Friday 6 September 2013

Fade 2 presents Riddim Shack! - The Reload



Picking up from where last year's original Riddim Shack mix left off, here's a madder, deeper set of party bangers from Africa and the Caribbean - 2012-2013 Azonto and Afrobeats from Ghana and Nigeria and fresh dancehall from Jamaica and the USA spiced with some bits of coupé-decalé and associated Ivorian dance music and a few other things for good measure. It doesn't really need much explanation. It just needs a pumping sound system, a dark bar or basement and a lot of bodies getting low on the dance floor.

Riddim Shack! The Reload by Musik_Line on Mixcloud


Approximate track list:

Spice – So Bootylicious – Romeich Records
Tesh – Build It – Munshyn Rekordz
Tifa – Champion Bubbler - Mixpak
Stylo G – Ready – 3 Beat
Demarco – Done See Dem – Head Concussion
TOK – Most Wanted – B-Rich
Beenie Man – Whisper – B-Rich
Quick Cook ft. Sashae – Wine and Kotch – Stash Di Cash
Sarkodie ft. EL – Dangerous - Unknown
Olamide – First of all - Unknown
Heavy K, Gizmo, Hyde – Wine Down Low
Cee Gee – Bad – Akom / Fire Ball
Perfect – Beat Dem – Akom / Fire Ball
Natalie Storm – Like the Dancefloor – Fool’s Gold
Yaw Siki – Jeggings Party – Unknown
Daddy Freddy – Hands in the Air - Stealth
Mohammed Alidu - Aikaso (Murlo RMX) - Unknown
Tic Tac ft. Edem – Pum Pum - Unknown
RDX - Go Hard or Go Home – South Rakkas
RDX – Ride It – Blaqk Sheep
Chupa – Nsemkeka - Unknown
Peacemaykaz - Seh Eyewudeh - Unknown
Geenius/Ms Dynamite – Get Low – Rinse Recordings
Boogaloo – Mkwaju - Moveltraxx
Marc Lenoir and DJ Sergo - Faya Moukou – X-Pol
Jeff Bogolobango – Aladji – X-Pol
Dollar DJ – Wolosso – Obouo

download link: http://we.tl/fLcADJMWMB

Thanks to: FrenchKiss; DJ Zhao; Ridley Road Market; Suze @ Mixpak.

Wednesday 10 April 2013

Riddim Click! 90s/00s dancehall versions


Dancehall is always reinventing itself but there’s something about the 90s era that continues to fascinate me. In the early 90s dancehall producers were suddenly doing something different – these riddims were coming out which were so raw, minimal, uncompromisingly electronic, but had so much swing, so much bump, they just shattered the mould that Sleng Teng had established and beamed down something from another dimension. Yonatan (my long time collaborator and Addis Ababa's party boss) and I wanted to showcase these riddims, just the B-sides with their insistent pulse of drum and bass, scattered and shuffling percussion, twisted synth lines and shards of vocals. The earliest piece on here is probably 1990 and the latest mid-2000s. There's no tracklist - most of them are just called Version …

Download here.


This mix is kindly hosted by the Sofrito crew - check out their site for loads of other mixes for your listening pleasure, party info, etc. Their next London party is on 18 May and ought not to be missed.

Tuesday 19 March 2013

Groupe al-Redha, Tangier


On a recent trip to Tangier I found myself heading off to a mysterious destination out east beyond the train station, walking in the dark along an almost deserted road which curved around the base of the Charf hillside. Here, in the middle of an industrial estate, I was led to a car repair warehouse which Groupe al-Redha and friends had taken over for a night of music and dancing.

At some point I'll post more text and (I hope) some high quality audio of the night. As a taster, though, here's a short but spine-tingling video of Groupe al-Redha in action.

Majmu'at al-Redha (clip 1) from Musik Line on Vimeo.


The following photos are in no particular order but give a bit of a flavour of the night.

As for much of March in Tangier, it was pretty damp outside.



The musicians were in a row at one end of the warehouse and the audience sat around tables, drinking tea, smoking and getting up to dance when they felt like it. The engineer kept an eye on the desk, set up in the middle of the room.



The rhythmic underpinning comes from the tbilat, seen here being kept warm between songs.



Several bendir - shallow drums somewhat like tambourines - fill in the percussion, while the melody is propelled mostly by hajhouj (three-string acoustic bass), eight-string guitar or banjo, and vocals.



There was also a recorder interlude.


Saturday 23 February 2013

Interzone Dub



Now available at digital stores - 13 raw sound system dubs and vocals, previously exclusive to New York's Black Redemption Sound System.

Get it here:

http://www.junodownload.com/products/fade-2-interzone-dub/2156839-02/

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/interzone-dub/id608882605

http://www.amazon.com/Interzone-Dub/dp/B00BLZL0RK


There's also a short promo mix that you can download for free over at soundcloud:



Full tracklist:

1. Atmospheric Duct
2. Atmospheric Dubbed
3. See Them Hide (ft. Meeky Melody)
4. See Them Dub
5. Zambesi (Part 1)
6. Zambesi (Part 2)
7. Confused Land (ft. Judah Eskender Tafari)
8. Confused Dub
9. Fire on the Bridge (ft. Jette)
10. Elements Riddim
11. Interzone (Part 1)
12. Interzone (Part 2)
13. So-Called Leaders (ft. Singing Cologne - Politricks Remix)

90 numbered pre-release CD copies were distributed also - check out:

Jah Waggy's
Reggaemusicstore
Blakamix
Tanty
Dub Vendor