In Florida there have been about three or four cases of teenagers killing themselves through suffocation. Chuck Palahniuk wrote about this in his novel Choke. Which is crazy like most of his other novels.

This Polaroid is about that but with a pro-life stance throughout the piece. Take it from Dr. Pearson......Breathing good.....suffocation bad... can you dig?



Audio

Congo Natty – Police in helicopter (Ray Keith remix) – DreadUK
Skream – Request line – Tempa
Early Man – war Eagle – Matador
About – Think Niles drink – Cock Rock Disco
Next Life – Transparent stone – Cock Rock Disco
Roger Eno/Plumbline – Transparency – Hydrogen Dukebox
Billy Dalessando – Slow rain – Resopal rsp
Covox – Your love is my leash – Sanshui
Meets Guitar – End of the road – Oof! Records
Hortense Ellis – I’m just a girl – Soul Jazz Records
King Stitt – Fire corner – Trojan
Bullwackies All Stars – Hurricane not I – Wackies
Harry Beckett – Unknown title from The Modern Sound of … On U Sound
Double 0 - Woman - DZR
The Wee DJs - 430 - Touchin Bass
Jimmy Edgar - Personal Information - Warp
cursor Miner - Exult - Lo Recordings
Mrs Cakehead - Porsche Incident (Chillum Forest) - Pumf
Superqueens - Mister, you're a lapdancer - Supermarket Records
salsa Celtica - Cuano Me Vaya - Discos Leon
Orchetsre Baka de Gbine - Boulez Boulez - March Hare Music
Cannonball Jane - Take it to Fantastic - Fortuna Pop
Loose Furs - Hey Chickens - Drag City
How to swim - Bones - Electric Honey Records



This picture was sent to me the other day by Patrick Brown. Check out his photography and blog at ShadowDetails.com. I use to have an old Mercedes when I went to school in California. What a beast it was! Slowest car on earth....drove like a tank. I use to drive around with my Tampa Bay Bucs Flag all the time. Speaking of the Bucs....its Draft day...lets hope they have a monster of a draft like they did last year....Go bucs..... My diesel was a little lower to the ground...its good to know they made a few improvements on it.



The reason for my fear is threefold.Micro-level: On Wednesday, I have to present my 'structured and coherent' thoughts on my dissertation to my class. Orally, in front of 34 students and two supervisors, I need to justify my project, my methodology, and my mere existence. I can pass, or I can fail. Of course, it's only the supervisors' opinions that count, but why not allow everyone else the



I know that when people have dreams, they assume that they are really interesting to everyone else in the universe. In fact, they are likely very boring to anyone but the dreamer. I'm still going to tell you about my dream though, because obviously my dreams are the exception that proves the rule.Last night I dreamed that two of my colleagues really hated me, when all along I'd been thinking



Last weekend was spent in serious diplomatic efforts to repair Anglo-French relations. More specifically, Cowboy and I got to spend the weekend in the French Alps watching our friend Vix marry the French ski instructor she met while on holiday a couple of years ago. They met, they fell in love, she quit her job in London (lawyer) and moved out there to be with him. Five months ago they had a



Tried some Polaroid 779 film last night..... Can't seem to get the right exposure. I got to say i think the film is shit! I woke up at midnight still holding an old box of Time Zero Film...... it was divine!!!! Thanks Polaroid...you guys are my hero's



I'm not too good at this blog thing: I'm not finding time to make new entries every day, or even every other day. Boo hiss. So I'm going to try, from now on, to make at least three posts per week.American Idol Update:I haven't got the energy right now to explain where I was for both the Friday first-showing AND the Sunday repeat, but I would just like to say that my karma was obviously well out



There was this one episode of Coach where I think Luther, Dauber, and Coach were going out on to some frozen lake to ice-fish. It must have been a frozen lake because they lived in Minnesota, so I don’t think they went out to the ocean or anything, but I know that Minnesota has hell of lakes and that it can also get pretty cold. Anyway, so, they went to this cabin out on the middle of the frozen lake that was totally Spartan, having only I think just some walls and a little stove to keep warm. I don’t remember any beds, even though I think they were planning to sleep there for a little while, but the main point was that it was totally small. I think there were probably some sorts of hilarious jokes when Dauber hit his head on a beam or a pipe because he’s so tall. Anyway, at some point they were starting to ice-fish (there was a hatch in the middle of the cabin that revealed a hole in the ice through which to fish) and then Luther accidentally dropped something really important in to the ice-hole. Maybe it was the stove, or the car keys, or the “How To Ice-Fish” book that they were going to need, but whatever it was, it was important enough for the studio audience to make an audible gasp when Luther dropped it. The studio audience was pretty damn worried about Coach and his friends

I don’t remember what happened after that, but I think the problems got solved and they left the cabin and went home.



This one was left over from the last MayFair Art Festival. Lets hope it sells this time around. Today was my 50th post!!! Yea........ Lets hope I can make it to 100......ooo many thanks to Polaroid. You are the best!!!

Price:$325.00
Size:20x20
pearsonphoto@gmail.com



Hello folks, I made it back from the land of the DeadMac's. Things are running a lot better. I had to do a clean install. Anyway, its good to be blogging again. Today I would like to talk about how Polaroid Corp. stop making the Time Zero Film. If you don't know, this is the type of film that I use for my Polaroid Collages. Yup....no more. I try to order some from BH Photo.....they had none... I try to order from other companines....they had none...Its like the movie Fahrenheit 451, where they burn all the books...yup burn all the Polaroid...Thanks Polaroid....Thanks



Audio

Baikonour – Haiku to Shin Ken – Melodic
Battles – B+T – Warp
Prefuse 73 – Illiterate interlude/Keeping up with your quota – Warp
Four Tet – Sun, drums and soil – Domino
Tara Jane O’Neil – Tie a ribbon – Preservation
Pornsword Tobacco (Explains Freedom)
Susanne Brokesch – Heroes – Chicks on Speed
Alexander Tucker – Welsh harp – All Tomorrow’s Parties
Steffen Basho Junghans – IV – Preservation
Cat Power (The Greatest)
Guitar – Sunday afternoon at Tamagawa River – Onitor
King Tubby - The Roots Prophet and The Mix - Dove
John Cooper Clarke - I Don't Want to be Nice - Big Beat
Instituto Mexicano Del Sonido - Dub-A El tiempo muy largo - LoveMonk
Skin, Flesh and Bones meet The Revolutionaries -Third Cut Dub - Hot Pot
The Mahotella Queens - Siyancela - Wrasse Records - Wrass
Dayna Kurtz - Another Black Feather - Munich Records
Bettye Lavette - My Man - Munich Records - mUsa
sound Wave Formation -
Youngblood Brass Band - Nuclear Summer - Layered Music
Marlowe - Performance Monkey - PrObe Plus - Probe
Jegsy Dodd and the Sons of Harry Cross - So Here we Are - Probe
Mike Badger - Shadow Dub - Generator
Tunng - Woodcat - Full Time Hobby



This post is dedicated to my favourite programme-of-the-moment, 'It's not Easy Being Green'.More specifically, I think we should just pause for a little while to ponder on the wonderment of the moustache adorning the fine (if slightly wacky) gentleman fronting the program, Dick Strawbridge:Can You Say 'Ecosystem'?Sadly I couldn't find any profile images of the moustache, but if you watch the



I'm reduced to whining 'it's not faaiiiiiiir' in the style of a seven year old spoilt brat. What the thunderfuck is going on, America? Can you not see that Ace-hole is nothing but a talentless muscle-bound hairstyle? Honestly. When Bucky was sent home in the place that was rightfully Ace's, it was a severe miscarriage of justice. All those 14 year olds with Ace's voting line on speed dial



Someone dropped a bomb on me!!! Well on my mac...I got some bad files and it missed up my whole system. I'll be back with a few comments about:

Mayfair Art Festival,
ebay,
Polaroid,
macs,
and much more.......



What the hell position in football did Coach play before his coaching days? I cannot remember even the slightest hint of a suggestion as to what position he played. I mean, clearly, he must have played football in college or else he probably wouldn’t have been a football Coach at a big school like Minnesota State. But seriously, I have no idea what position it was.

Okay, I’m sure we can figure this out.

Coach was way too lanky and (probably) slow to have been a defensive back, wide receiver, or running back. Similarly, he probably wouldn’t have made a very good safety. I mean, Coach just doesn’t seem like a very quick guy. By the same token, I think we can all but eliminate quarter back, though certainly he was a leader on the field wherever he played. Even though he was tall, he didn’t quite seem to have the heft to have been on either the offensive or defensive line. That basically narrows it down to either a tight-end or a line-backer. I think probably he was a line-backer. He probably made some big hits in his day and probably also really motivated the defense.

I bet that people always said it was an honor to be on the same field as Coach.



Sorry folks, my mac has been down for sometime and I'm trying to bring in back to life, So please check back soon....lets hope the old man comes back to life........................


I hope all is well

Rp



Audio

Mix by Neil Robbins

mr fingers - deep tech 2 - white label
dj snotburger - snotann - fxhe records
regis asbestos - sleep archive remix - infrastructure new york
syncom data - horse - sd records
jeff mills - present age 12 inch - mk2 music
hek - poppadom preach - vmw
trefa - machines - mission 6277
white vinyl with tasteful tan coloured label no info
dj slip - everytime it takes a while - substatic
zachary lubin - introduction to algorithms - mission 6277
65d mavericks remix - cally 2 - sd
jeff mills from the 21st century part 2 - axis
jack fm - scene 5 - techno not techno
philus - ph - sahko
taylor deupree - tokei - audio.nl
sleep archive - radio transmission ep - sleep archive
ben gibson - sinovorta - mission 6277
counterpart - constant anxiety - mission 6277
rhythm and sound with raz donovan and raz perrez - let we go - burial mix
ryoji ikeda - data flex - rastanorton
doppler effekt - gravitation - gigalo
ladonna smith - rare earth - table of the elements
alva noto + opiate - opto files - rastanoton static
jean claude eloy - gaku no michi - musique francaise d'aujourd'hui
radio morroco - excerpt of berber women - sublime frequencies
john cale - carousel - table of the elements
luc ferrari - petit symphonie intuitive pour un paysage de printemps
bvhaast 9009
diskaholics anonymous trio - weapons of ass distruction - small town super jazz
jean claude eloy - gaku no michi - musique francaise d'aujourd'hui
sonic youth, su tim barnes - koncertas stan brakhage prisiminimui - syr 6
iannis xenakis - persephassa - prospective 21 siecle
cluster 71 - water
morton subotnic - sidewinder - columbia
dusk at new hope pennsylvania - syntonic research series - atlantic
Gabon les musiciens de la foret vol 1 - radio france
francois bayle - les bleu du ciel - prospective
patrice sciortino - le quatuor de pecussion de paris - compatible
Gabon musique des pygmees bibayak - baka bambuke - radio france
white out - china is near - atp
sahara musiques de la l'afrique traditionnelle - fantasia - sunset france
raga recueillis et enregistres a benares - bam
merzbow - sphere - tzadik
2000 statues - the english channel - parachute records
pygmees - bogongo et chant - playa sound



So, usually, Coach episodes focused on the character of Coach and his problems with football and relationships and zany situations. However, every so often, some of the more peripheral characters would get a chance to shine.

I remember one episode where Luther got a dog and he totally loved the dog and took it everywhere. I think probably this caused problems because Coach hated dogs. This was a hard decision for the writers to make probably because everything about Coach's personality suggests that he would love dogs, but if he actually liked Luther's dog then there couldn't have been all sorts of hilarious situations where Coach got mad at Luther for having his dog in the office or maybe there was dog slobber all over the footballs or something else. So maybe Coach just didn’t like Luther’s dog; I think that was probably it. Probably as an added joke Luther named the dog Haden.

Anyway, I don’t remember why, but for some reason Luther’s dog got detained and sent to the pound and was going to be put to sleep. I think, maybe, it had supposedly bitten someone, which was funny because every time you saw the dog it was just like, sleeping or sitting in one place or some other lazy dog behavior. It was hell of ironic. But I remember on the night before the dog was going to be put to sleep Luther came to the pound and sat outside the dog’s cage and they shared an order of French Fries covered in ketchup. It was actually a really sad scene I think, especially if you like dogs. Man, I’m getting sad just thinking about it.

At the end, for no explicable reason, the dog was allowed to live. I think probably Coach had something to do with the dog being saved, even though he did it somewhat begrudgingly, I’m pretty sure.



This broadcast is being brought to you by the 'smegging beetroot' so unkindly maligned in an earlier post on this blog.Urban got up this morning super-early. I know this because she opened the fridge and extracted breakfast materials at 8.30am. I witnessed her at the computer, solidly writing, between the hours of 8.45am and 1pm. It looked like there were many, many words on the page, but



words to come.......

Price: $100.00
Size: 8x8
pearsonphoto@gmail.com



I think Coach was on the air for a really long time. If you’re making that many episodes, one has to imagine that eventually there would be an episode that was filmed while Craig T. Nelson had a zit in his ear. I mean, everyone I know has gotten a zit in her ear at some point or another; it’s something of a shared cultural annoyance. I wonder if you can tell which episode(s) it is by how often Coach like, maybe, puts his finger in his ear while he’s trying to act. Like the aggregate Coach-finger-in-ear count could maybe be plotted as some sort of percentage of the likelihood that Coach has a zit in his ear.

I guess Coach isn’t so perfect after all.



...it's not a Swede, it's a smegging beetroot. Cowboy phoned up to tell me he was on his way home but he'd been pondering (all day, apparently; I thought he was a bit vacant when I spoke to him earlier) and he's pretty sure it's a beetroot. Nah, says I, can't be. It's a Swede: it's just really dirty, because all the vegetables come with tons of dirt on, because they were pulled out of the



As part of mine and UrbanCowboy's attempt to contribute less to the use of noxious chemical substances in the world, we have recently signed up to receive a bag of organic fruit/vegetables. Yes, it's more expensive. Yes, the food tastes better.In this week's bag (our first) were several easy-to-identify vegetables which we fed to houseguests at the weekend. Although they didn't rave about the



Have thoughts or complaints about the letter to the community? Feel free to discuss them openly in the comments.



Today was Cannon's birthday. We started the day off at Rescliff for a little country breakfast. Then we headed to the worse golf course in Lakeland, but that didn't keep our golf game down. Between the four of us...we made one birdie, couple pars and a whole lot of bogies. After that we had a huge party at the Shogun Japanense Steak House. It was a hell of time. Anyway, happy birthday Bro.



Audio

Skyy - Let's Turn it Out - Salsoul
Shock waves - Vampire Dance - Maximus International Records
Javier - Wassup - Capitol
Freedom - Get up and Dance - Malaco
The Pazant Brothers - Skunk Juice 1
Megan Rochell - The Only one your need - Def Jam
Shanice - tHAT'S THE WAY i lOVE yOU
skyy - Show me the way - Sussed
Kadenza - Let's Do It - PRT
Ronnie Hudson - East Coast Pop Lock
Instant Funk - It's Cool - Sussed
Public Annoucement - Stepper Friend
Moses McClean featuring Diamond Temple - Soul Groove Mix - Soul Groove Records
Lisa Hill - Iam on the real side - Boogie Times
Freda Payne - In Motion - Buddah Records
Ralp Tresvant - Love Hangover
Jerry Carr - Keep on Comin' Back - Cherie
Instant Funk - Bodyshine - Salsoul
The Pazant Brothers - Greasy Greens - BGP
Van Hunt - Character - EMI



During dinner when you were a child, when she could think of no other useful interaction to have with you, did your mother ask whether 'you can tell me one good thing and one bad thing that happened to you today?'. Mine certainly did. I'm reasonably sure she then switched off her listening capabilities, and only woke them up again when my father decided he needed to talk about how the Xerox



Ok, I have to vent. Like I always do when I get home I check my blog. To see if there are any new comments and to see if its up and running. I plug in the address to Safari and sure enough its still up!!! Hey thats a plus. I look down....I see a new comment on one of my post. Hey that a plus! I read the comment. And I get pissed as hell.... The balls of a person to leave a #$#@'ing advertisement on my site. I know I should be happy that someone I don't know left a comment but......I'm not....Its not right to get on someone's blog and leave a comment for an advertisement on HOW TO EARN MONEY. I'M NOT TRYING TO EARN MONEY PAL. Thats not the reason behind my blog! And for you to get on my blog and say "Very nice!" makes me sick to my stomach. The thought of you moving you slimming mouse over my images makes me want to puke through my nose. Low u are and low you will stay.....



Coach had this place, like some sort of log cabin in the woods, where he would go when things got rough. I don’t remember if it was actually the house that he lived in full time, or if it was just some cabin he owned, but they only showed it when Coach was trying to get away from his football problems or else (in a positive setting) hanging out with Luther and Dauber to fish or something. The cabin was on stilts for some reason, so the establishing shot from outside made it look like it was about 50 feet off the ground, and the main room was like a big circle with, I think, stuffed fish on the walls. It would probably have made sense, given the context, to have some sort of animal trophy on the wall as well, but I don’t remember seeing that and I’m pretty sure that that wasn’t the image the show’s producers wanted to convey about Coach. I mean, he was manly enough to fish and put stuffed fish on his walls, but he wasn’t so barbaric as to hunt deer and moose and other big mammals. This was a good production move and totally didn’t alienate any potential viewers and/or advertisers.

I think probably like, after a big loss or if Coach was worried he might get fired or if he screwed up in the media or something, he would go to the cabin and probably there would be a scene where Coach was sitting there looking at the fire in the cabin and Christine would come in and say: “I knew I’d find you here.” And then Coach would make a self-deprecating joke that showed both a sense of humor and a sense of humility. Then Christine would sit down and say, like, “Hayden,” (that was Coach’s first name) “I know that it’s hard to blah blah blah” and then Coach would listen for a while and then maybe say something strong-headed because he’s a manly sexist football coach that doesn’t want to take any lip from anyone, especially not from some broad who has entered in to his manly fish-trophy haven. Probably he would stand up when he said this and walk around the room a little bit to show that he was serious. Then Christine would also stand up and get right back in Coach’s face and confront his denial but also be compassionate about the situation. Then finally Coach would admit what had gone wrong and there would be a catharsis. Then, when the tasteful music stopped, Coach would say a one-liner referencing something from earlier in the episode and the studio audience would laugh. Then the credits would roll.

Man, that cabin was awesome for solving problems.



I haven't managed a post in over a week...? What is that about? Well, very long story very short: work trauma. In summary:A) despite the fact that my line manager has known that we would need maternity cover from December-July since oooh, May, he failed to do anything about it, leaving us one out of four staff down for 4 months. Then he gives my co-worker (who despite being a useless piece



Congratulation to the University of Florida for winning the NCAA Final Four. The first in the history of the program. I have to say I don't watch much basketball, pretty much the only time I do is in March, my dad on the other hand watched every Gator game played this year, so for him this was extra special! The special part for me was watching the game with my dad. It was a special night.......Gators win, Gators win, The 2006 National Champs



That chick who I have been referring to as Coach’s wife/girlfriend was named Christine, I think. Coach also had a daughter, I remember, but I can’t remember what her name was. It is possible that Coach’s daughter was named Christine and the wife/girlfriend had some other name, but for whatever reason I’m pretty sure that it was the wife/girlfriend who was Christine. In any case, that's what I'll be calling her.

Unfortunately I can’t remember at what point in the show she stopped being his girlfriend and started being his wife, if that happened at all. Probably there were episodes where Coach got in to some screwball situation that put strain on the relationship and they had some talk where Christine said something like “maybe we’re rushing in to this marriage thing a little too fast,” and they agreed to postpone the marriage date or else just to talk about things some more. I bet the music that played in the background when Coach and Christine had those talks was hell of appropriate and tasteful.

This probably happened for like, five straight seasons.



The chalk line was at an old youth group building. Seem odd for a youth group to have. News....How about those Gators!!!! Made it to the big game in the Final Four. Lets hope we bring it home this time..

Price: $75.00
Size: 8x8
pearsonphoto@gmail.com



Audio

Richard from Krispy in the studio

Brian Damage - Mad Truth featurng Mark Stewart - Jarring Effects
High Tone meets Wong Lei - Xu - Pias
Shackleton - Hypno Angel - Skull Disco
The Bug vs The Rootsman - Don't Version- Rephlex
Gotan Project - Domingo - XL Recordings
Don Drummond Junior - Sir Pratt special - Attack
Delroy Williams - Babylon Boy - Makasound
Jest - Bump This - CDR
Jokestar - This is Hip-Hop - CDR
Krispy - What we all about - CDR
Krispy - Hip-Hop Boy 200 - Damn Right
Fatman presents Prince Jammy vs. Crucial Bunny - Jammys A No Fool - Auralux
Ambassador - The Bridge - SixShooterRecords
Johnny Dowd - Praise God - Munich Records
Tres Chicas - Red - Yep Roc
Mc Mabon - Banc y Tarw du
B:dum B:dum - track 4
Fruit Bats - Death of Clayton Peacock - Vanguard
Henry Joiner, Annie Anderson - Hallelu, Hallelu - Rounder
Henry Thomas "Ragtime Texas" - Railroadin' some - old hat
Mark B and Delta - The Greater Good - K boro records
Bobby Kray feat Eek A Mouse - Main Man - Black Allianz



This one was finished in 2005. I"m not sure what kind of flower it is but it's yellow and thats my favorite color....I always wanted a yellow house until my neighbor painted his down the street. The sun shines 24 hours a day in my neighborhood.

Price: Sold
pearsonphoto@gmail.com



AFRICAN BROTHERS / KING TUBBY
THE AFRICAN BROTHERS MEET KING TUBBY IN DUB
NATURE SOUNDS CD
One from last year just surfacing from France via an electronics market in Beijing, this is the same outfit who issued the Chinna Smith dub set from Mutabaruka’s ‘Check It!’ album. The African Brothers was the roots harmony vehicle for Sugar Minott, Tony Tuff and one Eric Bubbles. Their style came across between the Abyssinians and the Prophets, deep and sweet deliveries of conscious lyrics – their ‘Righteous Kingdom’ repressed on a seven last year is a stone cold roots classic. But don’t get too excited in anticipation of this set as it’s a curious mix of vinyl lifts and studio mixes for the version addict only. Tubbs is in great form on the desk with clean, crisp snappy mixes from his funkier side, but some of the tunes drop away like a studio monitor test mix or a ditched mixdown left on the quarter inch. Dubs of ‘Lead Us Heavenly Father’, ‘Hold Tight’, ‘Practice What You Preach’ are here plus, bizarrely, two seemingly identical mixes of ‘Party Night’ bearing different titles – ‘Party Dub’ and ‘Unity Dub’.

BIG YOUTH
SCREAMING TARGET
TROJAN CD
A versionist’s wet dream. In 1973 the raw nineteen year-old Big Youth was transcendentally schooled by the urbane Augustus ‘Gussie’ Clarke to conjure the toasts on his ‘Screaming Target’ debut set which for this re-issue are supplemented by original vocal and instrumental tracks plus alternate cuts. Highlights are ‘Pride and Joy Rock’ on Leroy Smart’s ‘Pride and Ambition’ and the title track whose complicated lineage can be traced back to Willie Cobbs r’n’b hit ‘You Don’t Love Me’, a tune that spawned limitless versions that continue replication even today, best known being Dawn Penn’s ‘No, No, No’, but on this album is represented by two Pablo instrumentals, the violin-laced ‘K.G.’s Half Way Tree’ and ‘Organ Style’ an achingly beautiful melodica melody. Repeating the achievement of his second generation predecessor U Roy, Jah Youth had seven single shots on the Jamaican charts at one time, his popularity eclipsed that of Bob Marley on his home territory, checking back on these performances it’s not difficult to understand as he captured everything that was exciting and fresh about DJ style.

DUBSTEP ALLSTARS
DUBSTEP ALLSTARS VOL.3
TEMPA CD
An overdue rework of the mix CD format with Kode9 selecting the cuts and unleashing DJ partner the SpaceApe, the one time Daddi G, to sermonise on information perversion themes over segues and through whole tracks, and the rhythms are largely lifted from dubplates just dropped or about to drop from Skream, D1, DMZ crew including Loefah, older names Plascticman and Benga and some newer names or maybe riddim pseudonyms, Geiom, Random Trio, N-Type and Blackdown. Amongst the fresher tunes Calenda’s ‘Forever’ is a standout with swathes of orchestral, John Barryesque, samples replacing beats as the dominant driver whilst SpaceApe strings out a breathless paranoia rap through into Digital Mystikz’ ‘Heartless Ninja’ itself repeating and paying tribute to Skream’s fabulous fluttering riff from last year’s instant classic of the dubstep genre ‘Midnight Request Line’. It’s all tension built, compelling stuff – especially with the increasingly apocalyptic snatches pulled from SpaceApe lyrics - and takes the dubstep genre even further away from its origins in the South London-based garage movements from five years ago.

LITTLE ROY
CHILDREN OF THE MOST HIGH
PHAROS CD
Little Roy is not one those reggae artists who has suffered from over-recording since his first appearance on the scene back in the late sixties. His ‘Tribal War’ and ‘Prophecy’ have proved timeless classics both versioned countless times. His earliest hit ‘Bongo Nyah’, cut for Lloyd Daley’s Matador label, appears on this new set and finds Little Roy in fine voice as does the whole of the album. A mix of well crafted new songs, especially ‘Membership Card’ with covers of older material is skewed by the inclusion of ‘Our Day Will Come’ and ‘My Sweet Lord’! This may seem baffling to the casual roots fan is the kind of ‘big people’ music befitting someone of Little Roy’s vintage - as opposed to the carefully honed righteous rage of some of today’s nu roots artists - it would just be much more preferable for him to select a couple of songs with less baggage. Backing comes from musicians assembled by Carlton ‘Bubblers’ Ogilvie of the Ruffcut Band and the other ‘bad card’ of On U Sound’s 2 Bad Card alongside Adrian Sherwood, Fish and Horsemouth make for one killer rhythm section.

LOTEK HI-FI
MIXED BLESSINGS
BIG DADA CD
Wayne ‘Lotek’ Bennett is a graduate of the tough old time London rap scene, regular collaborator with mentor Roots Manuva and driving force behind Lotek Hi-Fi, that’s along with vocalist Wayne Paul and rapper Aurelius aka Dazzla. The concept underpinning the album is a celebration of the host of largely black music styles that have been drawn into London via a common Caribbean heritage – so creating something uniquely ‘English’. Funk, hip hop, soca, disco, dancehall, reggae and dub are all unified in feel across this works. ‘Ram Dancehall’ is hip hop only in the sense of Ward 21’s mad chanted stylings as Lotek gruffly delivers the lyric in bizarre carnival style, ‘Time has Come’ features guest Sandra Melody in an outtake from ‘Tales of the Unexpected’ whilst ‘Move Ya Ting’ has both Sandra and Mr.Manuva guesting on a ragga-disco piece of nonsense and ‘Sticks and Stones’ relaxes back into the ‘chunka-chunka’ one drop pace of a true roots tune. Place alongside Roots Manuva’s ‘Awfully Deep’ as amongst the best in U.K. black contemporary music.

MARK IRATION / SPLITZ HORNS
STRUGGLE / FORWARD EVER
SCOOPS 10”
Remarkably this is the first vocal outing for Iration Steppers’ Mark Iration cut for Steve Vibronic’s Leicester based dubplate style imprint Scoops, where all is pressed on the format of choice these day – ten inch vinyl. Picking up the age-old theme of ‘struggling inna Babylon’ its not so much the lyric that stands out more Mark’s assured delivery coming across with a clear Sugar Minott influence on this expansive keyboard driven thudder segueing into the dub where the keys maintain a repeat figure punctuating a dub mixed with plenty of imaginative touch. The flip features the welcome return of the Scoops house brass section aka Splitz Horns with a tune that on the opening chorus veers a little close to the melody of George Michael’s ‘Careless Whisper’ before jazzy solos rescue the day and the ensuing dub raises to higher levels.

SOOTHSAYERS
TANGLED ROOTS
RED EARTH RECORDS CD
Over the years many of the reggae based bands coming out of Africa have turned out to be a disappointment, with a few majestic exceptions that is, Nigeria’s Sonny Okasun comes to mind. Soothsayers suck in African musical traditions to London’s more fusion friendly environment and find a more successful formula for the collision of afrobeat, urban jazz and dub. Nigerian vocalist/percussionist Adesose Wallace, from AfroCelt Sound System, and Netsayi Chigwendere, Zimbabwean ‘Chimurunga Soul’ singer, take majority of the vocals whilst Roots Manuva collaborator Ricki Rankin both sings and DJs on ‘Never Give Up’ – soon come remix from Manneseh. All moulded together by co-writers and producers Idris Rahman and trumpeter Robin Hopcraft this music can transfer dancefloor genres without any stress. Mad Professor is on remix duties for future singles.

TRANSDUB MASSIV
NEGRIL TO KINGSTON CITY
NOCTURNE CD
Looks like something might be up on the west coast at last, with Steve ‘Mystic Urchin’ (eh?) Wilson, DJ fflood and mtfloyd recording in Jamaica, mixing down in San Francisco and mastering in Berlin all while pulling in Dub Trio’s drummer Joe Tomino, dancehall Empress Ce’cile and the talents of the criminally underrated Me’shell Ndegeocello on bass this looks like serious business. And so it turns out, although with an experimental production perhaps a little too dense for realistic dub pretensions and the mix from mtfloyd not entirely pulled out from an occasional downtempo mire. On the upside Me’shell’s basslines are a flow of pure badness especially on the mistitled ‘Moonrise Dub’ with vocals from Farenheit where she drives the whole thing, and when Joe Tomino’s drums appear a whole track can take on a shinier snappy feel – too much to expect Meshell and Joe working together though, it doesn’t happen except on the throwaway opener. These boys aren’t bashful about using a full horn section either judging by the militant blasts that open and punctuate ‘Mi Nuh Was Dat’, vocal courtesy of Tami Chin. There’s even some a couple of drifts thrown in with Haruna Madono’s treated cello on the track ‘On White River’ and fflood’s ‘Under the Thatch’.

UNKNOWN
JAH PROMISE / ALMIGHTY
CHRONIC 12” VINYL
Jungle the way it should be, chasmic bass, flagrantly ripped roots samples and tearaway breaks – there’s some debate as to the identity of the borrower here, but after circling Lemon D the consensus landed on one Dan Miracle. Those familiar with Natty Congo’s fiercer efforts, thinking of a stripped down version and will be near the mark as Johnny Osborne’s classic Studio One cut ‘Jah Promise’ from is Truth and Rights album is gutted, filleted and spread amongst a foundation d’n’b structure with the horns and vocal bouncing around in militant conqueror style. These tunes disappear in rapid fashion; best pick this one up now.

VARIOUS ARTISTS
DOWNBEAT THE RULER – KILLER INSTRUMENTALS FROM STUDIO ONE
HEARTBEAT CD/LP
In competition with other early Jamaican sound systems Clement Dodd earned the name ‘Downbeat the Ruler’ and the popularity of his sound led directly to the creation of the Studio One label for the production of indigenous tunes to replace the dominance of American 50’s r’n’b. Good to see Heartbeat re-enter the fray and contest the title for top Studio One revivalist with the Soul Jazz people. This reissue is ‘straight to the head’ with the opening five tunes, ‘Rockfort Rock’, ‘Real Rock’, ‘Swing Easy’, ‘Mojo Rock Steady’ and ‘Heavy Rock’ forming the cornerstone upon which much of modern reggae was built. The bands featured here – Soul Vendors, Sound Dimension, Brentford Road Allstars and Dub Specialist consisted of the same group of interchangeable musicians and now can be viewed in the same critical light as say, the Meters or Booker T and the MGs.

WANG LEI MEETS HIGH TONE
WANG TONE
JARRING EFFECTS CD/DVD
Wang Lei is a Sichuanese musician now relocated to the more experimentation friendly city of Guangzhou in China’s southern province Guangdong. Starting his musical path with worthy studies of Sichuan opera he was distracted into rock, techno and now dub via visiting luminaries such as Rico Rodriguez and trips to France courtesy of Paris/Beijing cultural connections. His dalliance with electronic music unfortunately made Wang Lei’s music sound perversely old fashioned when taken to the west but the collaboration with nudub heavyweights High Tone has reintroduced the space that was always there in traditional Sichuanese music – such as the mighty qin, a seven string fretless flat bed instrument that can sound like the most abstract delta slide – and with the addition of non-mechanical bass textures in the mix from rubbing up to free-form reggae means there’s something a little way different happening here as evidenced by the opener ‘Tchen’ and its flute, sparse percussion and sampled strings. On the other hand Wang drags High Tone in the other direction towards greater risks and away from the dub reggae frameworks, witness ‘Ballistik Affair’ – not a cover version of Leroy Smart’s Channel One hit – with its slow progress over multiple voice samples from mainly Latin sources. The package is nicely fleshed out with a DVD edit of the two acts performing together in France from 2004.