It's kind of dancehall, but it's kind of not...
2009-06-26 by The Mighty AlboyMajor Lazer-”Pon de floor [feat. VYBZ Kartel]”
Wanted to share a second track off the Major Lazer album, and something about this one grabs me. I think it’s the drums :)
Go buy it!
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Barbed wire style
2009-06-26 by The Mighty AlboyMajor Lazer- “Can’t stop now [feat. Mr. Vegas & Jovi Rockwell]”
Halfway through posting this up, the screen on my PC went purple and all crashed out…”the blue screen of death” I’d heard of, but the “deep purple” was a new one on me!
is kind of similar to what’s been happening to me this week- came down with some flu over the weekend, and cos I’ve recently been out the country (holidays in Turkey), the NHS had a nurse come round and swab me for swine flu yesterday, which is even less fun than it might sound…
Will be able to let you know whether or not I’m a disease vector in a global pandemic tomorrow, apparently (I’ve been called worse things!)
Anyway- has given me a chance to put some overdue tracks on the blog at least, assuming nothing melts down this time…
This is a fine fine track from the long awaited Major Lazer project LP- the irresponsibly titled Gun’s don’t kill people, lazers do- a collaboration between two producers who need no introduction at DC- Diplo, Switch- and a whole host of shining dancehall stars- and Ms Thing whose auto-tuned nonsense spoils every track she guests on- but glass half full- there are a lot of belters. Or “heaters” as I believe the young people of today term them.
This one has obvious appeal from the outset- a chopped up, stepped on break from the VD-themed rocksteady classic Barbed Wire in his underpants provides the heavy riddim track- with sweet vocals from Jovi Rockwell and perennial fave Mr Vegas bringing the lovin’ flavour.
Sounds of the summer time, sounds of the summer time!
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Friday and feeling good
2008-11-14 by Kevvy K
High Inergy – I Just Can’t Help Myself
Lots of things to share.. lots less time to get round to doing it. This is very very wonderful though. Remeber a while back I was whittering on about Filthy Luka’s Mystery Mix up on DJ History Forum? This was the stand out track for me. It’s taken me a while (and the spotting assistance of Mr P Rice) to track this down, but finally it’s here to share.
Don’t be fooled by the group name, this isn’t at all Hi-NRG. Its from 1980, but has a more classic feel good soul sound… they were signed by Motown in 1977 and had a string of respectable hits without ever making an enormous impact. This is just wonderful though.. so many nice touches combined.. little snatches of wah-wah, great strings, a jaunty little rhythm and really stirring Ross-esque vocal sections. This is almost guaranteed to put a step in anyone’s step as they embark on a hopefully leisurely weekend.
Did anyone else thing it was weird that both Miriam Makeba and Mitch Mitchell died in the same week? If I was Mark Moore I’d be feeling quite worried right now.
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Stuff what I stole off Mad Decent (2)
2007-11-14 by The Mighty AlboyMIA feat Bun B and Rich Boy- “paper planes (Street Mix)”
An anthemic Clash-sampling track from MIA’s Kala album, remixed with verses from Bun B and Rich Boy. Most blogs- including mad decent- posted this months ago, but you may have missed this particular mix.
The chorus is catchy but hard to sing along to because of the gunshots…which might put a few of you off, but I like ‘em- not so much for themselves, but because they mean you have to complete the words to the chorus yourself- I have a number of different versions in my mind. The instrumental’s up on over at mad decent, so you can have a go at the whole tune if you wanna…
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Stuff what I stole off Mad Decent (1)
2007-11-14 by The Mighty AlboySeiji Feat MC Dolores – “Todo Mundo”
As if we didnt do enough at DC to promote Diplo and his various associates, here are a couple of tunes I’ve lifted off his highly recommended mad decent blog.
This one’s a truly worldwide affair- from a US based blog of a mix by Berlin’s Man Records, featuring London’s Seiji on the track with Brasil Baile Funk legend MC Dolores bringing the lyrical heat. And what a beauty it is too!
My copy is on it’s way to me, but as I have recently wrecked all of my home vinyl recording capabilities, there’s no point in waiting. This is an excerpt from the DJ Beware Mix over at (mad decent)- a shorter taste that I hope will send you to the links below to make a well deserved purchase…
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Eat pie scumbag!
2007-10-17 by Kevvy KMr.Blennd – Cutty diana (rhythm’n’booze vol.2)
Another dancehall blend, taking a classic Cutty Ranks vocal (I know P Rice has it, he has recorded it for me previously) and welding it to the Chic-produced disco goodness that is Upside Down by Diana Ross. What’s not to love? Vols 1 and 2 of these delectable 7”s have sold out, but you can still pick 3 and 4 up from Phonica here, and you can check out more of their tunes on the 2 myspace pages listed below.
A big well done to the plucky gals and guys who planted a cream-pie square in the corporate jowls of Oliver Mace, BP Fuels CEO and general scumbag during Europe’s largest biofuels event earlier on today in Nottingham.
This morning a group of 15 climate change activists from protest group Food Not Fuel entered the BioFuel Expo & Conference taking place at the Newark Showground and took over the keynote speech. Oliver Mace, CEO of BP Fuels, the lead sponsors of the event recieved a cream pie in the face. Another campaigner was D-locked to the podium and various alarms were placed around the place. The hall was emptied and talks were canceled. There were no arrests.
Read the full press release here and for more info on the ginormous environmental and social consequences we are going to have to deal with as a result of the massive agrofuels exansion that we are poised on, check out the Biofuel Watch website.
EDIT: Someone on DJH just posted this incredible Youtube clip of Shaka playing in what looks like the 70s. Possibly the best outfits and dancing ever. A real slice of London muscial history.
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MIA MIA, pants on fire...
2007-09-13 by The Mighty AlboyM.I.A.- “Boyz”
And now from June…
I expect you’ve all heard this by now- an early leaker and lead single from M.I.A.’s latest album, Kala.
M.I.A.s in serious danger of being over-hyped but I dont think Ms Arulpragasam’s the sort of person to let it go to her head- and she can still hold it down, which is the main thing.
I’m posting “Boyz” here because despite having first heard it months ago, I’m still hooked on it. Credit’s got to go to producer Switch for this- I’m not sure what you’d call it (is it house? bashment? hip hop? baile/bmore?) whatever it is, it’s energetic stuff and just the thing to perk one up in the morning.
The album was out on 15th August- I wasnt sleeping, I just wasnt blogging much ;)
Apparently, in a rather Father Ted-esque turn of events, Beenie Man played this track for 45 minutes on repeat at his Dutty Friday party.
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She give me one smile...
2007-04-11 by Tommy SqueakerChaka Demus and Pliers – Tease Me
Here’s one for the playful but ultimately cruel way the weather here in deepest London is toying with us at the moment. That’s it, tease us with your 8 degree higher than the norm temperatures, lead us on with your glorious rays of spring sunshine… and then, when we’re all rohipnol-ed up with the belief that summer is actually here and that all will be picnics and beers in parks until 10pm from now til mid september, we’ll be brutally bitch-slapped with another month of sleet and miserable greyness. Ahh, what it is to be British.
DJ and singer dancehall team Chaka Demus (he of the djing) and Pliers (he of the singing) must be one of- if not the- first act to bring dancehall rhythms to the UK charts, back in the early 90s. While there’s no denying the pop sensibility of a tune like ‘Tease Me’ it clearly has a Jamaican heart. For some reason it reminds me of a dodgy pub round the corner from me lovely sister’s ex-gaff in Tooting which used to have the most amazing old giffer karaoke session every week. I’m pretty sure none of them had a go at Tease Me, but it’s lodged in the memory. It’s odd the brain, innit?
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- Buy and read about Chaka Demus and Pliers...
- ...at Bigupradio.com
Dekker, Desmond Dekker
2006-11-28 by Blue LukeSeems we nearly made it all the way through the hype without reference to the UK’s second most succesful franchise (behind DC), Bond, James Bond.
I went to see it last night, and frankly, brilliant.
I’ve been racking my brains for a Bond song that wasn’t either
a) overplayed, or b) shit (a la madonna, die another day), and what should pop up on the old shuffle, but this little number from the prince of the mods, the king of ska, mr desmond dekker.
Dekker, one of Jamaica’s most succseful crossover musicians of the pre Marley era, came from the stables of the infamous Leslie Kong, and this track OO7 (shanty town) was the song that lead to his large following in the Jamaican rude boy circles, and with the UK mod scene.
This version is not the original (although that is great and can be found on the truely wonderful Trojan ska box set). Instead its taken from his 1980 reworks album, Black and Dekker, which was recorded using with Graham Parkers band The Rumour, rather than Dekkers traditional band The Four Aces.
Interestingly enough the lyrics contain another, somewhat obscure reference tothe movies, this time Oceans 11, which was of course a rat pack film long before Brad Pitt was a gleam in his daddies eye.
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old school dancehall filth (1)
2006-10-23 by The Mighty Alboybaldhead growler- “the sausage”
While P McDiddy (aka the Gas Giant) sorts out his ongoing “uploading problems”, he’s passed me a few numbers that have been tickling his proverbial fancy recently.
Two choonz here to remind you that good dancehall music has always been filthy…
This number recounts the adventures of baldhead growler at a christmas party, at which he meets several young ladies with a prodigious hunger for growler’s “sausage”.
I particularly like the way he tries to cram all the words into the last verse :)
It’s on the Trojan Calypso boxset, which like most the other trojan boxsets is amazingly good value and well worth getting if you fancy a bit of caribbean calypso sunshine music for these rainy decidedly non-caribbean days.
did you know…?
“The prominent form of popular music in the West Indies before the development of Reggae was Calypso, the name of which is derived from the African word “Ka’iso”. Developed in Trinidad, Calypso was originally used by slaves to ridicule their ‘masters’ in the style of an African griot, where the singer could harangue his subjugators without fear of reprisals, as the topical verse would be sung in an African language followed by a chorus in the local patois…In essence, the music is a form of polka, featuring a heavy bass line, originally played through a hollow branch of a trumpet tree.”
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