Monday 30 November 2015

Listen! - Smells Like Christmas Spirit





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Listen! - ION - Fjord Remixed




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Listen! - Fins A Luminous - Setting Souls​/​Funeral Shake




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Watch! - ticktock - Pastel Clouds




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Watch! - Bunty - Mysterious Fruit




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Watch! - Love Buzzard - Superglue




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Listen! - Post War Glamour Girls - Cannonball Villages (Richard Formby Remix)





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Watch! - Diagrams - General Relativity




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Friday 27 November 2015

Listen! - Black - Live 2015





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Review - Reggae Round-Up - Singers & Players | Congo Natty | Dennis Bovell

The long nights are here and the sun is slowly disappearing but it doesn’t stop the steady stream of great reggae releases.  This round-up sees us look at the latest releases all with a dub twist.






Singers & Players – Revenge Of The Underdog (On U-Sound Records)
Singers & Players – War Of Version (On-u Sound Records)

Vinyl

8.5/10

Out Now

The second album from the On-U Sound collective featuring the likes of Print Far I, Bim Sherman and Ari Up has a vinyl re-release some thirty-three years after its original appearance.  Label supremo Adrian Sherwood has yet again re-mastered in Berlin and the end result is delightful. 

Revenge Of The Underdog is slightly more complex than its predecessor War Of Words and is a superbly entertaining listen for it.   Heavy on dub and DJ interludes it brought together the vibe of a London brimming over on the punk experience and dipping a dreadlock into reggae.

As always, Sherwood’s approach is revolutionary and creates yet another string to the On-U bow.  Tracks are simple but filled with reverb and deep on bass.  Opener, the curiously titled ‘a Dungeon b Merchant Ship c Jah Army Band’ is effectively three tracks segued together with some of the most addictive hooks.  It’s bare and wonderful.

Some of the album isn’t easy listening for the On-U unfamiliar, Follower and Resolution in particular but once bitten by the On-U bug they become indispensable.



Released at the same time is the War Of Version four track EP.  Part of the legendary 10” Disco Plate Series it features tracks from the sessions for Singers & Players’ first two albums.   Two new treats in the forms of Calling Over The Distant Sea (with previously unheard vocals by Prince Far I) and Don’t Be Greedy (unheard mix by Jah Whoosh). 

If dub is your thing (and why shouldn’t it be?), then War Of Version is a must own.








Congo Natty – Jungle Revolution In Dub (Big Dada)

LP / CD / DL

8.5/10

Out Now

Congo Natty’s classic 2013 album is given the dub treatment with contributions from Dubkasm, DJ Madd and Mungos HiFi.  Incorporating drum n bass together with, not surprisingly jungle, the artist formerly known as Rebel MC (Google it kids) teams up with guests Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Scientist and Mala to make a fine album.

Mikail Tafari (for it is he) brings sixteen tracks bang up to date with the help of a new breed of dub talent – Hylu & Jago mix Jungle Is I And I – stalwarts King Yoof and Sukh Knight lend a hand with Microchip and Get Ready respectively.

There are hints of dancehall too which fit in perfectly and the album isn’t short of commercial fodder to please the dub newcomer, but it’s when the tracks become complex and full of more dub than you can shake a dubby stick at that they rise beyond the pale.

Jungle Revolution In Dub is a nice twist in the story of dub thus far collating traditional effects and a look to the future whilst keeping the feel of remixing and versioning well alive.  Often heavy of bass, it’s an absolute delight and maybe one you should be writing to Father Xmas for.






Dennis Bovell – Dub 4 Daze (Glitterbeat Records)

LP

8.5/10

Out  Now

The legendary dub and reggae producer Dennis Bovell releases a new album of stunning dub mixes retrieved from his archives with the addition of some new versions too.  Using an analogue desk to create some amazing material, the former producer of The Slits and The Pop Group shows why he is so revered in the genre.

Zipping from roots to space echo, Dub 4 Daze is a lesson in how to create the leader in dub albums.  The track Top Level Dub couldn’t explain the album better if it tried, with played down brass and a lazy reggae beat it typifies the album on which Bovell sings and plays many of the instruments himself.

It is on the dubbed tracks that the album really shines, and shine it does.  Dub Affair features echoed out vocals and reverb upon reverb makes the album an absolute joy.  Physics Of Dub takes this one step further with some backwards recorded sounds as an entry before more sci-fi effects come to the fore. 

Aged Dub moves along with a desert rock buzz and album closer Tuned Dub provides more rich and pure sounds from the man that has also worked with the likes of Marvin Gaye and the great Fela Kuti.





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Watch! - Brother TJ - Muffintop




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Listen! - The Caulfield Beats - Acid Pt. 1




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Listen! - Flowers - Pull My Arm







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Thursday 26 November 2015

Listen! - Escapists - Pyramid Scheme



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Listen! - All Hail Hyena - Damp Detector EP





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Review - Nitin Sawhney – Dystopian Dream




Nitin Sawhney – Dystopian Dream (Positiv ID)

LP / CD / DL

Out Now

7.5 / 10

Producer writer and multi-instrumentalist releases his tenth studio album. 

In Nitin Sawhney’s first new album for four years thing are slightly more laid back.  Gone are the complex Indian fusions and exciting word interplays, to be replaced by a more relaxed collection.  A safer approach is now here and sadly much of the excitement has gone.

Sawhney is indeed a talented man and his contribution to the scene that also brought us Asian Dub Foundation and Talvin Singh cannot be denied.  The late 90s and early 00s saw him release a string of superb albums in the shape of the likes of Beyond Skin, Prophesy and Human – later years have seen him collaborate with a multitude of vocalists which somehow takes the edge of his work.

Dystopian Dream sees teaming with many artists – Joss Stone, Eva Stone (no relation), Stealth and Akala whose words to Dystopia provide not only the highlight of the album but also an exciting track which confirms Sawhney as a musical trendsetter as a pacey percussive backing races along with confidence and prowess.

Love Us All too is gripping.  With a delta blues feel slowly glides along with interspersed (uncredited) vocals holding together a repetitive looping melody which touches on the trip-hop/drum and bass sounds that Sahwney seems comfortable with nowadays.

There is still a presence of what he does so well here.  Tere Khyaal combines Indian Classicism with Westernised influences and sounds enthralling as it too sits head and shoulders above much else on the album.  There’s another visit to the Mississippi blues on When I’m Gone with guest vocals by Stealth.  The track soon moves into rock territory and whilst it’s a decent enough track, it seems out of place.

Spirals is a lovely acoustic instrumental and once more shows Sawhney for the talented artist that he is before two drum and bass tracks with Natacha Atlas and Joss Stone make their appearances.  It’s here that whilst he is capable of writing in a multitude of styles it is clear that this isn’t his most successful.  Probably acceptable on a larger scale, the tracks are predictable and sadly misplaced.

The album ends on Dimension which features multi-percussionist Bernhard Schimpelsberger and the pair create a superb near ambient close to the album.  Dystopian Dream is a good album, but not Sawhney’s best and perhaps a trip back to the incredible East/West interceptions is slightly overdue.  As your School teacher may have said – ‘could do better’.





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Asian Dub Foundation review


Published on Louder Than War 18/11/15 - here




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Monday 23 November 2015

Review - Jemima Surrender – The Uninhabited World




Jemima Surrender – The Uninhabited World

CD / DL

13 November 2015

8.5 / 10

Alternative fuzz trio release their debut album.  

Bristol can be proud.  The new album from Jemima Surrender is a great piece of how to make music ‘your way’.  Last year’s Ask Me Again EP (see our 9/10 review here) hinted at great things to come, and here they are in the form of The Uninhabited World.

Clearly not afraid to do, well, anything, the band have put together an exciting debut of a long-player guaranteed to make the most ardent music lover sit up and listen.  The exhilarating juxtaposition of Millie’s vocals against a hard guitar and drum is nothing short of wondrous and the bands ability to knock out a highly melodious track or three give the album sustenance throughout.

Opener, Hammer And Peg is as commercial as it all gets as the hooks embroils itself around your aural canal and ties its twisty tentacles around the nearest anchor point not wanting to let go for dear mercy.  And so the album proceeds.  There isn’t a bad track here and the trio know exactly when to call each one complete – nothing carries on for longer than it needs to do for full impact, and if that means several tracks coming in at around the three-minute mark then so be it.

Even a break from the brash and crash in the form of The Cull sits perfectly in the running order and provides respite in a chilling and lovely way.  It’s all very 90s Indie, but the best of it.  Thomas Quick is exactly that, and the electrifying bass rumbles along throbbing in your throat like an angry wasp fighting to break free - “fuck your modus operandi”.  Quite.

The two singles thus far, Sylvia and Or Anyone are testament to the bands songwrting capabilities.  The former, with its hilarious video (Google it) was the teaser to the album and tickled the fancy that something special was on its way.  Dark guitars screech against the light vocals and it all knits wonderfully together.   Latest release, Or Anyone is less commercial but no less enjoyable with the now trademark pop grunge and instant hook ever present.

Gentleman Jack is almost regimental in its sound and In Sickness provides a chaotic grunge fuzz guaranteed to wake anyone from their slumber.  Closing with Hysteria, The Uninhabited World is a great debut and one well worth the wait and the affection that has clearly been poured into it.




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