The Skints are a London-based group who record dub, punk, ska, and predominantly reggae music. Since forming in 2008, they have garnered a loyal fan-base who are crazy about their “East London” sound. The group have even received backative from the Beeb (via BBC Radio 1) which is indicative of their major scope! Dubbed ‘one of the hardest working bands in the UK’, the quirky quartet have collated with legendary producers Prince Fatty and Mad Professor and continue to gig all over the world, selling out venues in their own right, and supporting acts such as The Gym Class Heroes, The Slackers and The King Blues. But, when all is said and done, there is no place like home. We learn that much from The Skints’ latest single “London Town,” a rhythmic ode to the ends that mentions UK keywords like Saxon Sound System, Brixton and Victoria Line. What’s more, Jamie, Jonathan, Joshua and Marcia called upon foundation DJs Horseman and Tippa Irie to pass through and chat two lyrics on the mic! Video After The Jump…
Category: UK
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HEAR THIS: Stylo G vs. Gully Bop “Who She Want?”
It’s a Dancehall Dilemma: Experience vs. Youth? The G or the Bop?
“Right now me feel good, how me come a England and them just embrace me,” states JA sensation Gully Bop as the DJ continues his rise from sufferation and obscurity to the top of the game. “Big big BBC radio a play Gully Bop non-stop and invite me in them studio. Me a get support at every show, every one of them pack! People swarm me like bees fe take picture everywhere me go. Is a thousand things and more a go on right now, so me have to give God thanks.” He even found time to link with ranking UK Yardie Stylo G. Just like Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney, and Home T, Cocoa Tea, and Shabba, Stylo and Bop seem to have asmallserious disagreement on their hands. The affections of a young lady are at stake. Experience vs. Youth. The G or the Bop? Which one ah dem she want? StarTraxx & Adde on the riddim. Audio After The Jump…
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HEAR THIS: Lady Chann “Slew Dem & Dun” Ft. Diesel D-Power
UK Bad Gyal In The Mood For Murderation
If you ever met Chann you wouldn’t ever believe so much fire could come outta her. How can someone who’s so pleasant in person pick up the mic and just murder everyTING? Not that we’re complaining, mind you. Chann’s nice with the lyrics, and her energy is mad as per usual. This time she teams up with grime veteran Diesel D-Power. #Nang. Audio After the Jump… (more…)
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Reasoning with Adrian Sherwood:
“What doesn’t Evolve Stays in the Realm of Nostalgia.”The UK Dub Master Breaks It All Down in this In-Depth Interview
Dub was born in Jamaica where the bold audio experimentation of pioneers like King Tubby’s, Augustus Pablo, and Lee “Scratch” Perry shook the foundations of recorded music. These ideas spread around the globe and took root in fertile ground, places like the UK where many Caribbean immigrants brought sound system culture with them. Dub-minded youths like Adrian Sherwood began standing outside blues dances watching the walls shake and eventually got a chance to spin a few records himself—a bit of novelty reggae with James Brown and “Funky Nassau”—progressing and learning every day as he restlessly expanded his musical horizons. He would go on to tour as mix engineer for The Clash and The Slits, and found no fewer than four labels—Carib Gems (established in 1975 when he was 17 years of age), Hit Run, 4D, and the legendary On-U Sound. His mind-blowingly mic’d, mixed and mastered recordings with in-house groups like Singers and Players, African Head Charge, New Age Steppers, Creation Rebel, Scratch, and Bim Sherman and more are the stuff of legend. And he’s still at it, having just released a critically acclaimed album in collaboration with Pinch.This conversation took place some two years ago, but it’s still every bit as current as when it happened. Like a great dub track, Sherwood moves from deceptively simple to infinite depth in a flash. Interview After The Jump… (more…)
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WATCH THIS: Specialist Moss ft. Mr. Williamz “Dubby Dubby” Official Music Video
Dubplate You Know That Is The Artillery—And Gwan Go Mek Dem Know It’s In Abundancy
First they gave you that “Herb Man Skank” and now Specialist Moss and Mr. Williamz are back with a criss new video off the big bad Dub Style EP. With live footage direct from London’s Notting Hill Carnival, the visuals delve into the roots of UK sound system culture. This is what happens when two UK lyrical badman buck up pon one ill drum and bass riddim. Field Marshall no partial. Video After The Jump… (more…)
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A Love We Can Feel: Respect To John Holt
Early Sunday morning, Reggae Legend, John Kenneth Holt, died at the age of 67 in London. Even after collapsing onstage during a performance at this summer’s One Love Festival in the UK, he insisted that his health was fine and said “I’ll be back.” Born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1947, he entered talent competitions at an early age, throughout the island. Holt recorded his first single, “I Cried A Tear,” a song about lies and heartbreak, in London, 1963. This melancholy first tune, foreshadowed numerous follow up hits. More After The Jump…
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Reasoning with Lee “Scratch” Perry: “The Black Ark Preserve Life and It Kill”
“I think the devil is a goat,” and other thoughts of a living legend.
Whether you prefer to call him a madman or a genius, there’s no doubt that Lee “Scratch” Perry is a living legend. The man who gave the Wailers their “Natural Mystic” and pushed the frontiers of dub music at his Black Ark studio has never lost his creative mojo, even at the age of 78. Next week he will host his first New York art installation, followed by a live performance at Brooklyn Bowl with Subatomic Sound System as part of the annual Dub Champions Festival. In the first installment of Reshma B‘s exclusive interview with The Upsetter aka the Super Ape aka Pipecock Jaxson, he talks about two of his most recent collaborations—the Vibes EP, a collaboration with the Swiss musician Iguana, and the Back on the Controls project for which the London-based Rolling Lion team recreated all the exact recording equipment and techniques used at the Black Ark. “The Ark of the Covenant is a spirtual vibration,” scratch explains. “Ancient spirits speak… Everything is spirit. Because God is a spirit and Satan the devil also is a spirit. But Satan need competition.” In part one of the interview, find out why Scratch sprinkles white rum inside the studio before beginning a recording session. And in the second installment, discover who Scratch was taking revenge on when he built his own studio, The Black Ark, and find out how it had so many awesome powers: “It produce rain, whirlwind, hurricane, tidal wave, thunder, hailstone, earthquake, and it preserve life and it kill. It cripple, it cramp, and paralyze.” Videos After The Jump… (more…)
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Maxi Priest Leaves It All On Stage
The UK Reggae Superstar’s Birthday Show at BB King’s Was vEasy To Love
When Maxi Priest stepped onstage at BB King’s in New York City on June 11th, he had two reasons to celebrate. First and foremost, the UK reggae superstar had turned 53 just a day earlier. Running a close second was the arrival of his first album in seven years, a lovers-rock-leaning collection of straight-up reggae cuts called ‘Easy To Love’. After many successful years with Virgin Records, Maxi went the indie route, releasing his 2007 album ‘Refused’ on Peppermint Jam Records, and his latest with long-reigning reggae imprint V.P. Records. Full Review & Video After The Jump…
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WATCH THIS: Lady Chann ”I Duppy Riddim” Official Music Video
Lady Chann Drops Big Bombs Like She Name Bagdad
You already know!! Spitting lyrics like fire as usual, Chann’s latest tune, “I Duppy Riddim” is a mash-up of London’s underground scene—dancehall with a bit of jungle, D&B, grime and everything in the middle. In short, Chann’s signature style. Since getting her start with London’s Suncycle crew she’s been throwing out cuts like “Your Eye Too Fast,” “Feel Calm” and “Sticky Situation” and collaborating with the likes of Sticky, Toddla T, Durrty Goodz, Manga, Gappy Ranx, Skibadee and Beenie Man. Now, on the heels of her Dun Dem Season Trilogy mixtape the Norweezy native teams up with producer Benny Page on the I Duppy Riddim released on her own label, Dun Dem Records. The tune officially drops July 6 but it’s already getting rinsed on the radio and now there’s eye-popping video. Never afraid to say what’s on her mind, Chann speaks the truth in her tunes. Tracks like “Eye too fast” show she’s not scared to call a guy out on his bad behaviour. But this time around she makes it clear she has “no time for the chit chit chat”—nothing but straight beats and bars. “We Duppy Riddim cyan’t resuscitate we killin’.” As the song states this one is “Fe De Gyal Dem, Fe De Man Dem, Fe De Gyal Dem.” How nang is that? Video After The Jump… (more…)
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WATCH THIS: M.I.A. “Double Bubble Trouble” Official Music Video
Maya & Partysquad Connect On a Reggae-Flavored Matangi Raveup
Remember that song you used to sing when you were a kid? “Uh-ohhh you’re in trouble.” Well MIA and Partysquad have updated it for her latest album, Matangi, adding a reggae backbeat and some grown up lyrics: “I step up in the game and burst your bubble.” This week she dopped the vid, which was directed by MIA herself. Looks bad girls do it right. The new visuals shows the making of fully functional guns using a 3D printer at home? Sound far fetched? They can burst more than a bubblle. Welcome to the future, circa 2014. This ain’t no kids stuff. Video After The Jump… (more…)
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Maxi Priest Meet and Greet Tomorrow in NYC
Win a Chance To Meet The Singer And Hear His New Album, Easy To Love
NYC peeps, win a chance to meet Maxi Priest and attend a private listening session for his upcoming album Easy To Love, available June 24th on VP Records. The private affair will be held tomorrow (Wednesday May 7) from 6-9pm ET at an undisclosed location in Midtown Manhattan. Hit the jump for your chance to be all up in there. Contest Rules After The Jump… (more…)
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WATCH THIS: DJ Vadim “Hope” Official Music Video
Russian Expatriate DJ Flings Down The First Selection From His Forthcoming LP, Dubcatcher
So… what does a Russian-born yute named Daddy Vad know about “dibby dibby soundboys” you ask? Apparently quite a bit. We were just a tad skeptical when we first encountered this resident of the London suburb of East Ham. After all aren’t there enough hipster dancehall projects littering the global soundscape at the moment? But then we took another look at that crazy album art. And the label’s press release finally won us over when it stated: “Think more Eddy Grant than Sean Paul. Taking a musical genre and infusing it with the sounds of soul, boogie and rap, cranking up the bass to 11 and sometimes just dubbin’ it…conscious, social, political but also playful and ample portion for the lovers. Like one of the albums’ skits, it’s all about vibesing up the place. I wanna hear some drums n bass!” Mek it go so then. Here’s the first joint off Dubcatcher, featuring righteous vox courtesy of Rio Hemopo and Sabira Jade. Video After The Jump… (more…)