Artist
: VARIOUS ARTISTS
Title : 21ST CENTURY SKA
2001
Label : FREERADICALSOUNDS.COM
Format : CD / Vinyl
This is good time grin and dance music !! Following on from the success &
critical acclaim of the first Twenty First Century Ska compilation, the
Free Radical Sounds team have delved deep into their
record boxes and selected a new crop of contemporary Ska &
Two Tone flavoured tunes.
Just as
original Ska music emerged from its players mutating the beat that went before,
their present day counterparts, armed with samplers,
decks & sequencers, step
forward with a new fusionist sound. The classic
skank & brass motifs may be supplemented by
all manner of current dance rhythms, but one
thing is for sure - Ska has always been about a deeply infectious groove,
a catchy melody and fun filled party atmosphere. A chance to forget all your
troubles, get down and wig out. All of which can be found in plentiful supply
here.
Track By Track
Freaky Beanz sets the scene with ‘Pearly King Skank’,
a hip dipping, good time vibester for all. Kingsize artists
Hardwire add their unique blend of Ska
meets Hip Hop to the mighty DJ Stix’s
‘Two Turn Tables’. Next up The Woodshed dons
the ‘cloak and dagger’ once again to bring us the dark and spaced out ‘Scar
Wars’.
The
party vibe returns with the arrival of LL
Nino’s ‘One Eyed Giant’, an old school ska melange
mutated to the extreme. Ex - Supercharger man
Judgemental steps forward with a hot little
recipe entitled ‘Son of Thunder’ a dish best served hot with equal measures
of dirty breakbeat, and Saturday night clubland vibes.
The full
on beats & breaks continue with ‘Fabric Session’ from Rumblefish,
a.k.a Barry Ashworth (Dub Pistols) with a top
tune and surfer dancefloor slammer. Subculture Soundsystem
bring us their ever building skanking dubster ‘Asylum Seekers’, followed by
the bass bin pounding rhythm and quality hardness found on Sinsimilia by Stopper
remixed in fine style by Fingerlickin’ Records’ Soul Of Man.
Holland’s
sonic manipulators & Melkveg DJ’s Skankaround
Soundsystemsample up UK Ska act Top Cats
on the ‘P.I Skank’, a theme tune style track of epic proportions and a great
example of how the digital forces of this new millennium can meet with the
more traditional sounds of a full on live Ska band.
Sometime
Madness horn
arranger Terry Edwards brings us brand new interpretation
of the classic Harry J tune ‘The Liquidator’. Complete with that lovely cheesy
Hammond sound that was synonimous with the version of old. This time it’s
given full 2001 style remix treatment.
The Hip
Hop scratch fest returns in the form of ‘Take Heed’
from Outcast. A full on, end of night explosion
that begs you to turn the speakers up to eleven. "If you’ve got more beats,
Smoke this". Justin Robertson then steps up
under the guise of Gentleman Thief to bring
us ‘Spectres’. A deeply infectious yet subtle tune which just keeps on growing
in stature, proving that Lionrock’s ska & dub
infatuation wasn’t merely a passing phase. Equally at home on the dancefloor
or at home.
Pfink
continue Ska’s long time obsession with the spaghetti western
on ‘Ska Plains Drifter’ - this Ska / breakbeat
fusion will have the dancefloors ram packed for certain. Urban Dub
round things up with ‘Jump Jump’, a sax led, good time tune with strong melodic
hooks in the classic original ska style.
bimble@freeradicalsounds.com
Click here for links to 21st Century Ska 2001 artist profiles
and articles
Artist
: VARIOUS ARTISTS
Title : GARAGE DUBS
Label : FREERADICALSOUNDS.COM
Format : CD / Vinyl
I make
no bones about it. I love this album and it currently resides at the no 1
spot of my top ten playouts. We at Free
Radical Sounds compiled this album as a homage to the
ever growing Raggage scene that is currently
cutting a swath thru our fair capital...
Garage Dubs
takes the raw end drum and bass motifs and places them alongside conscious
lyricism and dancefloor pressure from the undergrounds’ leading mixmasters,
MC's and DJ's.
First
up we have Black
Steels’ dubversive retake of Legalise it
a version of the Peter Tosh classic re-interpreted by the sweet toned Mr
Steel over K.O records ultra clear & inventive
production. Elsewhere this album sees some serious fusion going on, with
analogue B- lines and hardcore undercurrents,
ruffing up the Two Step breaks to the max.
This is epitomised by Charjan's killer rework
of the Jah Thomas classic re titled Gunshot"
Garages’
fusion with the Drum and Bass scene is finally cemented with Bad
Ass Bass from the Heavy Weight Crew,
alongside a host of Nu Skool raggage and contemporary
cuts from veteran jungalists such as Ratpack
& General Levymashing it up with the new rhythms in
fine style. Also check out fresh crossover variants & dubwise boomers from
T.B Spook Unit A.K.A Jake Subtropic
who provides us with Skabot’a Glitch
- Hop / Ska infected floorbound sure fire hit. Also
featured on Smoking Garage are Dub Virus, Urban Myths, Noonday Underground
(with the excellent Pop No Style
), DJ South Central and Dub-tronic
who close proceedings with ‘Wicked Rule’ a stomping new two step
/ garage cut of the original Jah Works classic.
Top Tune : Legalise
It : Black Steel
A corking opening tune which sets the dancefloor alight every time.
Runner Up : Bigfoot
: Subculture Soundsystem
This stomping breakbeat infused smoking garage tune
kicks and is another one already doing the biz on the dancefloor.
Garage Dubs
is the crossover point where 2 Step, Breakbeat Garage
& the full frequency response of UK Dub, Roots Reggae & Drum N Bass
meet
- surely this is against all the rules?
bimble@freeradicalsounds.com
Click
here for links to Garage Dubs artist profiles and related articles
Artist
: SNUFF VS URBAN DUB
Title
: BLUE GRAVY DUB VERSION
Label
: TEN PAST TWELVE RECORDS
Format
: CD
Bizarre
shock of the week Snuff release a dub album, well not really more of an
experimental remix project . I’m not sure who Snuff are aiming this very
different and experimental album at. Blue Gravy Dub Versions features
London’s Urban Dub radically reworking tracks from the original album.
With a couple of the tunes getting more than one treatment.
‘Blue Gravy’ ( Burn Down Babylon Mix ) retains only the excellent horn
lines for an Urban Dub remix extravaganza. Ichola Buddha not one of my
favorite tunes from the original album comes up trumps here in the form
of Ichola Dub. A speaker rocking deep sub bass mix bringing the Jubilant
horns to the fore and mixing heavily effected snatches of the original
vocals lines. Night Of The Versions is a five and a half min two step
/ garage ( !! ) reworking of ‘Night Of Li’s which uses the original guitar
lines to great effect and places them in an entirely new setting.
Other
highlights include ‘Northern Dub’ and the excellent ‘Emperor Dub’ which
I’d like to see them do live. A wicked anthemic dub version complete with
a heavily treated one drop riddim and a new horn parts. Also Night Of
The Li’s ( Long Throw Specialist Mix ). Which sounds like the Mission
Impossible theme tune mixed by King Tubby in a sleazy nightclub basement,
surrounded by Ketamin fueled whores.
In
my opinion Blue Gravy Dub Versions is an excellent album containing some
awesome reversions of songs from the original album. It must be said though
that this seems like an absolutely crazy project for a band whose fans
are almost solely made up of straight ahead ( some would say blinkered
) punk rock fans. Blue Gravy Dub proves that Snuff are not afraid to be
true to the original punk spirit and do what the fuck they want. For that
they should be admired. Lets hope that this isn’t the end of Snuffs experimentation’s.
bimble@freeradicalsounds.com
Artist
: HARDWIRE
Title : FUSED
Label : KINGSIZE Records
Format : CD/Vinyl
Hardwire have been high on my listening and playout
agenda over the last year. With a healthy output of 12" releases and remixes
via the effervescent Kingsize label.
Their first CD album release 'Fuse' finds
the Hardwire crew blending their bass-heavy
hip-hop and ska based rhythms in a shameless goodtime
club feel. The opening track "Burn it up"
starts as a smokey smooth cocktail party piano piece before bursting into
life.
Hardwire
use that old School hip hop vibe to humorous
effect in the same way De La Soul and the
Jungle Brothers have been doing on both sides
of the Atlantic. There's even Freddy Fresh
bigging up the promos he's been playing out in Japan, as he phones in his
thanks to the Hardwire crew.
Track-wise
the c.d. is the healthier option with 24 tracks of dope fuelled beatifications,
but rest assured the vinyl junkies and DJ's get served up a fibrous 17 portions.
With both formats including all the recently released 12"s . 'Conskank'
is a looped paean to the herb which retains a Studio
One rock steady horn refrain and lots of great acoustic
snare and bass sounds; "Dope Jam"is as you
would expect it to be ie doper than dope. "Tearin the Country up"
warns us to "lead a clean life and to stay off the dope" make of that what
you will.
All
in all a storming debut, I look foward to seeing them live.
Smart Monkey
Artist
: VARIOUS ARTISTS
Title : SIZE MATTERS
Label : KINGSIZE RECORDS
Format : CD/Vinyl
I originally
got into this label via Dubmission
records'Mashing up Creation' album which featured
the majestic 'Jah Weybridge' track by Adelphi.
A tune later to be released alongside other tracks on Kingsizes 'Truth
To Be Told' album. Anyway neither that track nor Adelphi
appear on this compilation but it doesn’t show any signs of suffering because
of this. It does though feature most of last years prolific outpourings
from this eclectic label.
A feature
of many of the artists on the album is that many of them play out in one
guise or another at events such as the London based 'Sonic
Mook Experiment' held monthly at The Scala.
Theres
a healthy degree of differing styles of dub,
hip hop and electro .
It feels less club concious and slightly more laid back than it’s comparitive
12" DJ releases.
This is an album to
search out from one of the most consistant underground labels.
Smart Monkey
