Shimmy Shimmy

My Favourite Riddims // Heavy Metal

jimbones — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:30:12 +0000

There has never been much common ground between Heavy Metal and Dancehall, but that doesn’t mean producers can’t draw inspiration from the dark arts to make badass riddims.

The Heavy Metal Riddim, produced by Haldan Browne and released on the Main Street label in 1998 is one of the best examples of a producer taking musical inspiration from an unlikely source, and although there are plenty of superb examples of that this is one my all-time favourites.

All the Deejays outdo themselves here; with raw cuts from Spragga Benz, Cutty Ranks, Vegas, Red Rat, General Degree and more. It’s difficult to choose my favourite but if it came down to it Cutty absolutely kills it.

With all the riddim remakes being made in the last few years I think this riddim would be perfect for a re-lick with some heavy metal legends, What is Eddy Van Halen up to these days?

Orange Hill & Vybz // Pon Time

Large — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:35:20 +0000

London’s Orange Hill Productions – aka Ras Kwame and Jr Tubby (King Tubby’s nephew) – are sitting on some big tracks right now. The ‘Wine De Best’ remixes already delivered the goods earlier this year, clashing together the sounds of JA and the UK on a new and rave-ready level. With a similar formula, they’re now previewing ‘Pon Time’ with Vybz Kartel & Sneakbo, recorded with Kartel apparently just days before he went behind bars. This one doesn’t have a release date on it yet, but hopefully it’ll be out pon time to pop off this summer. Check out their sounds in full in their Electro Bashy mixtape over at Large Up.

Loudspeaker Riddim

Large — Fri, 11 May 2012 11:58:59 +0000

It’s almost a year on since Kingston Story dropped, and dancehall has seen a lot happen in the interim. Thankfully, though, Dre Skull is still blazing the trail – his newest riddim release the Loudspeaker Riddim, which drops on Mixpak on 22nd May, covers all corners of dancehall: Popcaan’s ghetto tale, Beenie Man’s ladies tribute, Natalie Storm’s catwalk anthem and a rare appearance from soca monarch, Machel Montano. For me, Machel kills this one.

Ninjaman Talks

Large — Thu, 10 May 2012 11:20:59 +0000

The Gorgon is back and doing new tunes, dubs and TV interviews. In this feature with Jamaican show, DWRAP, he talks about his beef with Sting, working with Kiprich, fellow jailmate Vybz Kartel and the state of the clash today…

‘I am the creator of clash in the dancehall’

Elephant Man Interview On Irish & Chin Radio

jimbones — Mon, 07 May 2012 17:12:20 +0000

If you follow Dancehall in the US at all you’ll know Irish & Chin pretty much run tings (alongside the Mighty Massive B, of course!) From clashes to theatre performances they’re deep in the game to say the least, and their radio station Soundchat is dope.

Broadcasting live out of New Jersey every Monday night from 7-10 PM (ET) they have a pretty solid archive going back to last year of interviews with artists such as Tony Matterhorn, Tifa, Konshens, Rodigan and many more alongside tuff guest mixes.

Last week they got the Elephant Man on the phone for a pretty hilarious chat, find out why Ele wasn’t previously a fan of performing in Europe, why he’s the real raving king and how he brings the VIP section to him.

Ele also premiered the video for his new tune with Lady Saw, Siddung. Check it out:

You can listen back to the broadcast Here

London // Summer Preview

Large — Tue, 01 May 2012 11:46:01 +0000

This summer sees London get taken over by everyone’s parties – the Queen, the Olympics and most interestingly, Jamaica’s 50th anniversary celebrations. Though there were big plans for Finsbury Park to turn into Jamaica Village for the duration of the Olympics, they unfortunately have not been able to secure the full funding. However, there will still be the likes of the One Love Peace Festival and Respect Jamaica 50th, with an artist list that looks like: Bunny Wailer, Barrington Levy, Capleton, I-Octane, Khago, Damian Marley, Lee Scratch Perry, Sly & Robbie, Toots, Gyptian, Horace Andy, Jimmy Cliff, Yellowman and more, running between the 15th July and 6th August. There will also be film screenings

We will also be announcing our own news for our summer plans and collaborations for Jamaica 50 next week, watch out!

Stussy x Massive B 20th Anniversary

Large — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:16:26 +0000

NYC’s Massive B are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year, and to mark the occasion they’re releasing this special collaboration tee with Stussy, which for the moment looks like it’s only available in Japan. Alongside that, there’s a mix CD & DVD package full of 80s & 90s dancehall and dubplates. Hopefully they’ll get a US/Europe release soon too?

April Chart

Large — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:21:52 +0000

This month has almost been so packed with new music it was hard to compress it to just 10 songs. Here are *some* of the latest and greatest:

1) Ninjaman & Kiprich – The Gorgon Is Back

Don number one: the Gorgon is finally out of jail and apparently recording dubs like a madman. Looking forward to what the summer will bring from him. Check this unlikely but brilliant collab with Kiprich:

2) Nas – The Don

Don number two: Nas sampling the Don Dada, aka Super Cat, for his new track. This one is going to be get people rowdy on the dancefloor for longtime.

3) Usher – Climax (Junior Blender remix)

Junior Blender could probably reggify The Cheeky Girls and make it sound good. Their version of Usher’s new Diplo-produced track is. a. vibe.

4) I Octane – We Love The Vibes

I Octane keeps consistently bringing big records, and this one has his signature wicked flow and an Overproof vibe to it, ie big summer tune.

5) Konshens – Gyal A Bubble

Konshens is the man to watch right now – Do Sumn and Gyal A Bubble are both on heavy rotation.

6) Vybz Kartel & Tina Nunezz – Climaxx Riddim (Jon Kwest remix)

Moombahton ain’t really normally the one for us, but my this one bangs.

7) Khago – All Over Me [Wet Up riddim]

We featured the brand new riddim from Seanizzle, Wet Up, last week, and this is one of the best cuts on it, from Khago (who, as you know, also mashed up Seanizzle’s ‘One Day’ riddim in 2010).

8 ) TOK – Mi Nah Go [Stylee riddim]

Terro 3000 & the Ballaz camp ain’t nothing to mess with, some of the best up-and-coming producers around. Stylee has a number of good cuts, Lady Saw, TOK and Terro in particular:

9) Blend Mishkin – Big Up Sister Nancy

Any track that shouts out Sister Nancy & Daddy Freddy gets the thumbs up, especially when it burns down a rave like this one. Also is that a sample from Ace of Base?:

10) Masicka – The Police

Masicka brings a dark & broody conscious vocal to Equiknoxx’ minimal hip-hop influenced beat built on sirens & a guitar riff: