"The Way Of The Dub" Vol.4

It`s finally here, Vol.4 of my dubby mix series is available for download..Coming from a more laid back approach this volume, with a nod to some old classics. The break masters of "Bomb the bass" Gussie p. brand new dubstep from Audiosutrasound, Adrian Sherwood & to finish off the mix a classic from the keyboard maestro of jamaica Jackie Mitto.

life, love & unity.....hope ya enjoy!!

(download - 142.63mb)

Tracklisting.
darkheart (major force remix) – bomb the bass
2 face rasta – rob sparx
conqueroaring dub – gussie p.
running away (hard mix) – iration steppas vs d. rootical
promo cd-r – audiosutrasound
light up your spliff – bush chemists
processed world – adrian sherwood
prophet lives – east meets west
guys & dolls dub – d-roy band
no way dub – digidub & fairshare unity sound system
dread cowboy – tayo meets acid rockers
born for a purpose-reason for living – doctor alimantado
ayatollah – jackie mitto

Funky Film Soundtracks # 2

Lifted from the 1977 soundtrack album of the obscure blaxploitation martial arts film directed by Timothy Galfas & Richard Kaye . The original working title was to be "The Black Streetfighter" and the tagline was "The Big Bad Black Dude of the Streets... He'll bust you up, slam you down and blast you into pieces!" starring Richard Lawson in the lead.
You can see the whole film HERE.

The soundtrack is a mixture of poor quality disco tracks but has some great late 70s funky instrumentals, However the album has a quite raw feel to it that is sure to please the groove afficinados amongst you...Enjoy!

Art & Ron - i`m your man (mp3 download)





Tracklisting
1. Humphrey's Overture - Paul Humphrey
2. Same Thing Happens - Jesse James
3. Here I Go Again - Velvet Fire
4. She Said Hell No! - Art & Ron
5. I'm Your Man's Helping Hand - Sam & Jus'Us
6. L.A. Gray - Geraldine Kaye
7. Can't Stop Talkin' - Art & Ron
8. I'm Your Man - Art & Ron
9. Leroy - Sam Shabrin
10. Let's Do It Again - Denise Gordy
11. Pearlie Gates - Bishop Mounger

"Get Yo`Self Together"

Busy, busy, busybees over here in the land of the rising sun, spring is here and so many things to do....so here is The Dramatics telling me to "Get Up & Get Down" and get your shit done!! From their 1971 legendary STAX label LP "Whatcha see is whatcha get" which is another classic tune onna more slower tip....check the All Seeing Eye on the cover sleeve!..dollar bill yo!

An Absoulute stonker of a party tune, that i may just open my set with at the ClubPI........Enjoy!!




The Dramatics – get up and get down (mp3 download)

45 @ six-0

A bit busy over at mytea@om towers, due to the fact of organising another of our events, Club PI. But i thought a little happy birthday to the humble 45rpb vinyl single. who is 60 years young today..
With the onslaught of the digital world, pundits and commentators alike have reported the demise of vinyl records and especially the 45rpm single or 7" inch as we call it in europe, but the complete opposite is the reality. Since 2006 vinyl sales have been increasing as the new youth generation discover the joys of owning the warmth, hiss, crackle and pop of vinyl. There is a patten emerging that young people in their 20`s have had enuff of the clinical sound of digital and are returning to the retro treats of the original pop sound of their parents generation. Sure the vinyl renaissance will never outsell their digital formats any time soon, but it`s encouraging to see nonetheless.
I bought my first 7" inch in 1974.





In those days I used to work weekends on my cousins stall in Piccadilly Circus. After work on saturdays he would pay me and i would rush into SoHo, before the record shops would close and just love to see all the records hanging up around the walls and the punters busily digging through the racks. It would be 20 years later that I would open my own record shop `ATLAS` in Archer Street.
Even as I have embraced the digital era, djing with both CD and mp3`s and vinyl, I feel the future lies in a mixture of both analog and digital formats living side by side in a sort of unity of sound. What has become sad though is that whole genres of music could be lost to vinyl forever, please read the link below that tells the story of how Reggae on vinyl is becoming completely extinct.

In Jamaica vinyl has been eliminated.

A Little Bit Of History.

The first ever produced 45 was released by RCA victor in 1949 by the country/western singer Eddy Arnold a track caled Texarkana Baby , pressed on green vinyl in line with RCA’s early plan to colour-code singles according to genre...which were as follows - Pop...black, Classical...red, Popular Classical..midnight blue, Children's...yellow, Country and Western...green, Rhythm and Blues...Cerise (LOL! not orange), International...sky blue.
The new format was too encourge the record buying public into a new era of hi-fidelity recordings on a nonbreakable vinyl with just 7 inches across and weighing 1.1 oz, compairing favorably with the older 78rpm`s which were much heavier and easily breakable. The reproduction quality of the 45 took 10 years research by the RCA engineers to develope. God bless `em. What they achived was to dominate the recorded music industry until the advent of the digital CD.
Beginning with the onset of Rock 'n' Roll the music brought the 7" its great success as the youth strongly favoured the format. Sales of 45`s overtook 78`s in 1958, this was the boom years of record sales. During the next few years the UK was to become a major source of popular recorded music with the advent of the British 'beat' groups, This was the 'golden era' for the 45, however by the end of the 1960`s sales of the 45 had begun to decline. While 12"extended singles were introduced for use by DJ`s in the disco`s of the 70`s, sales continued to decline until 2006.

How to make a 7 inch single

It`s An Instrumental Funky Weekend. Part 3

And finally a bit more of a chilled gem for sunday here is Harvey & The Phenomenals - "Soul & Sunshine" from 1971. A solid, assured whopper of a groove...enjoy!



Harvey & The Phenomenals - soul & sunshine (mp3 download)

It`s An Instrumental Funky Weekend. Part 2

Saturday`s choice gem in our instrufunkyweekend party is by The Majestics - "Funky Chick" released in 1969, and rarer than hen`s teeth, apparently only 500 original vinyl copies were pressed on the Morsound label. It has been re-issued on the FUNK45 label.....so get out your dancin` shoes and boooooogie!!



The Majestics - funky chick (mp3 download)

It`s An Instrumental Funky Weekend. Part 1

Kicking off our funky instrumental weekend to warm up the party, we`re dropping The Rimshots - "hey neighbor - get your own" from their debut 1972 LP "Soul Train".
It`s got everything - congas, horns, organ, wah-wah, tambourine and kept real tight by the tasty rhythm-guitar groove.....enjoy!

Sitar Beat!

Pundit Ravi Shankar uncle to Ananda Shankar

A Tribute To Ananda Shankar.
11 December 1942 - 26 March 1999

10 years to the day of his leaving the earthly realm, Ananda Shankar who was born into the world reknowned music & dancing family of India. Studied sitar amazingly not from his famous uncle. It was when he travelled to the US in the late 6T`s that his innovative work became noticed, fusing the evocative sounds of the east with contemporary western music, that sat so well with the whole hippie/flower power, indian mysticism vibe of those times. While playing with numerous artists including Jimi Hendricks he was picked up by Reprise records and released his Cult Classic which contained many indian classicial pieces as well as sitar cover tunes of The Rolling Stones "jumping jack flash" and my personal favorite the cover of The Doors "light my fire"

Returning to India, in 1975 he released on EMI(india) the LP
Ananda Shankar And His Music

A pulsating mix of psychedelic sitar jazz funk with the stand out tracks "Streets Of Calcutta" and here "Dancing Drums". Which became such killers on the dancefloors of the UK`s undeground scene.



It was when Talvin Singh started the Anokha club night at the old Blue Note club in London`s East End in the 9T`s, that things took off again. The club night was to increase awareness among the underground UK dance scene to the 3rd generation british asian youth`s mixing up of all the classical south asian styles with drum 'n' bass, techno, hip-hop, breaks and rock to devastatingly wicked effect.

This lead to a collaboration with DJ Sam Zaman (aka State Of Bengal) who had long been an admirer of his work, the resulting LP "Walking On" released on Peter Gabriel`s label REALWORLD was to show the full extent of Ananda`s exciting sitar soundscapes....Unfortunatly Shankar's sudden death from heart failure was to cut short any LIVE performance stemming from the LP`s release, which eventully hit the airwaves in 2000.

Thank you Anandaji for contributing to my musical education.

For more sounds check out DJ Pathaan`s Musical Rickshaw Radio Show.
Also Pathaan`s Supperclub NOMADS 7 compilation.

Ananda Shankar - dancing drums (mp3 download)

No Trouble On The Mountain.

While in deep chit-chat with my good friend DJ mac-key the other night, he was telling me about his friend who had moved down to Tokushima on the island of Shikoku, South Japan to start an organic farm, which was a coincidence because I had been wanting to visit Shikoku for ages now and trip to Chiiori...It was then that this track by organist Richard "Groove" Holmes came bellowing out the speakers. A pure slice of quality jazz funk that I had overlooked for a long time. Lifted from his 1974 New Groove LP on Groove Merchant records, accompanied by that most underated guitar genius O`Donnell Levy.



Richard 'Groove' Holmes - no trouble on the mountain (mp3 download)

Look Around You!

Thought we`d have bit of humour for St.Patricks Day....Robert Popper is a British comedian who takes the piss out of public television educational films from 7T`s & 8T`s, and he gets it spot-on........enjoy!



These`s a lot more on YouTube...take a butchers!