Lee “Scratch” Perry – Rainford

Lee  “Scratch” Perry is responsible for at least three of my very favourite ever pieces of music.

One of the best things about getting older – and you’d be surprised how many best things there are about getting older, given the bad press it gets amongst da yoof – is that you can have as many favourite ever songs as you damn well want. Anyone trying to get me to narrow it down to some arbitrary number would just get told to naff off, though maybe less politely, followed by a diatribe about place, mood, environment, memory, etc. You can have as many favourite songs ever as you want, you know.

On this album that I wasn’t expecting, the great man is teamed with On-U-Sound, the great Adrian Sherwood. Now, other favourite songs ever have issued forward from this stable and its denizens., meaning that you could be forgiven for expecting great things from this, pre-loading an expectation on the thing before you’ve even given it a listen.

Fortunately, their shoulders are broad enough. There is much substance here, and with enough listens, I may even have some additions to me favourite ever songs.

 

Idris Ackamoor and the Pyramids – An Angel Fell

I’m a stranger in my head
on the ghost of a ladder
climbing a false promise

Somehow I always knew it would come down to this: me and you
and a random number generator

It may look like one, but it’s NOT an exit

The villains leg is twitching
and it makes the cat nervous
but it’s not allowed to move
because the camera is still on
there’s rules you have to serve
when you want the freshest tuna

 

Nat Birchall – Sounds Almighty

I looked for you
And I found me
What a disappointment that was
I had to try again to become lost
So I looked for me
And I found you

From the perspective of a man hanging from a tree, by any limb, if necessary: the world goes by withall wherewithout, changing only according to the colour and the contour of the eye. A concave statement, when applied to a complex bio-lens instrument, shall be interred by deferment, a symbol of which is your lassitude. I wish you well, the tree is my protector, the tree is my anchor, the tree is my mantra and will put me up, for sale. When all I feel is falling, all is what I’ll be.

A minimalist in all but execution

I took my clothes off
Oh!
You meet so many people

Mystical Steppa – Dub Vibrations

It’s been too long since I put some dub on here (sheesh, nearly a year) 😮

So I’ve got the week off work, which means my kiddies are staying with me, which means I have to be more within the real world than when they’re not staying with me. Their preferred methods of entertainment are, sadly, youtube gamer related, but when they turn these things off and play with actual toys,  I choose to fill the interludes with educational sound seeds. Hopefully they’ll seep in to their unconcscious minds and spring forth in later life.

Dub is one such seed. Your mileage may vary, and my children’s certainly does, but a groove is a groove, and these are some fine grooves. Like all dub, there is a high emphasis on consciousness – you’ll find it in the spaces. And like all dub, there isn’t a lot of description that I can give that wouldn’t be better experienced by actually listening to the thing.

Mixpost 2: dub-bergs

I mentioned in passing the idea of doing a dub mix post, which is a silly idea.

Most truth started life as an outrageous claim. The outrageous claim for this tune is that it is the first ever dub 45. Maybe it is?

Which Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry song to choose?

Fuck it, I’ll cheat and give him a sort of second appearance:

Those of you who have the compilation mindset (if you have, you know what that means; if you don’t know what that means, you haven’t) will have your own versions of this – a song that may not necessarily ever reach an all time top-50 if forced to name one at gun-point, but nevertheless is always in contention for your next mixtape. This one was one of those for about 10 years for me, from the compilation album that did so much to get me into dub, Crooklyn Dub Consortium vol II:

Another one from the Certified Dope vol II album. This samples a King Tubby tune called Dub Fever:

I do believe I may have mentioned this song before:

I could go on for ages, but my PC is old and laggy and I’m really killing it now. I’ll therefore finish with a bit of French electroclash, from the 2005 compilation French Dub system 2.0:

Fuck it, here’s one more… the rather good Alpha & Omega:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dub Foundation – March Forth

I likes me some dub. Because I don’t know why, I haven’t listened to much over the last few years. I used to listen to it really quite often. Many of my favourite ever tracks come under this banner. (hmmmmm considers dub mixpost)

Dub Foundation are a 10 piece live dub band based in Wisconsin. They make some really groovy dub tunes that are quite feel-good in their style even if they are singing about the crises of youth. Music like this is the reason that descriptors such as ‘crucial,’ ‘irie,’ and ‘righteous’ started getting applied to music, or at least, that is my understanding of music history. And also they remind me ever so slightly of ex-punker Burning Babylon.

the bandcamp is here: https://dubfoundation.bandcamp.com/album/march-forth

the album is on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHLzak7J068