The proprietor of Kingston record shop Aquarius and the Aquarius and Scorpio labels, producer Herman Chin Loy was one of the first members of Jamaica‘s large Chinese and mixed-race Asian population to leave his mark on reggae music. The original “Augustus Pablo,” Chin Loy bequeathed that name unto Horace Swaby and his melodica, with whom he carved the legacy of funky reggae and dub mined here. While any reggae student should have a good number of these tracks in their collection, rare versions like The Teacher‘s “Soul Vibration” and Herman‘s “Aquarius Dub” could give the Soul Jazz people some competition for the year‘s best archival reggae compilation.
Lee Perry And The White Belly Rats Panic in Babylon
While somewhat obscure, Lee Perry‘s recent collaborations with Mad Professor on his London-based Ariwa Sounds have produced some of the Upsetter‘s most compelling tracks since the ‘70s. This spotty collaboration with New York City‘s White Belly Rats isn‘t as inspiring, but, as with any Perry release, it has moments of sheer genius. The Rats‘ often rock-influenced dub creations make for an odd if relatively soulless foundation, but Lee is as on as ever, putting hexes on George Bush and Chris Blackwell, and on more than one track. “Have a Perry salad/For this is Perry ballad.”
Eyvind Kang & Tucker Martine Orchestra Dim Bridges
It‘s always interesting to hear electronic releases composed by artists who work largely outside the electronic music milieu–they always seem to find different nuances and new approaches to seemingly pedestrian sounds. This collaboration comes from two respected jazz artists, and no doubt there is a strong tendency to hear this album as a jazz release–i‘s cool, relaxed, learned, and sublime. But surely it‘s even better to enjoy its unwavering beauty as an electronic release, similar to World Standard/Wechsel Garland‘s The Isle (Staubgold) from earlier this year. At the same time, the great songwriting, fresh arrangements, and engrossingly gorgeous takes on what would normally be dull electronic gear use make genre assignments moot.
Various Artists But Then Again
With this fifth anniversary memento, ~scape celebrates transition not as something to go through begrudgingly but rather as an aesthetic in itself for our hyper-paced times. No longer the glitch-dub label of yore, the label now hovers in a galaxy far, far away where hip-hop, minimal techno, dancehall and pop are not seen as mutually exclusive. The results, then, are most often brilliant-tracks by Cappablack, Bus and Dabrye, Headset and Soulo, and Deadbeat in particular-but the refrain on Epo‘s “Doorstep” is just atrocious and it could have stayed on the cutting room floor. Then again, Cappablack‘s “5th Dimension (Anti-Imperialist Disco)” is worth the price of admission alone.
Jah Division Dub Will Tear Us Apart
Yep. That‘s right. Dub covers of Joy Division. Come on, just admit it, you know you wish you‘d thought of it first. Too bad these Brooklyn kids beat you to it. Ian Curtis is cracking a smile somewhere in heaven.
Yuka Honda Eucademix
Lower Manhattan‘s Cibo Matto always seemed to show off shopping spree bounties, rather than releasing cohesive albums. They‘ll rap about the artichokes they ate, show off their discount thrash-metal CDs, and finally spend the night trying on three-dozen genres. Cibo keyboardist/samplist Yuka Honda continues the good faith on her second solo album. Here, she dabbles in Greenwich Village-folkie hip-hop, then gelatinous broken beat, then starry halo keyboard trips to Neptune, then harpsichord ballads for Fellini movies, then ‘97-style alternative rock, and then….it‘s difficult to understand her personal statement since she wears so many masks. Nonetheless, Eucademix is fine, intrepid experimentalism.
Various Artists Merck Mix 3
It is one thing to plagiarize another artist, it‘s another to improve said artist‘s ideas. Mediocre Autechre and Prefuse 73 imitators still trying to figure out Max/MSP abound, but there are musicians who enliven those mavericks‘ sketches into graffiti murals that stretch for blocks. Miami glitch-hop label Merck carries such aerosol cans. Merck Mix 3 amasses the label‘s roster, delivering beats that crack bones with every step as electro-funk melodies scatter like hummingbirds. Too many sublime moments are interrupted, like the post-Neptunes bounce of Aphilas‘ “Collective Memory Loss” and Ilkae‘s narcotic Tokyo lounge in “Scarlet.” Otherwise, the disorientation pleases.
The Prefects Are Amateur Wankers
The Prefects‘ most poignant moment is 13 seconds long. It was caught at a 2001 reunion gig where frontman Robert Lloyd mutters about running to the VD clinic; the rhythm section stumbles after him and before anyone figures out what‘s happening, the song ends. “VD” could summarize the band‘s legacy. The Prefects were Manchester blokes who cranked out a slightly autistic case of The Buzzcocks, earned The Clash‘s contempt, made no money, got bored and quit. However, this compilation of singles and unreleased tapes shows that the band deftly mastered the jagged and obtuse sound later tagged “post-punk.” Thank goodness they were “amateur wankers.”
A Bossa Eletrica Skindo Le-Le
The excellent Stockholm-based Raw Fusion brings you this dancefloor gem by live band A Bossa Eletrica. “Skindo Le-Le” is still a London jazz dance classic heavily played by the likes of Gilles Peterson and Patrick Forge. On the flip, A Bossa Eletrica gets a Swedish remix treatment by S.U.M.O., who definitely know how to bounce without losing the melodic spirit of the original.
Trickski Sweat
These two young cats, Yannick Labbe and Daniel “Stoerte” Becker, hail from the Freiburg region in Southwest Germany and moved to Berlin to join forces with Jazzanova‘s Sonarkollektiv. The outcome is a techy but nevertheless very soulful affair featuring Samoan-born MC Cocotrunk, who apparently is New Zealand‘s answer to Puff Daddy. Shirts off, this tune could well make you sweat…
