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Tomorrow’s Edge: The Future Roots Sound of Africa Hitech
07.06.2010
12:24 am
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It’s always heartening to see electronic music veterans ably take on new genres and make them sing. One case in point is the UK duo Africa Hitech comprises producer Mark Pritchard and producer/vocalist Steve White (a.k.a. Steve Spacek). Pritchard helped shape the sound of British techno in the early ‘90s in his groups Global Communications and Jedi Knights, while White made waves in the early ‘00s with his avant-soulful warbling and knob-twiddling for the glitchy trio Spacek.

Both have been busy with lots of projects, but Africa Hitech bears special attention. The pair’s just-released debut EP Hitecherous weaves between lurching lovers dub, whomping dubstep, whizzing dancehall, and neurotic garage—all stripped down to their powerful rhythmic essences. Recommended new sounds.
 

 

 
Get: Africa Hitech - Hitecherous [CD-EP]

 

Posted by Ron Nachmann
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07.06.2010
12:24 am
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Land of Look Behind: Live from Planet Jamaica
06.16.2010
01:54 am
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When Bob Marley’s family called on the legendary singer’s childhood friend Alan Greenberg to film his funeral in 1982, it’s worth wondering whether Greenberg knew that he’d end up widening the scope to make one of the iconic films about Jamaica.

Shot by Werner Herzog associate Joerg Schmidt-Reitwein, Land of Look Behind seems to almost float across the island, touching down in both impoverished rural badland areas and the crowded setting of Kingston for the superstar’s stately final rites. Backed by the Kerry Leimer’s unlikely ambient score and featuring performers like Gregory Isaacs and Mutabaruka, Land… is a rich document of the places, faces, and voices of a Jamaica coming to terms with its lagging economy and post-colonial future.

Former Cabaret Voltaire member Richard H. Kirk sampled many bits of the film’s various monologues to populate In Dub: Chant to Jah and Live in the Earth, the electro-dub albums he made in his Sandoz guise.
 

 

 
Get: Land of Look Behind [DVD]
 
Download: K. Leimer’s score for Land of Look Behind [MP3]
 
Get: Sandoz in Dub - Chant to Jah [CD]

 

Posted by Ron Nachmann
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06.16.2010
01:54 am
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Reggae Quartet
01.18.2010
11:30 pm
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As anyone who knows me can tell you, I am a serious reggae buff. Here are some of my favorite “Roots” era clips on You Tube. First up, a look at a reggae sound system in England in 1978. Note how few women are in this club.

 
The Gladiators recording session session captured in the clip above (taken from Roots Rock Reggae, one of the best, if not the best, reggae documentary) really starts to cook when they perform Hearsay. When someone says they don’t “get” reggae, play them this clip!

 
Reggae great Johnny Clarke sings a mellow version of None Shall Escape the Justice in Bunny Lee’s studio (I prefer the faster version of this song, but it’s still ace to see a vintage performance like this, an extended version of the bit seen in Roots Rock Reggae)

 
And finally the Jah Shaka Soundsystem from the 1981 UK film Babylon. The sound is so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Posted by Richard Metzger
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01.18.2010
11:30 pm
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