Title : VOODOO DRAGON RISING
Artist : Z STARR
Label : VOODOO DRAGON RECORDS
Format : CD
Ah joy of joys, that rare moment of discovering the early talents of a new artist. The one in mind here being Z star- Z’s first album is the domain of a multi instrumentalist who sings plays and produces all of the tracks herself.
This album was released in 2000 and is an amazing release. The vibe is of a streetwise songwriter whose lyrics pull no punches and the music and production sits alongside accordingly "I’m a ruff gal.” she proudly intones. The overall sound quality and production for an album without an Oasis style budget is remarkable as Z fuses blues dub and hip hop into strong song based material with the occasional ballad thrown in .
If this serves as a tantalising glimpse of what she is able to do live then I will be at the front. “Murder, murder, murder hey.” Playing regularly in London with a new album pending. Smart Monkey
29/11/02 Checkout our brand new interview with ZStar
Title : HARD GRIND
Artist : LITTLE AXE
Label : ON U SOUND
Format : CD
Skip Mcdonalds Little Axe produce the most futuristic and at the same time psychedelic blues tunes you're ever likely to come across. On 'Hard Grind' the Ex sugar Hill Gang / Tackhead & long time 'On U Sound' guitarist teams up with On U head honcho Adrian Sherwood to bring us the latest album from Little Axe. With Sherwood sharing the writing credits on all but the opening track, this must be the most dub friendly of blues based albums ever. A wonderfully laid back journey through the pasts, present & future of the vibe they call the blues.
Opening with 'Dark as the night, Cold as the ground' the scene is set. One of atmospheric slide guitar driven, future blues with Deep South blues men's spoken word samples, sitting deep in the mix. Fans of Moby's experiments in this field should take note, as there are a lot of parallels in vibe. Hard grind Closes with 'Seek The Truth' which features most of Tackhead's players reunited on a frenetic and pinned down groove whilst the sadly passed honeyed vocal tones of Bim Sherman take the lead. Around all of this Sherwood weaves various atmospheres and virus's as only he can. So kick back, tune in & yes, drop out to the sound of blues for the 21st century.
Bimble
Title : THERE SHALL BE LOVE
Artist : FUNDAMENTAL
Label : NATION RECORDS
Format : CD / LP
Following not so hotly on from 'Erotic Terrorism' and that E.P 'Why America Will Go To Hell'. 'There Shall Be Love' is a jaw dropper and a classic release. We all knew that Fundamental could be passionate, angry and energetic, but the audience will be amazed to see them convey it in this way and dare I say it with such love. Fundamental have hinted at it in the past with the 'Jahshataan' release and with their recent live shows but previous albums never held the listener so tightly as this.'There Shall Be Love' works on many different levels, the first being it’s production quality, tracks such as “Sunday school” and “Tagai Soul” and the opener, “The Last Gospel”, make the hairs stand up. 'There Shall Be Love' also acts as a musical travelogue of cultural resistance, if you look carefully and you will see traditional musicians from South Africa , Eastern Europe and the continent of Asia all intoning the same passionate plea alongside the passion and technology of the Fundamental crew.
Ethno punkologists they may well be and this is their greatest moment on record so far. The revolution may well not be televised but it has begun to be recorded.
Smart Monkey
Artist : SNUFF / SNUFF VS URBAN DUBTitle : BLUE GRAVY / BLUE GRAVY DUB VERSION
Label : TEN PAST TWELVE RECORDS
Format : CD
Blue Gravy :-
Punk / Rockers Snuffs latest album opens with the high octane power pop frenzy that is ‘Slipt’. A strong melodic vocal and guitar line underpins the frenzied outpourings, opening the album on a jubilant high. The following ‘Prisoners Abroad’ opens with some punching power chords and is backed up by horn bursts and a Peter Hook style distorted bassline. The title track ‘Blue Gravy’ comes over like a punk rock age private detective theme tune complete with horn section and Hammond organ lines. It’s been a long time since I paid any attention to new material of this ilk preferring to let the old school punks give me my distorted kicks but this album has certainly opened my eyes and I for one will be searching out more from Snuff’s back catalogue.For me Snuff’s sound works best when backed up by either the horn section or the ‘Hammond’ organ style lines. This lends them a very individual sound and sets them apart from the endless rock style dirge that led me away from this very genre orientated scene in the first place. If you love one hundred mile an hour melodic punk rock, if you loved early Stiff Little Fingers, Motorhead and Nirvana but want contemporary punk rock then Snuff are the band for you.
Blue Gravy Dub Versions :-
Bizarre shock of the week Snuff release a dub album, well not really more of an experimental remix project . I’m not sure who Snuff are aiming this very different and experimental album at. Blue Gravy Dub Versions features London’s Urban Dub radically reworking tracks from the original album. With a couple of the tunes getting more than one treatment.
‘Blue Gravy’ ( Burn Down Babylon Mix ) retains only the excellent horn lines for an Urban Dub remix extravaganza. Ichola Buddha not one of my favorite tunes from the original album comes up trumps here in the form of Ichola Dub. A speaker rocking deep sub bass mix bringing the Jubilant horns to the fore and mixing heavily effected snatches of the original vocals lines. Night Of The Versions is a five and a half min two step / garage ( !! ) reworking of ‘Night Of Li’s which uses the original guitar lines to great effect and places them in an entirely new setting.
Other highlights include ‘Northern Dub’ and the excellent ‘Emperor Dub’ which I’d like to see them do live. A wicked anthemic dub version complete with a heavily treated one drop riddim and a new horn parts. Also Night Of The Li’s ( Long Throw Specialist Mix ). Which sounds like the Mission Impossible theme tune mixed by King Tubby in a sleazy nightclub basement, surrounded by Ketamin fueled whores.
In my opinion Blue Gravy Dub Versions is an excellent album containing some awesome reversions of songs from the original album. It must be said though that this seems like an absolutely crazy project for a band whose fans are almost solely made up of straight ahead ( some would say blinkered ) punk rock fans. Blue Gravy Dub proves that Snuff are not afraid to be true to the original punk spirit and do what the fuck they want. For that they should be admired. Lets hope that this isn’t the end of Snuffs experimentation’s.
Artist : NUCLEUS ROOTS
Title : NUCLEUS ROOTS
Label : PJP
Format : CD
Wonderfully uplifting modern conscious roots set firmly in the UK setting. Through the bands hard gigging schedule this album has already sold over six thousand copies and yet they still can’t secure a distribution deal here in the U. K. This album is currently being distributed outta France and imported back into the UK Crazy!!
The album affectionately known as ‘The Brown One’ opens with ‘One Good Night’ dealing with the broke pocket life of the U.K job seeker set to an uplifting riddim. The following ‘Fools Paradise’ with its bubbling keyboards, fanfaric horn lines drops heavy with the lyric dealing with the ‘Fools Paradise’ that is the life of the coke fueled gunman. ‘Still Here’ a definite highlight of their live shows provides balance in the lyrical department with its tale of survival against adversity set to an upful and jubilant riddim. The heavier dub workouts here are reserved for the albums final five tracks of which ‘Giving Dub’ and ‘Dreader Dub’ have a Tassilli Players feel, though with a little more earthiness . 'Tech Dub' is a bubbling horn led groove out. ‘Calling Dub’ features a wicked analogue acid b-line and ‘Militant Dub’ closes the album on an up tempo pull out the stops mode. An essential release which manages to capture most of the energy found at a Nucleus Roots live show, which in itself is some feat. Killer.
bimble@freeradicalsounds.com
Artist : NUCLEUS ROOTS
Title : IN DUB
Label : PJP
Format : CD'In Dub' Takes up from where 'The Brown One' left off. There is definitely evidence of advances in the bands production techniques since their last offering. Making for an even fuller and more rounded feel to their sound. ‘In Dub’ is an album of dub versions of songs that will feature on their forthcoming ‘Universal Love’ album which is due out in 2002. ‘Back Again Dub’ opens the album with an extended intro made up of skanking keys and horn lines setting the tone for the b-line to drop for a truly horizontal version of this favorite from their live set. Other highlights include ‘Long Road Dub’ with it’s Iration Steppas style digital b-line and vocal snatches ricocheting round the mix. Also the industrial strength one drop of ‘Tuned In Dub’. " You Are Tuned To The Mighty Sounds Of The Nucleus Roots Outernational, Do It Jah" !!
bimble@freeradicalsounds.com
Artist : SNUFF VS URBAN DUB
Artist
: HEADMIX
Artist
: VARIOUS ARTISTS
Artist
: HEADMIX
Artist
: BACK TO BASE / BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH