Push Push

Little Things (feat. Birdy Nixon)

Taken from the upcoming Glitterbeat Records album:
VARIOUS ARTISTS: DUBS & VERSIONS I
Release date: October 17th 2014

Dennis Bovell: Aye Go Mila Dubwize. One of the most revered dub and reggae producers, Dennis has been making his mark on contemporary music for over 40 years. Born in Barbados, Bovell moved to south London at the age of 12 and became deeply immersed in the emerging roots, lovers rock and soundsystem cultures. He spearheaded seminal British reggae acts like Linton Kwesi Johnson and Matumbi and was also notably involved in the late 70’s post-punk scene as producer for The Slits, The Pop Group and Orange Juice. In 2012, Dennis released the dub collection Mek It Run.

Samba Toure: Aye Go Mila (Album: “Albala” / May 2013). Samba is a legend of northern Malian music. As a member of the touring ensembles for both Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate, Samba gained musical experience and perspective that he brought together famously on his acclaimed third album Albala. A meditation on Mali’s humanitarian and political crisis, Folk Roots wrote that Albala “is a record full of passion, eloquence and incredible music.”


It can’t be much of a surprise that Glitterbeat would eventually assemble a collection of dubs and versions of songs by our artists. Our very first release in the spring of 2013 was a 500-piece limited edition 12” where two tracks from the Malian Afro-rock newcomer Ben Zabo were given an inspired dub treatment by legendary Berlin producer Mark Ernestus (Rhythm & Sound, Jeri Jeri). Those two tracks are included here as well as eight other reinterpretations from our growing catalog.

Having had the privilege of working with each of the Malian artists remixed for this album (Tamikrest, Ben Zabo, Samba Toure, Aminata Wassidje Traore & Lobi Traore) we can safely say that this project will not seem as strange to them as one might assume. In contemporary Malian music, reggae plays a fundamental role and nearly every electric based band we have encountered in Bamako and beyond incorporates at least some reggae elements into their sound. Also the rapid, ubiquitous rise of Hip Hop in Mali has brought samples, remixes and programming into the direct orbit of the country’s urban musicians. And in the dusty, open lots of Bamako’s sprawling neighborhoods, the music that one most frequently encounters being performed is Balani, a sort of Malian variant of dancehall, where laptop electronic beats and declamatory “toasting” are combined with samples of balafons and other traditional instruments. Balani is by definition a remix-generated music.

Bringing together the different mixers with the songs of the original artists was an exciting process. Our choices of who to invite rose intuitively out our record collections and our personal networks and almost every mixer that we approached thankfully accepted the invitation. 

Mark Ernestus was asked to fashion our original 12” not only because of our deep love for his work with the abstract dub duo Rhythm & Sound but also because of his albums in collaboration with Jeri Jeri, the Senegalese sabar group. Dubmaster Dennis Bovell’s work with Linton Kwesi Johnson, The Pop Group and Orange Juice has been a big part of our personal soundtracks for more than thirty years. His recent dub album, Mek It Run, is a killer. We were introduced to the South African Nozinja via his infectious Shangaan Electro productions. Honest Jons released an excellent remix album (Shangaan Shake) of his tracks and we thought it fitting that he join our remix dialogue. We stumbled upon the British-Ghanaian performance, visual and musical artist Larry Achiampong’s self-released LP More Mogya and were excited by its mashup of palm wine and high life samples with Hip Hop beats. We have been fans of Mark Stewart all the way back to his days in the seminal post-punk band The Pop Group, but it was his recent dub album Exorcism of Envy that really caught our collective ear. The intricate afro-techno of Harmonius Thelonious is by definition a sort of West African music remix project, and he seemed a perfect choice to invite. Rounding off the list of mixers is our old friend Dirk Dresselhaus AKA Schneider TM whose wide-open musical obsessions have embraced indie rock, analog electronics, improvisation and field recordings. He recently journeyed to Mali and Burkina Faso to study balafon music. 

With the finished master of this album right now echoing from our speakers we are already thinking about Glitterbeat: Dubs & Versions volume II. Can’t wait.

++Chris Eckman & Peter Weber: Glitterbeat Records

www.glitterbeat.com

Dennis Bovell - Aye Go Mila Dubwize

Happy Halloween!  On "Black Ark Vampires" Lee "Scratch" Perry & Subatomic Sound System have crafted a throbbing sound-man tune propelled by subsonic bass, bubbling skanks, and pulsing beats that balance the murky and mystical vibes of Perry’s classic Jamaican dub reggae recordings with the flammable energy and bass vibrations of current electronic music, fine tuning a recipe that they have slow cooked throughout their last four years of U.S. tours spreading authentic dub to a new generation in places like Coachella, Dub Champions Festival, and Red Bull Music Academy. Lyrically the track features Perry’s most focused lyrics in a decade, a poignant oath of vengeance against the vampires that corrupted the ark of the covenant and forced him to burn down his famed Black Ark studio, told in comical rhymes that echo the cadence of a Dr. Seuss story coupled with the morbidity of Edgar Allan Poe, promising the details of where, when, and how he will kill these vampires, from Kingston to London to New York City and everywhere; vampires beware; he will kill them with his hair, with fire, with electric wire, and even with roast corn. Melodically the tune packs soaring vampire hooks, spiritual vocal choirs, groaning melodica bursts, and even a few lines from dancehall vocalist Jahdan Blakkamoore, produced and recorded by Emch at his Subatomic Sound laboratory in NYC. Scratch’s vocals were recorded in Brooklyn at the Hook Studio after an NYC performance with the production assistance of On-U Sound’s legendary Adrian Sherwood, producer of some of Perry’s finest post-Jamaica recordings. The session was filmed by a Dubspot video crew after a long drive through NYC during which Perry recounted the better part of his life story as a warm up for the session.

At the age of 78, Lee "Scratch" Perry has built a life based as much on his fame as a reggae and dub inventor who exhibited boundless creativity and innovation in music composition and production, as he has on his reputation as a madman with playful wit, a propensity for lighting things on fire, a natural mystical spirituality that he famously introduced to Bob Marley, and his defiant individuality and commitment to personal freedom. "Black Ark Vampires" brilliantly ties together these divergent characteristics to create classic Lee "Scratch" Perry material on all levels.

Perry loves to dance and loves dancehall. His nickname actually comes from the name of dance he invented called Chicken Scratch. During his tours with Subatomic Sound System, Scratch had a voracious appetite for hearing new sounds and was interested in the "Vampires & Informers" dubstep track Subatomic Sound System had produced for dancehall vocalist Elephant Man. Perry began performing on the riddim live which led to developing the lyrics for Black Ark Vampires and Subatomic developing a riddim for Perry that captured his vibes. Though Perry is known for seldom giving straight answers and many have wondered if he really burned down the Black Ark studio, Emch from Subatomic Sound System says that one night after performing a show in California, he and percussionist Larry McDonald, a Black Ark studio veteran, were talking backstage when Scratch told them the reasons for his own longevity: "Stress will kill you. That’s why I had to burn down the Black Ark." He said the popularity of the studio had attracted the vampires who came to suck him dry and corrupted the magic of Black Ark, but rather than let that slowly destroy him like a cancer, he chose to close the book on that chapter of his life and move on by torching the studio and making an exodus to the UK leaving the vampires with nothing but the ashes.

THE ARTISTS: Grammy winning reggae and dub inventor Lee "Scratch" Perry is a living legend, one of Jamaica’s most prolific producers and a true original with a spirit that has defined and influenced countless artists across genres and generation, decades of great Jamaican artists from Bob Marley to Max Romeo, punk rockers The Clash, The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards, The Orb, The Beastie Boys, Paul McCartney, Kode9, and the list goes on. At 78 he continues to tour, record, and paint incessantly.

Spearhead by producer, DJ, and instrumentalist Emch, NYC’s Subatomic Sound System is leading a dub music renaissance, founders of the US & Europe Dub Champions Festival, 4 years acting as the live band for legend Lee "Scratch" Perry on tours including Coachella & Red Bull Music Academy; plus independently touring North America, Europe, and Asia, and for a decade producing flavors ranging from classic dub to dubstep.

THE SUBATOMIC SOUND LABEL: Subatomic Sound specializes in limited edition exclusive vinyl releases that push the envelope of dub, reggae, & dancehall in the context of electronic bass music through forward sounding productions and unlikely collaborations with icons such as Lee "Scratch" Perry, David Lynch, Anthony B, Elephant Man, Ari Up of The Slits, as well as new school torchbearers like Dubblestandart, Jahdan Blakkamoore, Dub Gabriel, and many more. Subatomic Sound actively produces events and founded the annual Dub Champions Festival running 4 years in the USA and Europe. Subatomic Sound Radio airs on Brooklyn Radio and for three years ran on KEXP’s Radio New York, 91.5FM broadcast which transmitted to a footprint of 11 million listeners.

Lee Scratch Perry & Subatomic Sound System "Black Ark Vampires" vinyl 45 mix

Noiseshaper - We Love Reggae

U-Rie Produce Payoh SoulRebel canta y tú esperamos que lo disfrutes.IRIE!!

New Day

Derajah - Who Yeah Yah

I'm Missing You

Blend Mishkin  Roots Evolution - Original (feat. Skarra Mucci  Mandinka Warrior) [Nice Up!].mp3

“Hello, Hell is very low, and Heaven is very, very high” – Lee Scratch Perry

SUBATOMIC SOUND presents “CHROME OPTIMISM” 12" vinyl (SS012)
DUBBLESTANDART meets DAVID LYNCH & LEE ‘SCRATCH’ PERRY
<b>Vinyl: JUNO http://www.juno.co.uk/ppps/products/392805-01.htm
Digital: iTunes http://bit.ly/itchr2</b>

In 2008, NYC based Subatomic Sound teamed up with Vienna’s dub masters Dubblestandart to begin a series of limited edition 12” vinyl exclusives that brought together iconic originators in the history of dub reggae with the gritty underground vibes of the dubstep movement.The lead 12”, “Iron Devil”, included the first ever dubstep tracks from both Lee Scratch Perry and Prince Far-I, produced in collaboration with Dubblestandart and remixed by Subatomic Sound System and Paris’ Tom Watson.Released on hand stamped vinyl in vintage Jamaican jackets, “Iron Devil” disappeared from shelves worldwide in less than a week. In 2009, the follow up vinyl was dedicated to an explosive pairing of Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry with rising Brooklyn dancehall reggae star Jahdan Blakkamoore that revisited Perry’s ‘70s classic “Blackboard Jungle” off the seminal album of the same name, a cornerstone of dub reggae that featured Scratch and King Tubby at the controls.A shot heard round the world, this collaboration culminated that July with a capacity concert in NYC’s Central Park with Lee Perry, Dubblestandart, Subatomic Sound System, & Jahdan Blakkamoore.

The third 12” in the series is entitled “Chrome Optimism” and on this release Dubblestandart brings together the most unbelievable combination yet, a world class summit of mad genius: Jamaican dub originator Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry together with iconic American filmmaker David Lynch, plus as an added bonus, famed French avant garde composer Jean-Michel Jarre. On “Chrome Optimism”, Scratch exercises his inimitable gift to juxtapose spirituality with humor through wordplay that walks a line between nonsense and profundity: “Hello, Hell is very low and Heaven is very, very high!”David Lynch responds with equally mind twisting metaphors like “Euphoric, chrome optimism” and mantras like “The ideas tell you how they want to be”, describing his powerful experience and obsession with transcendental meditation.The otherworldy melody from Jean-Michel Jarre’s famous composition “Oxygen Part 4” floats over the top. Vienna’s Dubblestandart, NYC’s Subatomic Sound System, & Bristol’s RSD switch up the musical vibes beneath, moving from hard charging dubstep to Perry’s classic dub reggae to spacey soundscapes typical of Lynch & Jarre aesthetics.

The “Chrome Optimism” vinyl EP features two remixes from Subatomic Sound System, kicking off the A side with the first, a bombastic distorted sub-bass heavy beast that threatens to define a new genre somewhere between dubstep, dub reggae, and the twisted ambience of David Lynch’s film scores. Dubblestandart counters with a deep and minimal downtempo dub version of “Chrome Optimism” that balances on a line between a wide open David Lynch film soundtrack, the wild sound experimentalism of Perry, and Jarre’s out of body ambient melodies.
The B side of “Chrome Optimism” kicks back in full force with originator of the Bristol, UK dubstep scene, producer RSD (also known as Rob Smith of Smith & Mighty) delivering a hard hitting remix of the Perry & Dubblestandart track “I Do Voodoo”, a guaranteed sureshot to satisfy the UK dubstep crowd.Following RSD is a second Subatomic Sound System remix that brings it back to Perry’s Superape era for a rootical dubstep relick of his tune with Dubblestandart entitled “Deadly Funny” (originally also on the “Chrome Optimism” riddim), but this time revisting his classic 70s style, adding not only the ghost of Augustus Pablo on melodica, but also drums and bass big and bad enough knock out a dubstep club crowd.


Dubblestandart, David Lynch, & Lee Scratch Perry - Chrome Optimism (album radio mix) FREE DOWNLOAD!

**2ND ON JUNO'S BEST OF 2014 REGGAE CHARTS!

*Originals tunes:
Barrington Levy - Hypocrites
Jurassic 5 - Whats Golden


JUNO

Hypocrites

MRBiGK - old time lover
(ft. solo banton)
seven riddim mashup

vox: solo banton - old time something
riddim: macro beats - seven riddim
re-edit by http://soundcloud.com/mrbigk

Blend Mishkin Roots Evolution - Original (feat. Skarra Mucci Mandinka Warrior) [Nice Up!].mp3

Diego Delega