I Survived, It's Over

Taken Back

Desensitization and Reprocessing

From the forthcoming 12" on Bucky Skank (BS 002), due October (ish). Vinyl only. Distribution by Rub A Dub. Mastered by James Savage.

12" will also feature - 

 Jabru - Whiteboard Jungle
Richmond & Lord Sheraton - Under Me Flat Cap
Richmond & Lord Sheraton - Flat Cap

JD Twitch & D. Jah Clark - Soul On Fire

Autonomous Africa - AA Bonus 10 - Limited edition one sided 10", due 15th September 2014. Vinyl only release. Distributed by Above Board.

This edit (originally created in 2008 for my dj sets) was supposed to be included on the recently released third Autonomous Africa 12". Unfortunately I didn't get permission to use it in time for that release but permission has now been given, so rather than wait for AA 004 in 2015 it is going to come out as a limited edition hand stamped 10" as soon as possible. All proceeds will once again go to the Mtandika mission in Tanzania - http://www.actioninafrica.org/about-mtandika.php

Mastered by Matt Colton. 

A big thanks to Ben UFO and Midland for championing this edit. The interest they generated directly led to the motivation for this release.

Amadou & Mariam - Ce N'est Pas Bon (A JD Twitch edit)

We are happy to announce the first in an occasional series of fully licensed 12" releases on Autonomous Africa exploring the influence of music from Africa across the globe.

The first release comes from Colombia's Wganda Kenya with three tracks recorded in the mid 70s. The Caribbean coast of Colombia has a long relationship with Africa stretching back hundreds of years. Strong trading links and migration from West Africa to Colombia led to a distinct African influence on the music in cities such as Cartagena and the local music (cumbia and champeta) absorbed these influences. This was  particularly notable in the 70s as records by Fela Kuti amongst others arrived in Colombia. One of the leading practitioners of this Afro Sound were the mighty Wganda Kenya who were huge there in the 70s and 80s and whose music is still highly regarded to this day. 

While their music has appeared on compilations, there hasn't been a big fat 12" vinyl release since Island Records offshoot, Mango put "Shakalode" out as a 12" way back in 1989.

"Shakalode" on the A side is a powerful reworking of the Fela Kuti classic "Shakara" which was much covered in Colombia in the mid 1970s. It's a transcendental Afro Colombian funk bomb.

On the other side are two other Wganda Kenya gems; the call and response percussive and organ grooving "Pim Pom" and the more traditional Colombian cumbia singalong anthem "La Botellita".

Originally this was going to be a 2 x 12" featuring some other Wganda Kenya magic but sadly the masters to many of their tracks have been lost. There are plans to put out a second 12" of reworkings of these tracks aimed at djs who won't play records unless they can mix them, but of course, these 40 year old tracks will still rock any open minded dancefloor just as they are.

All proceeds will once again go to the Mtandika mission in Tanzania - www.actioninafrica.org/about-mtandika.php

Release date April 2015. Distributed by Above Board.

Autonomous Africa is a collaborative project run by JD Twitch, Midland and Auntie Flo.

Autonomous Africa Vintage  01 - Wganda Kenya - Afro Colombia 12" EP (sampler)

Listen, the Snow is Falling

Raga Tala

Raga Gara

Music of India - Ragas and Talas

Rupak Tal

** Part 1 now available from here - http://soundcloud.com/alexchase/ohm-dedication-series-2-jd **

For my ears, Adrian Sherwood is the most sonically innovative producer the UK has ever given birth to. If you don't know anything about Mr. Sherwood or his ON U Sound label, either do a bit of Googling, have a listen to this mix or read this interview I was fortunate enough to conduct a couple of months ago (when he was in Glasgow) that is on the Racket Racket website - http://racketracket.co.uk/music/jd-twitch-meets-adrian-sherwood/

This mix covers music from the years 1979 - 88 and focuses on Adrian Sherwood's dubwise productions, most of which were released on his ON U Sound label (a great overview of the label can be found here - http://www.skysaw.org/onu/)

The mix is DUB in the widest (and wildest) sense of that word and veers from beautiful, heart-melting songs to cavernously deep, hard bass pulsations to the odd bit of brain melting sonic radicalism. To this day I don't think any other producer has pushed the envelope so hard which is partly down to a general lack of balls on the part of other producers and partly due to the fact that these productions were all recorded to tape and mixed on a desk with 100% outboard gear, so that pushing the tape way beyond its intended limits forms a large part of the character of the sound. His totally deranged dub techniques are perhaps a little more prevalent on part 1 (see below) of this podcast while this part is in the main more of a continuous heart throb with odd moments of sonic destruction, offering a masterclass in dub mixing techniques many of which Adrian Sherwood pioneered.

In my late teens and early 20s, Adrian Sherwood's work impacted on me more than anything I had previously heard and made me think about sonic possibilities in a completely new way. I would buy any record he had been involved with unheard and got into a lot of other artists purely because he had been involved with making their records. Indeed, my nom de plume "Twitch" came from a record he produced and our Optimo slogan "We Love Your Ears" came from the sleeve of a record he remixed. I hadn't listened to a lot of these records for many, many years and fell in love with them all over again while putting this together. It was a complete labour of love to do and a revelation to hear how fresh and wild this music still sounds.

The tracks are mostly mixed together but this podcast really isn't about my mixing at all - it's all about the 25 sonic missives included on it (several of the tracks are different versions of the same rhythm edited together). All the tracks were taken from vinyl so any unintended sonic imperfections are a result of the source records having been played countless times in the past.

This is part 2 of this podcast. Part 1 which focuses on his more electronic wild side (Tackhead, Fats Comet, Keith LeBlanc etc.) is now available here - http://soundcloud.com/alexchase/ohm-dedication-series-2-jd
Should you so desire, the 2 podcasts can be synced together to provide one continuous mix of around 3 and a half hours.

As usual we aren't making a track listing available for the podcast, simply because we feel that knowing the contents often precludes actually listening to it. But, if you want to know what anything is, feel free to get in touch and I will let you know. The mix is a 320kbps mp3 (230mb) and is 101 minutes long.

Optimo Podcast 12 - Adrian Sherwood On U Sound mix part 2 (dub)

Brittany Howard and Ruby Amanfu's "I Wonder" 7" single is available here: https://thirdmanstore.com/brittany-howard-ruby-amanfu-i-wonder-7-vinyl

A: I Wonder (Rodriguez) B: When My Man Comes Home (Memphis Minnie)
Third Man Records is as excited as they are proud to announce a once in a lifetime pairing of two of modern music's leading ladies, as Brittany Howard and Ruby Amanfu join forces for the "I Wonder" b/w "When My Man Comes Home" Blue Series Single.

Grammy-nominated Alabama Shakes frontwoman Brittany Howard teams up with Third Man family member Ruby Amanfu, who first caught our ears on Jack White's "Love Interruption," for two reinterpretations of boldly contrasting source material: Side A features their take on "I Wonder," originally performed by Rodriguez, subject of the Oscar-winning documentary Searching For Sugar Man, while side B finds Howard also picking up her acoustic guitar as the two sing their version of "When My Man Comes Home," originally recorded by Memphis Minnie, the immortal composer of "When The Levee Breaks" among others.

This single also features Dominic Davis on electric and upright bass, Daru Jones on drums, Cory Younts on piano, Ikey Owens on keys and Hammond B3 and Fats Kaplin on electric guitar, lap steel and mandolin.

BRITTANY HOWARD & RUBY AMANFU - "When My Man Comes Home" Clip

Third Man Records