In a bid to save my vinyl from physical assault by a stylus as old and wonky as a rusty nail I’ve avoided using my record decks for months now. Thankfully I’m now 50 quid lighter but in possession of two pristine needles, and a one huge backlog of lovely plastic to indulge in. (I realise I have posted at length about waving goodbye to analogue for ever… I lied).

First up direct from Finland the wonderfully named Mighty Mo & The Winchester Seven turn out a phenomenally good deep funk cover of Melle Mel’s “The Message” (YouTube).  Mighty Mo is rumoured to be someone well known (anyone?). Big name or not this monster drags the track forward 30 years to the present day only to send it back 40 (or who knows maybe Flash covered this?)!
The B side features a version excursion where the percussion and breaks are let loose to romp around the track.

Myspace

Mighty Mo & The Winchester Seven – “The Next Message” (MP3)

“Some call it Marijuana, some of dem call it ganja”

Peter Tosh’s “Legalize It” has been the stoners clarion call for 30 years now (youtube brief history), and this double A 12″ well and truly updates it for this generation.
With the 6blocc East Coast mix on one side, Dave Q takes it to the West Coast on the flip, with a bassline and cracking drum that’ll have the noise abatement team round your place before the track finishes (although quite how it translates in crushed MP3 is another matter). Synths glower, dub step rhythms clatter, and Peter Tosh floats in and out of the echo chamber. This is the definitive version as far as I’m concerned.

Dave Q – “Legalize it (West Coast Mix)” (MP3)

Black Moth Super Rainbow have a new single “Zodiac Girl” due in May, but some of us are still catching up with the bands offshoots. Featuring one of BMSR, Tobacco have just posted a new track “Dirt” with Aesop Rock on vocal duties (Myspace).

Somehow I missed the glorious “Hairy Candy” and its associated filthy but fun video.

Although apparently banned from YouTube it doesnt actually contain any nudity save for a brief nipple, but the faces saved from long forgotten VHS’s say it all.

Tobacco Myspace

Tobacco – “Hairy Candy” (MP3)

My inability to resist anything with Rodney Smith aka Roots Manuva’s name on it has landed me with some shockingly bad, half baked bootlegs over the years but thankfully Drums Of Death offer strictly top shelf material.  Formerly based in Glasgow under the name Kid Twist, Shoreditch is now home to the Drums Of Death (or so it says on the net so it must be true). On the Aside, the touch it at your peril “Witness” gets a radical makeover featuring harps and comes out sounding marvelously wonky (but for me at least Witness isnt Witness without that acid squelch).

On the B, the sumptuous tones of Challi 2na joins the dots with Mr Manuva eschewing the obvious bootleg sounds, instead heading firmly leftwards. Drums of Death are signed to Hot Chip’s Greco-Roman International Sonic Wrestling label so expect big things… can he do a Manuva remix LP first though?

Drums Of Death Myspace

Roots Manuva – “Join The Dots (Drums of Death remix)” (MP3)

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