Bim Sherman Tribulation: Down in Jamdown 1974 to 1979

Silky-voiced roots crooner Bim Sherman is best known for his ‘80s offerings with Adrian Sherwood’s On-U Sound, which endeared him to punk, new wave, and progressive dub fans. His buttery falsetto isn’t as recognizable to reggae aficionados outside the U.K., which is a shame. Pressure Sounds aims to correct this oversight with Tribulation, a 23-track collection of Sherman’s Jamaican recordings, which rightfully places Bim alongside Gregory Isaacs and Dennis Brown as a classic reggae stylist, equally competent at sufferers’ anthems and lovers’ rock. Stellar versions of “Love Forever,” “Ital West,” and “Golden Locks” are just some of the highlights on this contender for roots reissue of the year.

Kitsuné Unveils New Singles

Paris-based Kitsuné imprint is no stranger to pumping out singles from up-and-coming dance artists, as is evident by its slew of releases that helped acts like Digitalism, Guns ‘N’ Bombs, and Thieves Like Us make names for themselves. For the label’s next installment of singles, it enlisted the new wave of soon-to-be all-ages club anthems from Glasgow’s dark indie-poppers Big Face, Bitchee Bitchee Ya Ya Ya, The Teenagers, and fellow Parisian Yelle.

Big Face’s recently released “I Wanna Be A Style Crusader” is one of the more shocking Kitsuné offerings yet, borrowing from vintage industrial acts like Throbbing Gristle and Echo and the Bunnymen. Will it depress those hungry for more poppy electro-house? Probably not, considering that the group enlisted the Daft Punk-esque posterboy DatA and London’s David E. Sugar to handle the remix treatment.

But even with the slew of new talent the label is unleashing, it’s the remixed B-sides that may propel these singles into overdrive. Featuring reinterpretations of the aforementioned artists from hype-worthy names like CSS, Punks Jump Up, Gentlemen Drivers, Riot In Belgium, Passions, and more, the new season of Parisian singles is looking pretty fresh.

Big Face “I Wanna Be A Style Crusader” Tracklisting
A1. I Wanna Be A Style Crusader
A2. I Wanna Be A Style Crusader ( David E. Sugar’s Paradise Garage Mix )
B. I Wanna Be A Style Crusader (DatA remix )

Bitchee Bitchee Ya Ya Ya “Fuck Friend” Tracklisting
A1. Fuck Friend
A2. Fuck Friend (Yusek & Brodinski Remix)
B1. Fuck Friend (CSS Remix)
B2. Fuck Friend (Mix Hell Remix)

The Teenagers “Homecoming” Tracklisting
A1. Homecoming
A2. Homecoming (Gentlemen Drivers Rave Mix)
B1. Homecoming (Guns ‘N’ Bombs XTC 1996 Remix)
B2. Homecoming (Passions Remix)

Yelle “Cause Des Garçons” Tracklisting
A1. Cause Des Garçons
A2. Cause Des Garçons (Punks Jump Up Remix)
B1. Cause Des Garçons (Tepr Remix)
B2. Cause Des Garçons (Riot In Belgium Remix)

Pon Di Wire: Burning Spear, Anthony B, New Reggae Riddims!

Veteran roots artist Winston “Burning Spear” Rodney has received Jamaica’s National Order of Distinction (O.D.) and will unleash a two-disc-plus-DVD rarities collection. The O.D. was awarded in recognition of his service, through music, to Jamaican society. “This award was a long time coming and I am glad to receive the honor,” says Rodney. He has been in the studio with Parliament-Funkadelic legends bassist Bootsy Collins and keyboard maestro Bernie Worrell, preparing for his next album. Meanwhile, his label, Burning Spear Music, has issued a massive 25-song, two-disc-plus-DVD collection of rarities, outtakes, unreleased songs, and live recordings.

Reggae singjay Anthony B is wrapping up a busy 2008. The artist, who has released more than 22 albums, along with thousands of singles, is coming off a strong year in which he smashed stage shows, including California’s Reggae Rising and Atlanta’s Club Legacy. He followed his big ’07 album, Higher Meditation (Greensleeves), with the chart-topping, Mario C-produced singles “Tease Her” and “Bad From Long Time.” Catch Anthony B on stage at Jamaican concerts Reggae Campfire, Crystal Springs Family Fun Day in Buff Bay, and Negril Impact.

Bounty Killer, Munga, and Mavado will grace a solid dancehall showcase Wednesday, November 21, at Amazura in Queens, NY.

Portmore “don” (a neighborhood strongman) Mikey Pelpa has turned his talents towards creating positive music. The Jamaica Star carried a front-page report on July 30, 2007 of Pelpa and DJ Vybz Kartel making peace after being involved in a bitter feud; the paper branded Pelpa a Portmore shot-caller. Pelpa has since forged an alliance with Jah Cure’s Danger Zone Music Group, performed in October at Curefest, and released several conscious tunes, including “Emergency,” with Limey Murray on the Jam Down rhythm, and “Parental Guide,” on the Cloud Nine rhythm. “Di yute dem haffi show respect and remember seh dem parents a di real guide,” remarked Pelpa to One876.com.

Continuing a big year of solid reissue projects is the just-issued 12” Rulers: Gussie Clarke Music Works 1987-1991, featuring Gregory Isaacs, Shabba Ranks, Dennis Brown, and more. U.K. label Greensleeves will next re-release Jamaican singer and model JC Lodge’s ’80s album, Selfish Lover. The Clarke-produced set was a high watermark for sophisticated lovers-rock reggae production and features the Billboard hit “Telephone Love,” as well as “Hardcore Loving” and “Lonely Nights.”

Jamaica’s venerable old-school soundsystem Metromedia has been lauded in the Gleaner for its steady, year-to-year success. The sound was created in the mid-1970s when Lou Gooden took over after the suicide of its original owner, Thomas “Tom the Great Sebastian” Wong. Haldaine James (Jimmy Metro) joined the crew, becoming Gooden’s assistant disc jockey, and eventually took control of the sound. During the early 1980s, Jimmy Metro decided to take the sound to another level by adding Peter Ranking (Peter Metro), Zuzu, and Errol Turner, and year after year he added more DJs to the crew, which now includes Jimmy Metro, “Big Belly” Sky Juice, Oliver, Scratchy, Jiggy Hunks, Jacks, Platinum, Ribbs, and Scully.

Singer and deejay Kiprich is working on a second album for Shaggy’s burgeoning Big Yard label. The Waterhouse, St. Andrew-born artist also has a clutch of new singles out now that include “Bun Fi Bun” and “On My Mind,” on Big Yard, “Rosie Whine” on Birchell, and “40 & Over” on the Total Cil.

Catch the new Queen Ifrica video, for her hit “Below the Waist,” at YardFlex and other Caribbean video outlets now. Her new single, “Nuff Vibes,” is out now.

New Riddims Pon Road

The Q45 label’s Big Problem riddim, with singles by Lady Saw, Beenie Man, Capleton, and Elephant Man.

Soundbank Music’s Pure And Clean riddim features cuts by Turbulence, Jah Mason, Munga, and Natural Black. Buju Banton’s Gargamel label has released his new “Cowboys” track, plus others on the riddim by Mr. G and New Kidz.

King Jammy’s son Jam 2’s new beat is the Tek Ova, with tracks by TOK, Idonia, and Wayne Wonder.

Main man Don Corleon has some new romantic selections on his Love Potion riddim featuring Alaine, Beres Hammond, Morgan Heritage, and Pressure.

Other hot riddims of note include a re-lick of Peter Tosh’s “African” on Chris Records, the speedy 5000g dancehall riddim on Free Willy, a tribute to Culture’s Joseph Hill on the Irie Ites label’s Down In Jamaica riddim, and the one-drop Devils Angel riddim on Supersonic.

Burial Untrue

Untrue showcases Burial’s unique version of dubstep taken to its logical extreme. All the elements of his debut are here: the huge Slowdive-style synths; the extremely tight, skipping beats; the emasculated, altered, disembodied soul vocals; and the fanatic attention to every sound’s detail and clarity. At its best moments, like the ecstatic, relentless drive of “Ghost Hardware” or the spooky second half of “Homeless,” where the synths fall away, leaving the Alex Reese-style bass and drums exposed, the album can be breathtaking. But it’s bogged down in indulgent, beatless interludes, and lacks the exciting variation that Burial is capable of. The difference between emotional and overwrought will likely depend on your mood.

Various Studio One Dub Vol. 2

Soul Jazz unearths a new bag of lost, rare, and essential dub gems from Jamaican cornerstone label Studio One, known for its melodious, time-honored riddims. With vocals cast aside and mixing-board nuances revealed, opener “I’ll Be Around” (Sound Dimension’s 1971 take on The Spinners’ hit) encapsulates these instrumentals’ understated, soulful beauty. Studio One Dub Vol. 2 offers a vibrant survey of reggae’s transition from rocksteady to roots. We hear The Heptones’ joyfully swaying “Ting-A-Ling” next to Brentford Reggae Band’s driving, steppers-style “Moses Version,” while “Peace Version”‘s swirling horn echoes sit nicely beside Dub Specialist’s “Dar es Salaam” (later re-licked as Michigan & Smiley’s ’80s rub-a-dub classic “Diseases”). Vol. 2 is a fresh taste of timeless music.

Kim Hiorthøy “I Thought We Could Eat Friends”

One of Norway’s favorite sons, Kim Hiorthøy, takes a step away from his usual folktronica territory to dabble in the world of electro. My Last Day (Smalltown Supersound), is Hiorthøy’s first full-length in seven years, and the jumpy synths and riffs, as well as the newly-incorporated disco flavors, are a pleasant change of pace for this artist.

Kim Hiorthoy – I Thought We Could Eat Friends

Kaskade Bring the Night

San Francisco house DJ and producer Kaskade started out playing small rooms, but as his star rose, so did the size of his crowds, and this, his fourth mix CD, is clearly geared to the big room. There’s no pretension on display here, only club-ready bangers designed to get asses shaking. To that end there’s Armand Van Helden’s old-school “NYC Beat” and the Dirty South remix of Kaskade’s “Sorry,” an expansive track that’s been flogged plenty. And it’s a testament to Kaskade’s own remixing talents that he even makes execrable sellout Nelly Furtado sound fun on his remix of “All Good Things (Come to an End).”

Various Soul Heaven: Kenny Dope & DJ Karizma

Lord have mercy! Spiritualism bleeds from the 30-second mark of this double-disc compilation through its end, whether that adulation and celebration goes out to God, a lover, or the music itself. Following editions by Masters at Work, Osunlade, and Kerri Chandler, the British club night’s latest comp is commanded by two American jocks. Dope’s side begins with a foghorn and forges through beautiful songs by the likes of Peven Everett; Karizma’s starts with an orgasm and a track lineup (from Ben Westbeech, Ferrer, Kemistry, and himself) that’s slightly more dancing-under-the-strobe than dancing-in-the-aisles. Dope, though, like his partner, holds a supremely solid groove that’ll keep devotees of soulful house lining up for communion.

Megasoid: Party-In-A-Box

To date, Megasoid is still on the loose. Comprised of Sixtoo’s Rob Squire and Wolf Parade’s Hadji Bakara, Megasoid has been running amok in Montreal with a turbo-crunk collaboration that started off as a monthly night (which has included stops in Toronto and New York), but has quickly expanded into spontaneous block parties throughout the city (often broadcast, soundsystem-style, from a rundown minivan). Aside from some unwanted police attention, and banishment from one Toronto venue, the two-man posse has been blasting its live-remix party late into the night with much street-level acclaim.

“You know that if you’re coming out to a Megasoid night, chances are you’ll either get hit by a dude swinging another dude over his head, or 2,000 watts of feedback, or some really rock-solid digital-crunk shit,” Squire says.

To be fair, most “producer” shows straight up suck–a sentiment Squire shares–but one might be forgiven for assuming the opposite after a Megasoid party, considering the gargantuan synths, miles of wire, and other archaic gear that he and Bakara haul around.

In fact, it was their mutual love of synths that brought the two together. “The first time I borrowed a synthesizer off of [Bakara], I blew it up,” Squire says, laughing about the pair’s bonding moment.

While Wolf Parade’s frantic indie rock somewhat resembles the energy of a Megasoid show, Squire’s intricately produced hip-hop records as Sixtoo are its very antithesis. His recent Jackals and Vipers in Envy of Man (Ninja Tune) is a slow-paced album of lumbering, slightly off-kilter beats and sinister atmospheres; like 2004’s Chewing on Glass and Other Miracle Cures, it rummages through the detritus of hip-hop, combining samples and loops with microprogramming and other digital effects to create a record of subdued but elaborate majesty.

“Megasoid isn’t super dance-y, but it’s not Sixtoo stuff either,” Squire offers. Instead, the side-project takes its cues from everywhere–from French techno to Southern bounce–and smashes them together. “It’s gone everywhere from Mouse on Mars albums to literally destroyed records found in trash bins,” he continues. Of course, the influences stretch beyond even those parameters, and into Mighty Morphin’ Power Ranger territory, too. “I was throwing around futuristic-sounding names,” says Squire, “and Hadji was like, ‘There’s no fucking way we are naming it anything but Megasoid.’”

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