Following the sucess of 'Train Wreck' and 'Tree's' on ASXXX001, Ash Walker returns with a bang for his second installment on his Vinyl only, White Label series, with 'Put it on' & 'Bush Weed''
A-side 'Put It On' is a straight up summer sizzler! A hip-hop meets rocksteady mashup, Ash Walker style. The tune carries with it the now well-established 'live' sound that Ash has been developing over the last few years, and the addition of his trademark reverbs and effects ensures that this one will get a great reaction whether being enjoyed to at home or played out to a dancefloor.
AA-side 'Bush Weed' comes like an Augustus Pablo classic updated by Ash and his band for the 21stCentury. The delicate acoustic intro sets the tone for what is sure to be a big tune this summer, before a powerful bass line enters the mix and becomes the tune's backbone. We later hear a melodica added to enhance even further to the track's expansive sense of atmosphere. The crisp guitar at the start of the track reappears towards the end to wrap up four minutes of sun-drenched and beautiful music.
Ash's unique fusion of jazz, dub and trip-hop has been getting consistent support from producers and DJs across the board, from Gilles Peterson and Don Letts at BBC Radio 6 Music, through Joe Kay at Soulection to Tim Parker, Throwing Shade and Trevor Jackson all at NTS Radio.
Sleep D and Turner Street Sound split sides on one record to merge classic dub rhythms with a modern outlook. Kicking the spicy seven inch off, Sleep D melt ambient soundscapes, zonked out sound effects and spiritual percussion into a locked dub-house groove fit for the club and lounge.
On the flip, Turner Street Sound (the duo made up of Rings Around Saturn and Midnight Tenderness) open their aural arsenal up to live instrumentation and inward dub excavations to produce the poisoness 'Redback Dub' huge bottom end and a instantly classic feel no doubt!
Roots Garden records are proud to present the debut single from talented up and coming singer songwriter, Tiawa. Producer Nick Manasseh provides an upbeat, fresh & contemporary style riddim track. Its sophisticated production, sound and infectious analogue bassline provide the perfect backdrop for Tiawa’s deep, soulful & melodic vocal style. The songs heartfelt message and universal theme demonstrate Tiawa’s credentials as an accomplished songwriter. A call to the collective consciousness, she reminds us of the power of our love to conquer & overcome oppression “living in a high vibration, tired of low expectation... So let us love, don’t break it up. Let the love shine bright and raise it up... because a hearts like a natural pain killer...” Manasseh unleashes lush reverbs and cascading delays, the drums and bass taking centre stage for the dubwise version.
Reggae's African connection meets the global ethos of Glasgow's Scotch Bonnet Records for their historic new EP. French-born, Glasgow-based producer Stalawa has voiced a talented selection of East African vocalists to thrilling effect, over his heftiest roots rub-a-dub rhythms. This project is the culmination of multiple fruitful visits to Kenya and Uganda by Scotch Bonnet proprietors, Mungo’s Hi Fi sound system. It has been fine-tuned between Glasgow and Kampala over the last three years.
The A side features the wailing voice of Ugandan singer and emcee Blessed San. Showcasing a vocal style not unlike legendary Jamaican reggae veteran Michael Prophet (despite never actually having heard him before), Traitor is a mournful rebuke to all who violate his trust. Stalawa has mixed a haunting accompanying dub: all crashing drums and biting horns.
The B side hosts a Kenyan-Caribbean collaboration on a vintage classic. Connoisseurs’ Jamaican singer Delroy Melody has recut his 1979 local hit Ease Up The Pressure, adding verses from Luganda Rasta lyricist C Wyne Nalukalala (meaning “the troublemaker”). The remade backing, based on Dennis Brown’s Easy Take It Easy, was built in Jamaica by renowned drummer Sly Dunbar and keyboardist Dennis ‘Jah D’ Fearon. Also on the flip is Kenya's “first lady” of hip hop and reggae Nazizi. Her song Ukiangalia (“when you see” in Swahili) rides a dubby update of King Tubby’s famous Tempo rhythm.
All vocals bar Mr Melody’s were recorded in Kampala, Uganda by David Cecil and Wana Benjamin of East Africa Records, with brass parts dubbed by Stalawa in Glasgow. The guitar on Traitor is the work of popular Scottish vocalist Tom Spirals. Hornplay comes courtesy of Tim Quick, Liam Shorthall and Matieusz Sobieski.
a1. Stalawa - Traitor ft. Blessed San
a2. Stalawa - Traitor Dub
b1. Stalawa - Ease Up The Pressure ft. Delroy Melody & C Wyne Nalukalala
170 bpm halftime dubwise style. Heavy basses, deep subs, breaks and reggae vibes sums up this hard hitting single by Champion Sound called "Warn Dem". With this track the trio makes their debut on the Dub Communication imprint. On remix duties we also welcome Halcyonic and G Roots to the label. Together with horn player Vale they twisted the original to a great remix for the B-side of DUBCOM005V.
a1. Champion Sound - Warn Dem
b1. Champion Sound - Warn Dem (Halcyonic & G Roots feat. Vale Remix)
Crippling bassweight, synthesized eski pre-sets, rootsy chimes and steppas vamps collide on this 12" of future soundsystem artillery from a true dub musical legend.
TNT Roots' contribution to dub is seismic, almost dinosauric, but through some glitch in universe fabric, 'Mighty In Battle' is his first official vinyl release. As half of Earthquake - he's responsible the darkest, most slept-on future dub to grace Bokeh ears. Long unavailable LPs like Revelation in DubandDub Harder Than Steel make obvious an understated lineage flowing from 90s steppas down to jungle, grime, hardcore, darkcore, doomcore - all of the cores really. TNT and Earthquake's rightful place alongside those mystic giants, Iration Steppas, is more than assured by those that know.
Both tracks are presented here inna try 90s 12" fashion with 3 alternative/dub mixes.
Fresh from the mountain tops of Italy come Sub Alpine with a heavy digital dancehall bubbler for the computer age. Featuring roots reggae veteran El Fata, "Rub A Dub Soldiers" rocks the dancehall hard with a heavy sub bass pushing the devastating digi riddim along like an unstoppable freight train.
Reggae Roast toaster and recent Chase & Status collaborator Natty Campbell steps up for an alternate vocal take also featuring Unit 137 cohort Jago, with an ode to one of their favourite pastimes. Flip it over for an instrumental version for MCs and vocalists to put their own mark on - another essential release for the crate!
Taken from band's second full album "Reggaelation Rock" - Black Dragon River is the exotic instumental fusion by Japanese 9piece Afro/Caribbean band Reggaelation IndependAnce and legendary Tonkori, invented by Ainu people from Hokkaido, performer Oki.
"Departing from Tokyo, going to the World via Jamaica"
The Roots Architects is a very special project produced by Fruits Records founding member Mathias Liengme. This is a tribute to the men in the shadow who built Jamaican reggae in studios. It gathers 50 of the greatest Jamaican session musicians from the 60’s to the early 80’s still playing today. Fruits Records brought them together in studio to create an original album of instrumental songs. “1000 Light Years” is the first single taken from the album to be released later this year.
This dark heavy roots song is played by what used to be The High Times Players nucleus in the early 80’s: Barnabas on drums, Chris Meredith on bass, Gibby Morrisson on rhythm guitar and Tony Asher on piano. Then we have Robbie Lyn, Dwight Pinkney, Jah D Fearon, Obeah Denton, Calvin Cameron and Dean Fraser’s horns section who spice up the riddim with beautiful themes and solos.
Combo Lulo returns to Names You Can Trust for their sophomore single, digging deeper into the diversified sounds of the Caribbean that helped define their debut. While the first single took a Jamaican foundation south into the neighboring continent, fusing the sensibilities of rock steady with those of classic Afro-Latin orchestras, this single goes far east. Inspired by the heady and sublime sounds of foundational ska mixed with East African influences, (think Buster's Islam, Don D's Addis Ababa or Further East),
The Sieve & The Sand is a brand new composition within this natural order, albeit with the fortune of different reggae eras and studio styles to draw from. Divided into two parts (but also available seamlessly as it was played in the studio), Combo Lulo's talented players move effortlessly from the galloping shuffle of ska into a deep and dark, Roots Radics-styled instrumental. It's a lovely ode to the original styles of reggae, but also another impressive accomplishment that will surely leave listeners and new fans in anticipation of the shape of things to come for Combo Lulo.
Back in 2015 we released the Pantherkatze for the very first time on our limited Social Sounds From Planet Dub CD. First time we listened to that monstrous tune by T-Jah and Kuriooki, we instantly felt in love with it. Surely we knew, if we ever start a label, this tune gonna be one of our first releases. We infected the two dubheads from Chemnitz with this idea.
Now, for our second vinyl release we can present to you a brand new version from that already classic Pantherkatze tune, which enters the gate with some rumbling basslines, hypnotizing skanks and nuff dubwise business. Dangerous like the path of a black panther, this tune surely makes it to any soundsystem session this summer. If the heavy T-Jah & Kuriooki tune is not enough for you, you'll find a killer version on the flipside by another german dub don called Jah Schulz, who already mashed some baldheads with his great releases on Railroad Records.
Deep dubwise on a neat 45′, with Babe Roots at the controls alongside Kojo Neatness –
Killer drop from Babe Roots, who has been coming through with a steady slew of rock-solid dub transmissions from the echo chamber, most notably releases on Rohs! Records and ZamZam Sounds.
This 7″ on the 4Weed imprint, comes knocking at your door with an A1 rootical dub techno style in the way that Rhythm & Sound and of course vocalist Paul St. Hilaire pioneered it back in the 90’s.
Kojo Neatness’ vocal delivery comes through really confident and effortlessly, letting the deepest of subs build the pressure under some expertly filtered chops and a hard-hitting rhythm section… This comes to show especially on the flipside ‘Ruff Out Dubwise’.
High-grade dub techno styles for all the rootsmen and women out there!
In 1966, Bunny Wailer started singing spiritual lyrics before anyone else, and this masterpiece he sung about returning to Africa was written while he was still recording for Studio One.
Although it was originally recorded for Studio One, it has never seen the day of light. Then Lee Perry recorded it again and released in 1971. This particular take was recorded especially for the album in 1976 and released from Island Records UK as a single.
a. Dream Land (feat. Bunny Wailer & Solomonic All Stars)
b. Dream Land - Version (feat. Bunny Wailer & Solomonic All Stars)
A classic Rasta Man song sung by Bunny Wailer, the most devoted Rastafarian out of all the Wailers. This unforgettable Rasta Man Anthem was released just before one of the most important roots reggae albums to date, Blackheart Man, dropped. Unlike the original release, this single take is backed with a dub cut.
One of the many spiritual and cultural classic lyrics that Bunny Wailer has written, and this is an exclusive single take. The lyrics - written soon after he was arrested due to possession of Marijuana, can be heard as "Fight Against Conviction" on one of the most important roots reggae albums to date, Blackheart Man, although this recording is an early take released in 1974 by the Wailers.
a. Battering Down Sentence (feat. Bunny Wailer)
b. Battering Down Sentence Version (feat. Solomonic All Stars)
Spiritual message from Kiddus I, the Original Rockers to each and every roots lovers across the board. Backed by one of Japanes most devout band Reggaelation IndependAnce, Kiddus is back again with a breathtaking remake of "Flying Knots".
a. Kiddus I & Reggaelation Independance - Flying at Knots
Raw roots reggae featuring reality lyrics from one of Jamaica's finest, Sizzla Kalonji. UK based Foundation Sound present this vocal and dubwise set, released on the King 45 record label.
Nikki Burt (recorded at Tads Studio, Jamaica) sings backing vocals and Gav Fullness plays drums. The horns section features Leroy Horns on sax, Laura Impallomeni on trombone and Mikey Ball on trumpet. Producer King Sammy plays guitar, bass and keys. Mixed by Ed Foundation & King Sammy at Foundation Sound, mastered by Nick Manasseh. Vocal licence courtesy of King Dubbist.
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