Known internationally as for the depth of their dubplate box, their innovative way to approach reggae soundclashes and dancehall shows, the italian dubplate masters better known as Heavy Hammer Sound consist of a team of deejays and mcs that travels the globe playing reggae, dancehall, dubstep and hip hop music.

Esthablished in 1999 in a small city near Lecce in Salento, an hot area of south Italy called by many “the italian Jamaica”, the formula born as four friends united by the love for reggae dancehall music and jamaican culture, a sound system, and some crazy dancehall parties in front of the sea until sunlight.

Starting from first dances in Salento area the crew is soon booked in all main italian cities including Rome, Milan, Turin, Catanzaro, Florence, Bologne, playing in every italian region often in historical yards for italian reggae scene, as well as outside of Italy, touring the whole Europe and UK with also gigs in USA, Jamaica and Japan, including performances in international festivals like Rototom Sunsplash (Spain), Bielawa Festival (Poland), Maremoto Festival, Salento Summer Festival and Gusto Dopa Al Sole (Italy) just to name a few.

The sound had the chance to plays alongside the main names in the reggae business like Sentinel, Heartical, Rodigan, Soundquake, Black Chiney, Tony Matterhorn, Killamanjaro, King Addies, Coppershot, Ricky Trooper, Black Cat and with almost all italian sounds such as Gramigna, Ishence, Ital Sound, Dancehall Soldiers, Yaga Yaga, Bass Fi Mass, One Love, opening concerts of artist like Buju Banton, Cocoa Tea, Michael Rose, Alborosie, Shaggy, Romain Virgo, Ward 21 and many more.

Heavy Hammer is also the resident sound in the biggest italian summer yard, Mamanera Beach in S.Foca near Lecce, where the parties on the beach during summer season are usually attended by 4000-5000 people, sharing the turntables the best names in the reggae business like Tony Matterhorn, Black Chiney, Ricky Trooper, Coppershot, Pow Pow, Sentinel, Supersonic, Ward21, Romain Virgo, TOK, Baby Cham, Morgan Heritage, Perfect, Cecile, just to name a few, playing reggae music until the morning lights.

SOUNDCLASHES ||

In 2007 the crew win his first official dubplate clash, killing in Rome the Rome-based Love Massive in front of 1200 people; the audio of the clash become right away a classic for clash fanatics and get an istant fame even outside of italians borderlines, even if the clash is all italian-talked, declaring Heavy Hammer one of the more dangerous italian soundkillers.
Few years later in 2010, the crew touch down in Stuttgart, Germany to win the trophy of World War 3 Soundclash, a stricly dubplate war against Deebuzz from Germany, Captain C (ex Mighty Crown selector) from Japan, and Ruffpack from Switzerland.
Just a matter of days is booked to represent Italy in the Riddim Clash 2010 the european n.1 international soundclash – that take place in Dusseldorf, Germany alongside sounds like Citylock from Germany, Guiding Star from France, Rootsman from Canada, Poison Dart from Antigua and Blunt Posse from New York; after winning all rounds Heavy Hammer brings for the first time the RiddimClash throphy to Italy killing Blunt Posse in the dub fi dub segment, giving to Heavy Hammer the world fame.
During 2011 and 2012 the crew has travelled the world to represent Italy and Europe in sound wars: they started joing in the world temple known as Amazura in New York, the world clash called Sound Fi Dead alongside sounds like Bass Odissey, Black Cat, Synemax and Tek 9: after a strong performance the crew wins the second round point and then end up at the dub fi dub with Bass Odissey placing at the 2nd place in their first clash in New York.
Just a week later they come back in europe in a one-to-one clash in Wuppertal, Germany, against the Florida’ notorious Poison Dart, moving to Jamaica few months later in april to join the Irish&chin’ Worldclash R.E.S.E.T., facing off sounds like Killamanjaro, Bass Odissey, Black Blunt, Black Cat, Rootsman and Code Red; Even if that’s the first time the Hammers touch down in the island they reach the third place, giving up only after a well discussed 4th round with Bass Odissey and Jaro.
It’s not over yet, during summertime Heavy Hammer fly to Japan for the Japan Soundclash Tour – the 1st one ever by a european sound – for 10 days of soundclashes and dubplate showcases winning every show, from Osaka to Fukuoka, Yokohama, Okayaman, Hyogo and more places.
The 2012 closes with the performance at Global Clash 2012 in Brooklyn, New York, where the sound face off King Addies, Soul Supreme, Risky Dice from Japan, King Klepto from Canada and Madd Squadd from Jamaica.

Heavy Hammer crew now is made of eight members: Raffa, Gecky, Gigi, Kwasta, Jangio, Lep, Boris and Charly.
More than a decade inna di business, collaborations with the most important reggae artists and worldwide selectors, hundreds of dancehalls and stages, as well as the unique dubplate box are the elements that give to the Heavy Hammer shows something exclusive that cant be easily repeated.  The dubplate masters from Italy are ready anytime to mash up your party!

OTHER PROJECTS ||

While handling the sound, Heavy Hammer crew has created or contributed to some of most important projects to develope sound system and reggae culture in Italy.
In 2001 they created www.heavyhammer.it, where togheter with the sound information and agenda there has been for years a huge collection of projects for speaker boxes, from scoop bins to nowadays stuff to build a sound system, togheter with technical infos, suggestions and tips; the website is named as the start point of many sound systems now active in italy.
From 2003 to 2008 the crew worked for www.bashment.it, that for some years has been the leading web portal for dancehall and soundclash culture in the italian area, with reports from soundclashes, articles, dubplate sessions and all concerning the dancehall and soundclashes culture.
In 2003 Heavy Hammer Dubplate Studio see the lights in the north of italy, followed soon by twin studio in the south. With over 40’000 tracks recorded and over 500 artists passed on the mics, Heavy Hammer Dubplate Studios are an established international dubplate link that built solid links and collaborations worldwide, working with top sounds from all over the world as with upcoming crews, recording upcoming and world famous artists, in some cases as exclusive dubplate agent for Europe.

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Official SoundCloud account for Blue Note Records
www.bluenote.com

New York City's Easy Star Records has produced three of the best-selling and trendsetting reggae albums around - the Easy Star All-Stars' Dub Side of the Moon, Radiodread and Easy Star's Lonely Hearts Dub Band - while building an international brand and roster that has come to signify quality and class.

The independent label has created an impressive body of work that includes those above-mentioned in-house productions, along with progressive recordings from envelope-pushing acts like Protoje, Jesse Royal, John Brown's Body, The Skints, The Black Seeds, Rebelution, Passafire, Backbeat Soundsystem, Gentleman's Dub Club, Cas Haley, New Kingston, The Expanders, Lila Ike, The Late Ones, Marcus Gad, Tommy T, JonQuan and Ticklah; reissues of classic reggae from the vaults of Sugar Minott and Linval Thompson; new music from reggae legends The Meditations and Sister Carol; and collaborations with international reggae stars like Matisyahu,  Michael Rose, U Roy, Luciano, Anthony B, Christofer Martin and Morgan Heritage.

Easy Star has steadily built a scene that extends in many directions, following any path where reggae leads, bringing together young producers and musicians, reggae stars, and even artists outside the genre who have been influenced by Jamaican music, like Citizen Cope, blues musician/musicologist Corey Harris, Janelle Monáe, Jason Mraz and Kelly Clarkson.

The label manages its in-house musical collective/touring band The Easy Star All-Stars, who have played in over 30 countries on 6 continents. Dub Side of the Moon, Radiodread, Lonely Hearts and Thrillah have formed the backbone of a growing franchise of reggae re-inventions of classic albums; the band is at work on the next installment, targeted for 2022.

Easy Star has also developed a strong sense of how to market reggae to both core genre fans and a mass audience, leading to work consulting on marketing for albums such as Gov't Mule's Mighty High. Easy Star's musical director Michael Goldwasser produced albums for Corey Harris and Israeli band Hatikva 6, as well as remixes by Umphrey's McGee, Rebelution, Jason Mraz, Yoko Ono and more, bringing the Easy Star sound further outside the family. And Easy Star has raised its profile as a lifestyle brand with events such as Easy Star Reggae Tuesdays, which was one of the longest-running weekly reggae parties in New York.

Established 1999. Releasing newfangled and archival sounds. 

OKeh short history: 

OKeh was founded by Otto K. E. Heinemann when he set up his own recording studio and gramophone record pressing plant in New York City in September 1918. Heinemann formed the name of the record label "OKeh", from his initials.  OKeh began by issuing popular songs, dance numbers, and vaudeville skits similar to the fare of other labels, but Heineman also wished to experiment with music for audiences neglected by the larger record companies. OKeh produced lines of recordings in German, Czech, Polish, Swedish, and Yiddish for the USA's immigrant communities. In 1920, Ralph Peer's recordings by African-American blues singer Mamie Smith were a surprise smash hit for Okeh. The company perceived the significant, little-tapped market for blues and jazz by African American artists. Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Bix Beiderbecke are only a few names of jazz greats that have recorded for the label. By 1926 Columbia Records bought the label and kept it running into the 60's with jazz and R&B recordings. 

In 1994, Sony Music reactivated the OKeh label as a new-age Blues label. Okeh's first new signings included Keb' Mo, Popa Chubby, and Little Axe. By 2000, the Okeh label was again retired, but in 2013 it will see its re-launch as a jazz label once again.

<b>Gary Clark Jr </b>
Warner Records
Austin TX

Music (Reggae, Singer/Songwriter, Urban) // Artists: Helen Kaiser - Jaqee - Koalas Desperados - Lee Everton - Maxim - Mono & Nikitaman - Nattyflo - Nosliw - Rojah Phad Full - Sebastian Sturm - Slonesta - Symbiz - Teka

Vanguard Records, part of Concord Bicycle Music’s Fantasy Label Group, is one of the world’s leading independent record labels. Its eclectic roster of quality artists includes Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, Switchfoot, O.A.R., Flogging Molly, Parachute, Sallie Ford, Matt Nathanson, Chris Isaak, Barenaked Ladies, Greg Laswell, Trevor Hall, Indigo Girls, and more. It’s rich history of catalog artists features Levon Helm, Merle Haggard, Joan Baez, Mindy Smith, Buddy Guy, Big Mama Thornton, Junior Wells, John Fahey, to name a few.

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