NiceUp Mix Series 2020

Castrum discovered sound system culture in 2011, at a Pressure Roots Hi Fi night in Falmouth. He has been selecting and collecting around the UK and Europe over the last 4 years and recently moving around New Zealand and Japan. He also spends time behind the camera, filming events and documenting the scene. 

He has worked for many sound systems along the way, including the legendary Channel One Sound System. 

Castrum brings positive vibes with no compromise, from rootical foundations to modern day masterpieces. He says 'We are here to break down barriers and mash down Babylon. One love to each and everyone for tuning in. Guidance, growth and gratitude'.

More info:
www.facebook.com/CastrumProductions

Castrum Mix for NiceUp

6FtSTIX aka STIX of Rise & Shine Rockers and Majestic Roots Sound System was formally introduced to sound system culture back in 2011. Experiencing Aba-Shanti-I at the junction of Southern & East Row, W10, London ignited the fire. From there the education, research and record collecting began. 

After moving back to his hometown of Tauranga, Bay of Plenty he and Amelio-B formed Rise & Shine Rockers in 2016. The crew played sessions every now and then until the summer of 2019 - 2020, when the pace was picked up with a busy summer and gigs across the Bay of Plenty. Over this summer period he was also welcomed into the Majestic Roots crew with Mikey Majestic.

Stix says, ‘For this mix I’ve taken a selection of my favourite tunes that I’ve played out over the summer. It’s a very approachable selection with out trying to go deep and obscure. These songs always brought the vibes particularly at the Voodoo Lounge 'At The Dub Market' sessions in Mt Maunganui. Big up NiceUp Aotearoa for the opportunity to present a mix.’

More info:
www.facebook.com/riseandshinerockers/

Tracklist:
Intro taken from the film ‘Yardie’ (2018).
1. At The Dub Market - Tommy McCook & The Agrovators
2. Funky Reggae - Tommy McCook
3. Gunga Din - Rico
4. Natural Progression - Aswad
5. Great Tribulation - Hugh Mundell
6. Music Is My Desire (Discomix) - Pablo Moses
7. Feel Good - Norris Reid
8. Give A Little Loving - Barry Brown & Stama Rank
9. Mystic Music - Hard Rock
10. None Shall Escape The Judgement - Earl Zero & The Soul Syndicate
11. Too Much Confusion - S.E.B. (Soul Explosion Band)
12. All The Love Is Gone - Monyaka
13. Rock And Come On Ya - Johnny Osbourne & Pappa Tullo
14. Soul Vibration - The Teacher
15. Jungle Lion - The Upsetter
16. Return Of Django - The Upsetter
17. We Are Neighbours - David Isaacs
18. Smoking My Ganja - Capital Letters
19. Express Yourself - Leroy Sibbles
20. Bobby Bobylon - Freddie McGregor
21. If You Ask Me - Leon Dinero
22. Bandits - Screechy Dan
23. Uptown Top Ranking - Althea & Donna
24. Ina Jah Children - Dhaima
25. It Dread In A Rome - Larry Marshall
26. Golden Hen - Tenor Saw
27. Zunguzung (Discomix) - Yellowman
28. Spark It - Quantic ft. Shinehead
29. Vinyl Lover - JonnyGo Figure
30. Fussin N’ Fightin - DJ Vadim ft. Demolition Man
31. Incredible (Wrongtom Remix) - General Levy
32. Who Knows (ShyFX Remix) - Protoje ft. Chronixx

All vinyl selection. 
Hardware setup: 2x Technics SL-1200MK2, Allen & Heath XOne:92 Mixer, Klementz Audio NJD Siren and Dub Delay combined unit.

Rise & Shine Rockers - At The Dub Market, Best of Summer 2019 - 20

The Shady Lady AKA Carrie has been rocking dancefloors and airwaves all over Aotearoa since 2003, with her fresh blend of skank-based selections ranging from deep old Jamaican dubs through to rocksteady, tropical bass, dancehall, bouncy hip-hop and digital skank. Always keeping to the bass culture tip of things. 

Favouring outdoor parties with heavyweight speaker stacks, Carrie knows how to read a floor, mash up a sound and doesn’t shy away from dropping a few crowd-pleasers along the way.

Carrie says,‘Women are so underrepresented in the New Zealand music, festival, DJ and reggae scenes. We've got to keep pushing for equal representation in line-ups and actively create more opportunities for women to play their styles out there. So all the lil future DJ gyal dem can see us paving the way.’

More info:
@theshadylady
www.facebook.com/theshadyladyaotearoa

The Shady Lady Mix for NiceUp - Take Up Space

In the early 90's I had a notion to learn the bass guitar. As reggae has always had the best basslines, I bought a cassette of Lee Perry and the Upsetters 'Blackboard Jungle Dub' from Real Groovy, in the vain hope that I could teach myself to play the bass. The bass sat idle while my reggae collection started to expand.

Around the mid 90's I was listening to Duncan Campbell's 'Sound system' show on bFM, playing reggae on a Sunday. A short time later I discovered Dubhead's show too. There were certain dub tunes that really made an impression on me and from there I started my journey into seriously collecting reggae music. Dub versions included in this mix such as King Tubby's 'Harder Dub' and the iconic Scientist albums such as 'Big Showdown' were mixed unlike anything I'd heard.

Skip forward a few years to 1998. The Roots Foundation with Danny Lemon played a dance at a church hall in Auckland and a track list of his selections was passed out. I still have that list, and some of the tunes are featured in this mix. Danny was, and still is a big inspiration.

Dub and reggae have been my passion for more than 25 years and when I was putting this mix together, I recalled visits to Camden Lock in London where I'd buy cassette mixtapes. Often live sessions or dub mixes put together by Gaffa Blue who still produces and distributes reggae music in the U.K.

This selection is strictly dub wise - in the spirit of those mixtapes.

More info on Mikey Majestic - https://www.facebook.com/majesticsoundsystem.nz

Track listing
Intro: Clint Eastwood
African Brothers - Righteous Version (Black Roots)
Eek-A-Mouse - Creation Dub (Eek-A-Mouse Records)
Millions - Love of Jah Jah Children Version (Typhoon)
Michael Rose - Freedom Dub (Observer)
Glen Brown - Zion Dub (South East Music)
Rafiel - Spirit of 77 version (Weed of Wisdom)
Ras Norris - Revelation (Magnum Force)
Tyrone Taylor - Life Table Version (Wolf)
Everal Cooper and the High Two - Help out This Nation Dub (Songhai)
Jacob Miller - Stop Them Jah (Pablo International Dubplate)
Keithus I - Dread A Rule Dub (Jah Dynasty)
Winston Fergus - Long Time Dub (Trojan)
Steve Baswell - I Am Getting Bad Version (Phase One)
Al Campbell - Crucial Bunny Version (Yard Music)
Simeons - Jah Rastafari Dub (Roots Traders)
Anthony Johnson - Africa Dub (Thompson Sound)
The Revolutionaries - Ghetto Dub (Revolutionary Sounds)
Mikey Dread - Yoruba Dub (D.A.T.C.)
Christine - Saturday Night Dub (Observer)

Mikey Majestic Mix For NiceUp

NiceUp promotes reggae and bass culture in Aotearoa, New Zealand. We run the crucial Kiwi reggae portal NiceUp.org.nz and promote loads of gigs and events.

NiceUp Mix Series 2020

NiceUp Crew