Blackbeard

While I've been listening to Dennis Bovell for years, it's also taken me years to realize it. In addition to recording numerous dub albums in which he plays the majority of the instruments, he also produced The Slits, The Pop Group and played alongside Linton Kwesi Johnson, producing the "LKJ in Dub" LP. I was a bit oblivious to his influence until I picked up the Pressure Sounds compilation and found this "I Wah Dub" LP recently. Bovell has done a great job of bridging the gap between reggae and new wave dub, tying the 70's to the 80's and really helping propel dub in a lasting direction. Here's the first track from "I Wah Dub" from 1980, complete with Polymoog...

Electrocharge by Dennis Bovell

MORE ARTHUR BAKER 80'S POP REMIXES

Props to my Blackcrackers for these additional recommendations:



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Bruuuuuuuce!!! (and Arthur Baker?!...)

This overdue blog entry is for my old man who took me to my first concert ever 25 years ago this month. It was the Bruce Springsteen "Born in the U.S.A" tour at beautiful Alpine Valley, a natural outdoor amphitheater in Southern Wisconsin. Now Bruce is Bruce and most output after that period I could care less about, but watching him and the E-Street Band play for four hours set the standard pretty high for the rest of my concert-going days...
And for all of you Bruce non-believers, you need to start believing. The cult of celebrity may have caught up with him a little, but he had a lot to say on records like "The River", "Born to Run" and "Born in the U.S.A." Little did I know that he collaborated with Arthur Baker for a disco dub 12" of "Cover Me". Props to my deep diggin' roomie for discovering this 12" for fifty cents at Academy. No one I know knows of this and even if you don't like Bruce, this is a fun record that some of you Serrato heads will enjoy dropping this summer.
The first mix is more of a remix...
Bruce Springsteen "Cover Me (Undercover Dub)"
... and the dubs are more nutty and both worth a listen...
Bruce Springsteen "Cover Me (Dub Mix 1)"
Bruce Springsteen "Cover Me (Dub Mix 2)"
Thanks Pappy!

Police in Helicopters...

While somehow managing to miss seeing Rusko, 2562, Starkey, a Dutty Artz party and a Blackkat party all in a matter of 72 hours, I did manage to seek solace in this newly discovered Rusko white label from 6 months ago. This should be released again!

2008 RE/discoveries

In lieu of a year-end top-ten list, here's a few tracks from rare LPs I found while digging around Brooklyn. I listened to a lot of Dubstep and its attendant offshoots this year, but also re-discovered a lot of old dub, world and free musics I hadn't heard in ages... plus old jungle has been popping up all over Youtube... It has also begun to be a diggers' paradise with everyone now thinning out immense collections, sacrificed to the Almighty Serrato. Next entry will be my fave Youtube cuts from last year. Now for the re/discovered:

More of a newly discovered track, I've decided this was my most-often spun track of 2008. It's buried on the B-side of The Bug's "Poison Dart remix" 12" which is way sold-out and still worth hunting for the Skream remix on the A-side...
"Stampin" by The Bug Ft. Flowdan

Rumor is some record exec. sold a load of unsealed or unplayed vinyl to Academy Records. It was all '50's and 60's world musics, collections from Iran, Iraq, Syria, India and on and on. I paid a pretty penny for some of these and have been rewarded kindly. This track is from the Decca LP "The Syrian Maqams."
"Taqsim on Nay" by Badruddin Halibie

I was happy to buy a sealed copy of the "2 Bad Mice" double LP from Smile Communications founder DB himself. I was also happy to see digital collections of the early Reinforced dubplates. Made me pull out my old CD of 4-Hero's "Parallel Universe" LP...
"Terraforming" by 4 Hero

I found some great dub, random copies of 70's gems still popping up in Brooklyn warehouses. This is from Big Youth's "Dread Locks Dread" LP...
"Big Youth Special" by Big Youth

I can imagine Obama in this Lower East Side loft in '72. He probably ditched the Panama hat by then, but was still smoking something, nodding his head in ecstatic peace to Andrew Cyrille, Maono, David Ware et al.... Notice the electronics by a Mr. Romulus Franceschini toward the end. From the "Celebration" LP by Andrew Cyrille and Maono:
"Non-Expectation Celebration" by Andrew Cyrille and Maono