Garage. After being up for a week on Uptown Records and Facebook it has had almost 500 downloads and great feedback.
Heres a link to a zipped broken down (track by track) version of the mix CD including artwork and tracklisting; […]
From: John Eden
Date: May 14, 2008
Subject: Re: Mix CD
To: Rattus Rattus
Hello Paul
Thanks for the links, the tracklist looks great.
Unfortunately I will never know if the mix is any cop or not because I’m not going to download it.
Because of the title.
I know we’re all supposed to be wacky and postmodern these days and not give a fuck, but I’ve spent too many hours talking to people about their rape experiences until the early hours…
John
From: Rattus Rattus
Date: May 14, 2008 5:32 PM
Subject: Re: Re: Mix CD
To: John Eden
Hi John
Apologies for any insult or offence I may have caused. I think its all to easy to use ideas like this title to create shock and to draw attention to yourself. Without thinking about the bigger picture, the people who have been affected or who know people who have been affected by this crime, of which i am clearly guilty of.
If you do want to check out my mixing on which your opinion would be very much appreciated. I have my last mix CD “Clash! At The Rave” which you can download from here: http://www.zshare.net/download/371175940462ec/ Which is a mix of Dubstep, Classic Rave, Grime, UK Garage and Indie.
Here is the tracklisting; […]
[…]
And once again apologies for my short sightedness.
Paul
—–
All of which got me thinking…
From Whitehouse’s shrieks to SWANS bellowing You should be raped / You should be violated on “Time Is Money (Bastard)” there is a fair bit of male transgressive-aggression in music I have checked out over the years.
I once was round at a female friend’s house and she was playing me some generic power electronics, for a laugh like. But then we had to turn it off abruptly because a mate of hers came round. A friend who’d been raped recently. There was an awkward silence at first, before real life superseded the “extreme” soundtrack. We didn’t discuss what had happened to her. It was another point in my life when I grew up.
Maybe self-consciously transgressive art only appeals to people with empty lives.
Back to a series of knackered sofas and broken park benches. It is completely shocking, every time. You’ve got to know someone well – or think you have – and it’s late and then something triggers off a memory. Of when it happened, years before. And then there’s tears and anger and you sit there, listening, trying to help. But, really, what use are you? All you can do is listen, for as long as it takes and offer very clear reassurance when the conversation looks like dipping into self-doubt. Self-blame.
Sometimes it takes a long time. Years of not speaking about it… because people don’t, do they? And yet, there just seems to be such an awful lot of it, those nights when you really get to know people and they pluck up the courage to tell you because it has to come out somehow and maybe you seem like the sort of person who can take it. Or maybe it could be anyone. I never got my cub scout badge for rape counseling.
“Songs About Rape” is probably an album already, but I’m not going to google it.
Here are two:
Zos Kia – “Rape” (All The Madmen Records, 1984)
There is a wealth of material on Zos Kia and John Gosling (its only permanent member) in England’s Hidden Reverse by Dave Keenan. I’ve not met John Gosling but I like him a lot from what I’ve read and heard about him.
This release features harrowing spoken and screamed vocals by Min – retelling her rape experience, perhaps as some kind of catharsis. No wonder Garry Bushell was a bit nonplussed when he reviewed it for Sounds.
More info and audio over at Kill Your Pet Puppy
A short history of All The Madmen
Rhoda with the Special AKA – “The Boiler” (Two Tone, 1982)
Rhoda was the lead singer with Two Tone all-girl band the Bodysnatchers. “The Boiler” is a girl meets boy story with a horrific date rape twist. Jerry Dammers apparently once said that everyone should hear this record, but only once.
Once again it’s a spoken word affair. The tune received no radio airplay (except for John Peel) but still reached number 35 in the charts.
“The Boiler” appears on the official “This Are Two Tone” compilation but is strangely absent from later, more nostalgic “best of”s.
More info and audio at Tracklister blog.
Rhoda myspace.
Belief is the Enemy
Scotty Hard
After writing a bit about Wordsound here (and enjoying their skunked out dubby hip hop for years) I finally got around to watching the label’s feature film Crooked last night.
Crooked was shot, written and produced on an ultra low budget by Wordsound’s guru and Chief Executive Skiz and released in 2002 on DVD. The storyline is an (almost?) fictional account of an idealistic hip hop head starting a label in NYC with a deranged but massively talented rapper and producer by the name of Sensational. Who is played by deranged but massively talented rapper and producer Sensational.
A whole downpouring torrent of Wordsound ‘heads’ make guest appearances including Anti Pop Consortium and Ras Kush, who plays a wise rasta dishing out wisdom and vinyl at legendary NY store Jammyland (which eerily seems to be in a twilight zone “between locations” dilemma as I write this).
The film suffers from, and is buoyed up by, all the usual limitations of low budget films – the plot is shaky, some of the camerawork and sound is shakier, the dialogue made my better half cringe in places and she wasn’t even in the same room. But despite all this it’s good to see somebody having a go at something ambitious – trying to put their vision out there in different ways without pandering to expectations, coolness or whatever.
The portrayal of dedicated people getting by, and venal record label personnel and drug dealers is pretty effective and Sensational lives up to his name I think. Plus there is a slightly noirish atmosphere to all the NYC shots which I like.
The first mix I ever did kicked off with Spectre vs Scotty Hard’s The Joust from Wordsound’s second “Crooklyn Dub Consortium” compilation. So I was especially pleased to see him in the film, playing a cop. Scotty is aka Scott Harding, a founder member of New Kingdom – a point of regroupment in the early nineties for people who liked their hop to be hip, but also fucked up and experimental. He seems to be pretty at home in the studio – his discography is pretty impressive.
Check this out, for example:
During all this I was reminded that Scotty had fallen on hard times recently, a car crash in February leaving him paralysed. His friends are rallying round and maybe people reading this could as well if they like his stuff:
SCOTTY HARD INFO
As some of you may or may not know, Scott Harding (a/k/a Scotty Hard) was in a bad accident this past February. The road to recovery is long and hard and as has been noted before, “Legal resolution of insurance settlements will take a long time, and there is no way to know what the long term financial picture will look like. In the meantime there is rent due, mixing console payments to be made, a myriad of bills to pay to keep creditors at bay etc, not to mention medical and legal bills that will start to come in.”
If you wish to make a donation or just to keep abreast of the various benefits that are going on for Scott, please go to http://www.ScottyHardTrust.com
Thank you for your support.
If you ever downloaded his stuff or liked that mix I did, I think now would be a good time to do the right thing.
Eighties, we’re still living in the eighties
Any minute now there will be an avalanche of nostalgia about acid house. Maybe there is already, but I am watching the wrong telly and reading the wrong magazines. 20 years is long enough for people to have jettisoned their revolutionary zeal and/or hedonism and Made A Career Out Of It.
“Yes of course we were crazy in those days, we were just doing it for the fun, nobody had a clue what was going on. Oh I remember the sunrise in Ibiza when Tongy faded in that tune”.
Fade to that one shot they always use of people raving it up in a field, blokes with long lank hair and white longsleeve t-shirts. The same as the footage of that punk getting nicked on the Kings Road for having a chain as a belt. The same as that footage of people gently whirling their arms in the air at Hyde Park, faces painted, flowers in their hair.
Fade to a boardroom. Platinum discs. A designer suit. It doesn’t matter how many wrinkles, it doesn’t matter what era the records are from. Shut up and listen!
“We had fun in those days! Now we’re rich, ok? Which is also a kind of fun. Fun fun fun. The drugs/sex/music were better in those days as well. Everything seems so conservative now.”
A smile.
“Of course it wasn’t all plain sailing, by any means”
Fade out to solemn music: use footage of Grosvenor Square / Brixton Riots / Battle of the Beanfield / Criminal Justice Bill demo.
“Nobody really understood what we were doing, you know? I suppose they felt threatened by all us young people together. But I think we changed things, for the better.”
The Madonna clones, the goths, the skinheads, the ravers, the punks, the casuals, the Smiths fans, all having a good time together. But only at the fancy dress birthday party in 2008. There will be no tribal violence tonight. We have moved on from that, at least those of us who perpetrated or suffered it at the time. Maybe if you didn’t then “This Is England” looks glamorous. Authentic. Sexy.
People forget the fear. Finding yourself alone in the wrong part of town, your tribal allegiance broadcast to everyone else. Footsteps, shouting.
And then home, out of breath, for more mundane angst.
what I am doing with my life / am I ever going to get out of here / will it be worse next time / those exams / those girls / those boys / will I ever get a job / is there a god / is the world going to end / am I going mental / why am I such a spacker / am I ever going to have sex with anyone /
Round and round.
People forget the boredom. Waiting. Always waiting for something to happen, for someone to turn up, for life to begin. Years and years and years of school, paper rounds, homework. Looking out of the same window. Having the same arguments with parents, siblings.
People forget. The nostalgia industry helps wash away those painful memories and replaces them with zingy glamour.
Fade to cosmetic advert with a computer-generated consciousness twinkling away as the little black pock marks of trauma dwindle. Confident eyelashes blink.
“Yes! They were exciting, and dare I say it, important times.”
The credits roll. A teenager looks out of the window. Wondering why life is so shit.
Somewhere, somebody else is making a name for themselves. History is being manufactured.
Tagged: Seven Songs
‘List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to’.
Neil at Transpontine tagged me for this latest meme. I usually sit on them for weeks, so here is some stuff off the top of my head:
1. Pato Banton – Gwarn
From the “Mad Professor Captures Pato Banton” LP – Mad Prof is still really underrated in my book. This is a nice slice of UK MC biz in a party style, with a completely over the top dub version following it.
2. The Cramps – Domino
My quiet Cramps revival continues. This one is all about the chugging drums and Lux’s vocals which veer from intense and restrained to mania. Great.
3. Wiley – Sky Is Falling ft. Jookie Mundo
“I don’t want easy life
I want a good one
Star in the hood one
A steak and kidney pud one
It’s overdue
If you hurt me in the last ten years then I’m over you”
From Wiley’s latest mixtape “Grimewave”. I think everyone expects grime to by 100% aggy, but I really like the more reflective tunes. This is a nice downbeat 2step thing based around a female vocal sample.
4. Jammer – Skanking Ting feat. Skepta and Frisco
From the excellent “Are You Dumb volume 3”. Big.
5. General Levy – See A Man Face
New 7″ on the Heartical label – nice relick on the Fade Away riddim. Musicians are listed as “BDF” which I think is Basque Dub Foundation? Levy on fine form…
6. Brother Culture – Darker Side of Town
2006 tune on Manasseh’s “Roots Garden” label which did that Levi riddim last year. This is just a good – moody tales of nightlife.
7. The Bug – Judgement
The final track on the forthcoming “London Zoo” album, which is the best yet. Once again this isn’t some kind of huge growling monster of a tune but a bit more spacious, cavernous – subdued but still intense. Vocals by Ricky Ranking who manages to alternate between the top and bottom of his range in the verses and chorus. Killer.
Tagging: