Dropping his Tikiman persona after a lawsuit filed by some hack claiming to be "the real Tikiman", Paul St. Hilaire returns with an album's worth of new tracks. Those interested in the Basic Channel sound of his work with Rhythm & Sound may at first be a little disappointed in "Unspecified". Produced by Hilaire himself and released on his own label "Unspecified" is about as close of a return to late seventies roots reggae production one can expect to get these days. It's perhaps an indication that reggae can rise phoenix like from the ashes of dancehall from the very digital realm that buried it. Learning from the production techniques of his previous collaborators, Hilaire has found a way for the electronic recording studio (to be sure, along with some live instrumental accompaniemnt) to produce a soulful and rich and dubbed out backdrop for his beautiful voice.
Tracks include: Lazer Dub, Japs In Dub, Pumpin Dub, Dub Addic and more. What else is needed, really?
Oh boy, it's time for more steel pan (drum) music dug up by one of our our favorite reissue labels, Japan's eccentric EM Records. This is the third in their steel pan series (after the Modern Sound Quintet and the Rudy Smith Quartet). Those first two were in a jazz-funk vein, whereas Steel An' Skin is a reggae affair, as you might guess from this disc's title. Reggae and dub and "soca-disco". This hybrid Afro-Caribbean outfit, a merger of musicians specializing in Pan-African percussion as well as the rhythms of the West Indies, and featuring ex-members of the 20th Century Steel Band, was based out of London, England in the '70s. While we particularly liked the jazz-funk grooves of the Modern Sound Quintet, we're also taken by the delightful, sunny appeal of Steel An' Skin's upbeat vibes. While addressing some serious issues ("Fire In Soweto", "Acid Rain") this still has a primarily happy disposition, with soulful vocals and a relaxed atmosphere.
Of course, our favorite track here is "Afro Punk Reggae (Dub)" since indeed it's the dubbiest, and that's what we at AQ tend to go for in our reggae. Never heard steel drums echo-effected like that before! It would also be the track we'd play for peeps who love those "Disco Not Disco" comps.
With typical EM thoroughness, this reissue is about as good as a reissue can get, with a large text and photo filled insert, three bonus tracks circa '84, and also a whole extra dvd disc! That features a 34 minute documentary film from 1979, for which the majority of the music on the audio disc was originally recorded. Directed by Steve Shaw for the Arts Council of Great Britain, the film takes a look at Steel An' Skin's educational workshop activities (the band began as a way to teach African and Caribbean immigrant schoolchildren in London about their cultural heritage). Lots of musical performance and practice footage, dancing, happy kids... as well as scenes from some rather medieval looking, grim inner city slums. Interview segments with Steel An' Skin bandleader Peter Blackman, discuss the unique "black English" experience, and the excitement of bringing musicians and singers from Trinidad, Ghana, Nigeria, etc. together. You can see how the group was a positive force in their community.
Now on vinyl!! This recording of steel pan (drum) music was reissued by one of our our favorite reissue labels, Japan's eccentric EM Records, as a cd+dvd back in 2008. Now it's on vinyl, minus the dvd portion obviously. And with a slightly different tracklist than the cd version. But what we said before still goes...
This is the third in EM's steel pan series (after the Modern Sound Quintet and the Rudy Smith Quartet). Those first two were in a jazz-funk vein, whereas Steel An' Skin is a reggae affair, as you might guess from this disc's title. Reggae and dub and "soca-disco". This hybrid Afro-Caribbean outfit, a merger of musicians specializing in Pan-African percussion as well as the rhythms of the West Indies, and featuring ex-members of the 20th Century Steel Band, was based out of London, England in the '70s. While we particularly liked the jazz-funk grooves of the Modern Sound Quintet, we're also taken by the delightful, sunny appeal of Steel An' Skin's upbeat vibes. While addressing some serious issues ("Fire In Soweto", "Acid Rain") this still has a primarily happy disposition, with soulful vocals and a relaxed atmosphere.
Of course, our favorite track here is "Afro Punk Reggae (Dub)" since indeed it's the dubbiest, and that's what we at AQ tend to go for in our reggae. Never heard steel drums echo-effected like that before! It would also be the track we'd play for peeps who love those "Disco Not Disco" comps.
One of our favorite albums, and another one we realized to our dismay that we didn't have in the store or on the website, so we thought we'd share our love of this record with any of you who aren't already familiar with this classic.
At their prime, Steel Pulse were without a doubt the best reggae band to come out of the UK, with great songwriting skills, social consciousness and songs bursting with energy and packed with infectious hooks. They were such a huge influence on so many bands in the punk and new wave world, that they were often asked by bands like The Clash, The Police, The Stranglers and Generation X to go on tour with them. In fact, much of the Police's early sound is SO obviously influenced by the music of Steel Pulse. True Democracy is really one of those records that crosses genre lines, while very much a reggae record it's amazing how many people who thought they weren't into reggae at all, heard this record playing and couldn't resist getting caught tight in its irresistible grasp. It's a record that never loses its charm or its ability to sweep us of our feet as we always walk a little faster, feel a little more free, and move with more purpose whenever we have it blasting in our ears. Originally released in 1982 and it still sounds as fresh and vital as ever!
Still more Jamaican dance hall. The rhythm this time is "We Thuggin'" (Fat Joe). B-side has some completely unrelated version. Frisco Kid's "soulful" toasting is irritating at best. Ruins an otherwise kickass track.
NOW ON VINYL!
Who'd expect a big bunch of pasty Bay Area indie rockers to form a reggae group? You'd probably be a bit suspicious of their intent, wouldn't ya? But Still Flyin' are without an ounce of irony. There's simply no room for it when there's such a truckload of genuine enthusiasm for the music. Yes, it's quite a surprising turn of events, innit? They frolic on the bright sunny side of reggae with lots of buoyant melodies and exuberant vocals. This is fun, feel-good music with not a cloud in the sky. Their good time van seats over a dozen including frontman Sean Rawls, Brian Girgus (Trackstar, Lowercase), Yoshi Nakamoto (Aisler's Set) and it used to include Wyatt Cusick (Trackstar, Aisler's Set) too before he moved to the distant shores of Scandinavia.
Who'd expect a big bunch of pasty Bay Area indie rockers to form a reggae group? You'd probably be a bit suspicious of their intent, wouldn't ya? But Still Flyin' are without an ounce of irony. There's simply no room for it when there's such a truckload of genuine enthusiasm for the music. Yes, it's quite a surprising turn of events, innit? They frolic on the bright sunny side of reggae with lots of buoyant melodies and exuberant vocals. This is fun, feel-good music with not a cloud in the sky. Their good time van seats over a dozen including frontman Sean Rawls, Brian Girgus (Trackstar, Lowercase), Yoshi Nakamoto (Aisler's Set) and it used to include Wyatt Cusick (Trackstar, Aisler's Set) too before he moved to the distant shores of Scandinavia.
Still Flyin' are a bunch of cool kids from the Bay Area's indie rock'n'pop community and beyond (the ever changing and expanding line-up has included members of Track Star, Lowercase, Aislers Set, and Ladybug Transistor). Yup, they're a supergroup of sorts with a twist, they take a break from their respective general rocking and rolling, in favor of a whole different style of music -- some of the most feel-good reggae infused pop around. The outcome is absolutely unironic, positively jubilant and very well done. If you missed their debut album Time Wrinkles On last year, you've been missing out on the good times. This ep keeps the Still Flyin' party in full flight. Sure to buoy up your spirits and brighten up your day.
Brand new chunk of hazy, druggy, dubbed out psychedelic groove from Sun Araw, aka Cameron Stallones, and it's a doozy, still dipping heavily into reggae and dub for inspiration, with wah wah guitar, woozy groovy bass, and now with what sounds like African high life style vocals, all draped over a wavery droning synth, which adds a weird bit of tension, the sound a dizzying hybrid, but one that kind of works, the guitars grow more active, getting crunchier, adding texture and melody to the proceedings, but all still wedded to that main groove, which pulses and undulates seductively the whole time. If you dug the last few SA records, this jam will be right up your alley. The weird thing here is the B side, which finds Stallones covering Teenage Fanclub, and utterly transforming it into some strange tropical dubbed out power pop jam, all gauzy and shimmery, laced with bird sounds, all sorts of FX squiggles, still underpinned by that droning synth tone, but there's real riffing, and real singing, but tenuously wrapped around all the murky swirl and dubby drift underneath, but again it kind of works. If you weren't familiar with the original, you might not even realize it's a cover, but if you are, you might just like this version too.
Latest cloud of smoked out dub psych damage from this one man band, a massive sprawling double lp, every song bleeding into the next, one epic druggy abstract sonic trip. The Sun Araw sound keeps drifting further and further out, and in the process, approaching something that sounds a bit like reggae, but filtered through a cracked Not Not Fun filter, and a bank of busted amps and malfunctioning effects pedals. Oh and pot smoke. Lots and lots of pot smoke.
Woozy, warbly, prismatic, sun baked (and just plain baked), stripped down, dubbed out, inner space drift. Wah Wah guitars hover over skeletal rhythms, reverb and delay coats everything in earshot, disembodied chantlike vox are draped over SA's twisted mutant lo-fi dub. The record drifts into some warped murk, still peppered with plenty of upstroke reggae guitar jangle, but wrapped in wheezing keyboards and some super distorted fuzz bass.
The second record begins all ethereal and new age, some hushed glimmering ambient drift, near static, before launching into some dubby krautrock, muted and muddy and minimal, flurries of keyboard tangle spray notes at the relentless motorik pulse, still more abstract vox and lots of gorgeously spidery guitars, all tangled up into minor key melodies that seem to fade into the background, the whole record sort of hazy and ghostly, while somehow remaining krauty and dubby. The sidelong final side strips everything away, or piles it all on, blurring and smearing and winding everything into a dense layered drift, looped and hypnotic and psychedelic, that wouldn't sound out of place on a Monopoly Child Star Searchers record. Rad stuff. Thick vinyl, full color gatefold sleeve, and yeah, probably limited.
Some deep and heady devotional vibes from this unlikely dream collaboration of Sun Araw, M Geddes Gendras and reggae legends The Congos for the latest installment of the RVNG label's FRKWYS series. Reminding us of a more churning and lysergic exploration of Dadawah's long form Nyabinghi jams, Icon Give Thank as this disc in the series is titled, turns the standard dub-reggae expectations on their heads and instead offers a strange brew of soft swells, smoky psych drift and oceanic dub interludes, punctuated by the honeyed falsetto vocals of elder statesmen Cedric Myton and Roydel Johnson from Congos. This release has garnered the most divisive stance of the FRKWYS series among us at aQ so far, with some of us considering it one of the better collaborations and for others a squandered opportunity smacking of colonialism. Granted, the sound design relies heavily on the Sun Araw side of the coin, but his approach is hardly "the white boy playing reggae" criticisms this release has occasionally garnered. The sound, for one, hovers hazily in the air like swirling smoke while the grounding bass is pushed back way in the mix instead of anchoring it rhythmically. Each member of the collaboration has come together on the premise of praise and invocation of thanks, making this project a more spiritual concern than just a good-times-get-high-let's-jam together record. By the end of it, we're in a completely different headspace altogether, in reverent clouds of the Divine.
And along with the cd, you get an hour-long dvd disc, called Icon Eye, a travelogue/documentary all about the collaboration process.
How can you resist a dub record called Dial M For Murder, especially when the word 'Murder' is printed in red, and is dripping blood, the album cover a crude sketch of a knife wielding hand stabbing a telephone?? Well, obviously the answer is you can't! But then why would you even want to try? Sadly (or perhaps thankfully for some), the murder theme pretty much stops at the cover art / record title, the music though is pure classic dub, played by a band of reggae dub killers, Sly & Robbie, Tommy McCook, and a host of other legends, recorded at Channel One of course, between 1979-1980, full of woozy basslines, wheezing organs, and kick ass drumming, those drums frequently doused in effects and sent careening into the ether, same with the horns... classic reggae melodies disappear into clouds of echo and reverb, often leaving just the bass, and those drums, low slung, tranced out and grooving. The whole record is pretty tripped out, some serious dub experimentation going on. Maybe not as insanely dubbed out as, say the Bush Chemists, but still seriously dubby, not a song goes by with out the various instruments drifting off, looped and effected into blurred streaks of sound, easily some of the best dub we've heard. And thus WAY recommended.
The dancehall 7"s keep on coming. Reggae mix, b/w hip hop mix.
More Jamican dancehall. Reggae mix, b/w hip hop mix. ----*
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Hip hop remix. Rhythm = "One Minute Man" (Missy Elliott).
Formed in NYC in 1977, the Terrorists were a punk infused reggae/ska band that predated the UK Two Tone movement by two years. Regularly playing such clubs as CBGBs, Max's Kansas City the Terrorists quickly became the darlings of NME and Melody Maker. The recordings here, which feature guest appearances from both Roland Alphonso and Lee Perry, sound a bit dated but may interest those
Don't let the cheesey bargin bin Miami Bass cover art deceive you, this is not a Twilight Circus album to pass up. Dub From The Secret Vaults is a collection of unreleased recordings by Ryan Moore / Twilight Circus bestowed upon Roir for release in part, it would appear, as a way of saying thanks to their having turned him on to such great new music in his youth. This anthology of unheard gems spans Moore's entire Twilight Circus career, with some tracks spanning back 20 years (originally recorded on cassette!) It's actually kind of ironic that whoever chose to do the album's layout would choose such an antithetical collage of images -- CAD renderings of speaker drivers, digital waveform images and strings of ones and zeros -- to visually represent the work of Twilight Circus contained herein. If there's anything that makes Moore stand out from the crowd of modern day dub purveyors its his decidedly traditional and analog approach to making his music. The core of what is contained on Dub From The Vaults is all that we know and love about Twilight Circus: genuinely executed 70's era dub saturated in reverb and anchored in heavy, heavy bass and drums. As a bonus, we're treated to some of the seedlings of dub concepts from a young Ryan Moore (as good, if not better than the wild dub of his fellow young punks!) along with some of new directions for the Twilight Circus Dub Sound System. Highly recommended!
Ryan Moore, our favorite Dutch-by-way-of-Canada dub meister's "best of" collection. With 12 tracks dating back as far as 1995 and on up to the present, this might be a good place to start for those unfamiliar with Twilight Circus. Big and beefy drum sounds, bouncy spring reverb, tape delay super psychedelic and so stoney you'll get a friggin' contact high just listening to some of his shit. And all recorded using vintage analog equipment, the way dub oughta be recorded. Contains tracks from In Dub Volume 1, Horsie, Dub Voyage, Volcanic Dub, and Dub Plates Volumes 1, 2 & 3.
Originally released in 1998 on cd only, Dub Plate Selection is now available on both cd and lp. This is the first volume in Ryan Moore's series of self-reworked material from his earlier releases: "In Dub Vol. 1", "Other Worlds In Dub" and "Binshaker Dub".
Dub machine Ryan Moore returns with yet another collection of rarities, remixes and dub plates -- basically things that have never been available for mass consumption. Once again Moore does not disappoint, proving that he's still the reigning king of dub in the 21st century. Moore uses only the freshest ingredients: hand picked bass lines and live drums heavily cooked in overdriven tube gear and mixed together onto analog tape. It's a sound you just can't get microwaving dubs in a home computer based recording studio, no matter how many software plug-ins you've got.
Dub Plates Volume Two is a collection of reworked dubs (mostly from Horsie and Binshaker Dub) and rarities from Ryan Moore and Twilight Circus, now available at a nice price, lets hope for a while. One thing that I really like about Twilight Circus, and I
Limited edition lp only issue of Twilight Circus' "Dub Voyage". Pressed on 180 gram virgin vinyl.
As 2004 ushers in a broad range of changes, good and bad, so it also brings a brand new collection of Twilight Circus tracks. And for the first time the Circus' ringleader, Ryan Moore, has begun working with vocalists as the two 10"s from late last year anticipated. Along with four of the tracks from the Big Youth and Luciano 10"s, Foundation Rockers includes appearances from Ranking Joe, Brother Culture and Mykal Rose. The different vocalists each bring a very different feeling to the Twilight Circus tracks they sing on. Luciano and Mykal Rose both with their conscious reggae background bring an almost saccharine nu-roots soul vibe to the mix, while Big Youth, Ranking Joe and Brother Culture are straight up DJ era toasters. For those who still prefer the strictly dub side of Twilight Circus there are five tracks included here of the good old Ryan Moore at his best, cranking out some floorboard bending bass and echoey horns. CD comes with two bonus tracks previously released on the two 10"s: Big Youth "Love Dub Remix" and Luciano "What We Gotta Do (Acoustic Mix)".
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
A reissue of this long out of print wonderful dub gem. Twilight Circus is the work of one astoundingly talented man -- Ryan Moore is his name. Mastering each of his chosen instruments (bass, percussion and electronics), his true love and dedication to dub music is obvious. Rich, challenging sounds and rhythms, deep deep rubbery liquid bass. I strongly recommend you get your ears around all Twilight Circus releases starting with this one (they are actually all on his own M label... talk about d.i.y.!). You won't be disappointed. And if you're itchin' for more from Mr. Moore, his talents may also be heard on the new Legendary Pink Dots album as well as past Tear Garden and Download albums. Very, very, very good.
Four tracks: two from Binshaker Dub ("U.K. Steppers" & "Lowell And Nine") on side A and "Beneath the Valley of the Dub" and a remix of "Rocking Dub" from In Dub Vol. 1 on side B. Pressed on delicious red vinyl.
Canadian-in-the-Netherlands dub meister Ryan Moore whom you may have heard performing with the Legendary Pink Dots, Dead Voices on Air or Tear Garden. Ryan - performing all instruments himself - excels in creating modern dub in the mid-seventies King Tubby tradition, avoiding the aseptic trappings of his European comrades. Which isn't to say that Twilight Circus is just a Tubby clone with a spring reverb and tape delay. To be sure, underneath all the over-saturated analog warmth you can still hear the pounding four on the floor dance beat being stifled and the erratic ping pong of percussion is often much more nutty than what one would expect from the Jamaican dub of the seventies. His best album to date!
Here's couple new 10"s from Ryan Moore, a.k.a. Twilight Circus Dub Soundsystem, which can only point to a full length in the works. And since the last thing we've seen from Moore was a best of from almost a year ago, it's about time something new is due. What's perhaps most notable with these new morsels from the Twilight Circus is that for the first time Moore has begun working with vocalists. An interesting choice of vocalists, Moore got a DJ era toaster -- Big Youth -- and a 90's dancehall era singer -- Luciano -- to showcase his contrasting asthetic capabilities as a producer.
Much more traditional of an arrangement than the Luciano cut, "Love Is What We Need" is a rootsy number with -- if not real, very convincing -- drums, horn section, piano, and bass. The 10" features one vocal and three dub versions. The first dub being pretty straight up and unmodified, the second features added instrumentation (mostly in the form of a synth lead replacing the vocals) and the third being a classic effects laden dub.
"What We Gotta Do" features three vocal versions and one dub. Production here is much like other more recent works from Moore. Gone are the loud, live drum sounds of old, in their stead a pumping four on the floor step-sequenced kick and high hat combo. The only exception is the final track, an acoustic version, a slow tempo reworking of the vocal accompanied by acoustic guitar and conga.
Brand new release by the godfather of dancehall and, some argue, rap, the legendary toaster U Roy. Unfortunately, not a very remarkable album though it features some guest appearances by such notables as Horace Andy, Errol Dunkley, Alton Ellis, Sugar Minott, Max Romeo, Sly & Robbie and more. Those unfamiliar with U Roy are better served by picking up Version Galore, or even
Part of me sees the development of the Jamaican DJ as truly bizarre. I try to imagine the Aquarius equivalent with say, our J. Allan Horrocks (who's initials are JAH, coincidentally enough) waxing poetic over The Lord Weird Slough Feg and cutting the tracks
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
I don't know if I have ever heard a bad Trojan compilation. Classic ska, rocksteady, and reggae versions of the theme from "Shaft", "Moon River," "The Magnificent Seven," "Summertime," "From Russia with Love," and more.
Truly dynamite! Yes, it's sooo very true. The third volume of this Soul Jazz Records series is exactly that from start to finish. An extensive array of sounds from Jamaica: ska, dancehall, soul, rocksteady, calypso, funk, and dub. It's all here. The 15 tracks here feature the likes of Prince Buster, Lee Perry, Augustus Pablo, Sister Nancy, Byron Lee, Jackie Mittoo, and more! We also have the first and second volumes ("100%" and "200%") in the series, also great (and also $17.98).
"400% Dynamite" is the fourth and undeniably the best in the series of Jamaican grooves as compiled by Soul Jazz Records. There's the dubbed out dancehall raggamuffin chants from Barrington Levy and Tenor Saw & Buju Bantu (whose cut "Ring The Alarm Quick" may inspire us to venture further into dancehall); the soulful rocksteady of Prince Buster and Toots & The Maytals; the classic early ska sounds of The Cimerons. Come to think of it, there's not a single track here which isn't fantastic. I don't even think we can say that about those universally loved Trojan compilations!
From the single most popular series of compilations of Jamaican music comes the highly anticipated fifth volume: 500% Dynamite. It seems as though, with every consecutive release in this series we sell more and more of them. It could be a snowball effect of
Volume 6 in Soul Jazz's never-ending x(100)% Dynamite series. 17 tracks picked by Soul Jazz's own soundsystem DJ's including a version of the dancehall classic "Under Mi Sensi" reworked by Alozade And Hollow Point, Yabby You's "Conquering Lion", Johnny Osbourne's "Budy Bye", Tenor Saw's "Golden Hen", Sister Nancy's "Transport Connection" and more. We can't say this one's better than the last percenter, but if you've got all the previous volumes and love them, this one's not going to disappoint.
A prime example of Trojan's strange marketing tactics. With the exception of a couple songs on volume two, all of the tracks on the two "Adults Only" cds are available for a much better price point, with a lot more tracks included, on the Trojan X-Rated Box Set. Kind of odd that they would reissue these discs just after assembling that collection, but I guess they gotta keep busy somehow.
