On his seventeenth album, the French dub pioneer Brain Damage has assembled together the Japanese experimentalist Emiko Ota and the British dub-eccentric Mad Professor and made a brilliantly strange record of what he calls ‘Post-Dub’. It is, however, so much more than that title suggests. Each track is named after one of the many mysterious spirits unique to the Japanese imagination - the yōkai - and each song takes on the unfathomable characteristics of these creatures, be they malevolent or benevolent to us mortals. Musically, the album swings from post-punk edge to cavernous digi-dub to curious theatrical vignettes, always with this sense of esoteric wonder. Read / Listen.
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‘Reflections of Pinters' - a musical journey through memories of Houghton Festival 2024
Looking warmly back to Houghton Festival 2024, this mix is a reflection, a mash of memories of the kind of sounds you might hear at Pinters, a zone of musical discovery away from the tougher electronic sonics that pepper the beautiful festival site, Pinters is where the organic, the esoteric and the hilarious (Reggie Watts being all three) converge. Obviously there were loads more DJs and live acts than just our (Truth & Lies) curated bits but the mix I’ve put together is a blend of tracks that I played, some I wished I’d played, some inspired by other DJ’s sets and a sprinkling of artists who performed live over the long weekend including Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin, Sven Figee, Reggie, Harper Trio and Alabaster DePlume.
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Elijah Minnelli 'Perpetual Musket' (FatCat Records) - a review
Dub provocateur Elijah Minnelli has finally dropped a record with some guest vocalists and it is immense. Real life reggae legends Little Roy and Earl Sixteen, and the younger voices of Shumba Youth and Joe Yorke take turns interpreting old English folk standards over Elijah’s powerful and haunting dub reggae instrumentals. This is a heavyweight release that has already seen praise from folk royalty Peggy Seeger and is bound to find love from the progressive dub-heads as well as the traditionalists. Read / Listen.
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Woxow 'Solid As A Rock' (Little Beat More) - single premiere!
Woxow, the Italian producer, DJ and label boss of Vienna-based label Little Beat More has an incredibly strong E.P. coming out on his label in June called ‘How Many Ancestors Do We Have’ . We are hyped to premiere the first single - 'Solid As A Rock' - from the record. A tough, jazzy collision of hip hop and dancehall featuring Reggae Roast MC Natty Campbell, fans of folks like Roots Manuva or Fat Freddy’s Drop will LOVE this! Read / Listen
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Milton Gulli 'Quotidiano' (Tangential Music) - press release
‘Quotidiano’ is the classy new album from one of Lisbon’s most accomplished artists, Milton Gulli. A true musical artist whose Mozambican heritage and cultural upbringing in the African diasporic suburbs of Portugal's capital have given him a rich palette of musical influences that he harnesses with great skill and energy. Sunshine music with a serious message… Read / Listen here
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Various Artists 'Covers 3' (Tru Thoughts) - a review
Tru Thoughts bring out the cover versions once again in the third installment of their ‘Covers’ series and there are beauties within. Hot 8 Brass Band, Quantic, Mark de Clive-Lowe, sUb_modU and J-Felix amongst many stirring up the ingredients and coming up with something fresh! Read / listen….
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Gentlemen's Dub Club at the Rescue Rooms 19/02/20 - a review
Gentlemen’s Dub Club bring the skank and sweat to the Rescue Rooms…read more….
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The Young Ones Of Guyana - On Tour / Reunion (BBE) - a review
The Young Ones Of Guyana have their only two albums released together for the first time by BBE - read/listen on here…
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