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Dub/Reggae/Soca/Dancehall…CARNIVAL SPECIAL
It’s July and Carnival is in full swing in places like Saint Lucia and Antigua plus London’s Notting Hill is barely a month away. With that in mind I thought I’d give a shameless plug to my ‘10,000 Carnival Fans Can’t Be Wrong’ playlist.*
*It’s only got 4000 followers…
Renae & Jermi – ‘Mi Caan’t’
Producer Clive Hunt goes way back. His Lizzard – ‘Satta I’ album came out on Trojan in 1976, and he’s produced numerous big names over the years. Enter Renae & Jermi, the new protégés of Hunt, whose debut single, ‘Mi Caan’t’ is a reworking of Barington Levy’s ‘My Woman’ from 1980.
There’s a lovely retro feeling to the production, and a chemistry between the two singers. Clive shares, “I had collaborated with Jermi as a trumpet player and knew he could sing. When he brought Renae into the mix, I realized we had something special”.
Elsewhere on the carnival playlist there’s some gorgeous dub from an Italian dub and conscious reggae collective, Shine I Dub. The Alt. Dub Version 2 in particular rocks my world.
At the Saint Lucia Carnival, Ricky T took 1st & 3rd in the Parade of the bands ‘Road March Competition’. Both songs were on the same rhythm with ‘Better Than Them’ being the one that does it for me. A joyful slice of soca, although I can’t comment on the virtues of chicken back vs steak and fish… “No steak and fish can mash up de chicken back relationship”
The last of this mini carnival roundup is an outlier in that it’s a jungle release from last year but featuring numerous reggae samples. Kid Lib’s ‘Prove’ on Future Retro London records has such a classic jungle sound and feel that it could date from any time between the 90s and now and would bring joy to the dancefloor in any of those years.
nickname – ‘Pull Up In The Whip’
Part of a burgeoning wave of Naarm/Melbourne talent, nickname subscribes to a system-shredding style that is entirely his own.
Drawing from various influences, his maverick creations “bridge the gap” between destructive jungle, broken bass, and modern techno. Pull Up In The Whip’ is taken from the 3rd instalment of the “Volume” series.
All proceeds will be donated to Pay the Rent, a collective organised by First Nations and non-First Nations people working together.
Clevelode – ‘It Must Have Rained Last Night (Avenue of Trees)’
Asheq Akhtar from the band MRL (check out their Abscind Minded EP here) put me on to the delights of Clevelode. His ‘Muntjaq’ LP on ‘Folk and Folk Adjacent music’ specialists, Fenny Compton Records is dedicated to Epping Forest, the glorious 8000 acres of forest and greenery that begins about 5 minutes from my doorstep and spreads deep into Essex.
A few years back Will Ashon wrote the book ‘Strange Labyrinth’ about the forest and ‘the punks and poets, artists and visionaries, the outlaws and the mad who have found inspiration and solace within these woods’.
Dr. Paul Newland aka Clevelode is one of those who’ve found inspiration, naming his album after the muntjac deer, who first appeared in the forest in the 1960s. Many of the tracks are named after areas of the forest and the gentle reflective ambient sounds that characterise the album would perfectly soundtrack a walk beneath the canopies and open spaces of Epping. If I ever get a moment I’ll be popping in my Airpods and going for a wander.
Here are two tracks from the album, the ambient ‘Loughton Camp’ and ‘It Must Have Rained Last Night’ a more traditional song with Newland’s sonorous voice reminiscent of Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner.
Lollise – ‘eDube’
“Lollise’s debut album is her most personal work yet: a spiritual time-travel to the Botswana of her childhood, an incantation, a reclamation and a declaration of self. Childhood play-songs appear as dream-like interludes throughout the album, bridging the gap between the present and the past.
The songs on this album – sung in English, Setswana and Kalanga – display the scope of Lollise’s artist vision, with broad stylistic references including Kalanga and Setswana folk music on the deep ballad “Mme mma ndi” and the short vignettes that weave throughout the album (“Khukhwane,” “Sananapo,” “Moloi,” “Modimo”); South African bubblegum and kwaito (prominent on “Simon Says”); pan-African influences from Xitsonga traditional music (“Semang mang,” “iKalanga”) to highlife and soukous (“eDube”).
A2L – ‘Come On’
I did a double take when clicking through new releases on Boomkat last week and instantly recognising a tune I hadn’t heard in about 25 years. French duo Full Circle have compiled ‘Kicking Dust : The Goa Way’, “a corrective anthology, celebrating the roots of psychedelic dance music and its early days in Goa”.
A2L’s ‘Come On’ was the second release on my dad Patrick’s 1st Bass label, a subsidiary of his main, Big One Records. I’d always thought ‘The Sound Collides With Colour And Shadows Explode E.P.’ was something of an overlooked acid classic so it’s a pleasant surprise to see it heralded as part of 11 tracks that characterize the sound of the earliest Goa parties. Other classic tracks from that EP include ’Trip man’ and ‘Play Me Some Beautiful Dance Music’.
A2L main man, Richie Stevens went on to become part of ‘Spacemonkeyz’, the producers behind the ‘Laika Come Home’ remix album for the Gorillaz.
British Murder Boys – ‘We Will Show You’
Britain’s best loved absurdist space-rock duo brought their long awaited but entirely unexpected debut full length album out in July. Child and O’Connor take somewhat of a departure from the heavy Industrial sound they originally made their name on from 2003-2005, but the album is no less murderous. Across 8-tracks the duo have delivered a stripped back return to the raw sound of the ‘90s warehouse scene.
Water From Your Eyes – ‘The Good Ship Lifestyle’
“These are covers that we made at the same time as we were finishing Everyone’s Crushed. Nate chose “Good Ship Lifestyle” and Rachel chose the other three. Chumbawamba is an obvious favourite of ours, but it is between Adele in the style of the Cure and Al Green as the most left field covers we could have chosen. We think it’s funny and good, but ultimately that will be left to the listeners to decide for themselves”.
Irked – ‘Backstreets’
IRKED are a punk band from Tyne and Wear making snotty, noisy, radge music. The debut single is dedicated to “the creeps who linger around your local music scene”.Scaring audiences into submission Irked are satisfying the demand for urgent, snarling, politically motivated music – served up with a salty dose of humour and sass.
NYH361 01 Kuvera B x dyLAB – Sunset For Breakfast
Are we still here? Did the earth axis just shift a fraction? You ok? No worries we are still here. Two of the undergrounds most revered and neglected producers joining forces to take it all to the next level. Our man down under, Dylab, has been crafting his own brand of hypnotic acid for years, but it has bever sounded more like rubber. Our french connection Kuvera B has been slaving away at his own blend of sounddesign and hardcore but has never sounded more accessible.Stretched and slimey synths over a bed of superbly produced rhythms and clonks and bits.
Lex Amor – ‘A7X feat. BXKS’
Lex Amor returns with her first solo single since 2021! ’A7X’ showcases the Londoner’s innate ability in painting vivid pictures of her own state of mind through her lyrical dexterity. Recorded in her North London studio, “A7X” also features Luton’s hottest rapper right now, BXKS, who comes fresh from her recent “150 bpm freestyle”.
Lex Amor: “I always loved BXKS’ flow and cadence – also loved her energy. She loved the beat too and started writing on it – she wrote and recorded in the one session”
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You can also follow my Weekly Dose playlist on one of the streaming platforms here.
