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cross-posted to Mudd Up!

Check the latest issue of BOMB magazine for an in-depth interview with Kevin Martin AKA The Bug. BOMB has just upped an excerpt & audio clip. Here’s an excerpt of the excerpt:

Jace Clayton: You told me this anecdote: you were at a dub night in London; it was lit by one lightbulb. That’s how I remember you describing it—

The Bug: Oh, yeah. That was again a very pivotal moment for me. Just after I moved to London I went to see Iration Steppas and The Disciples do a “sound clash” together. I didn’t know what the hell to expect. It was at a warehouse in the East End. Literally, there was a sound system on either side of a quite small room with a lightbulb hanging above each, no stage, the audience trapped in the middle, and this head-shredding volume and over-the-top psychedelia. Every mix that each producer was playing would get more and more out-there. At first you would think, Oh, this is a nice reggae tune, and by the end you’d be thinking, Holy shit, this is electro-acoustic madness! People were looking stoned, shell-shocked, or both by what was hitting them. (laughter) It almost altered my internal DNA and how I appreciated music. Before I moved to London, I’d seen a very early Swans show and had realized just how much I loved physical impact in sound.


Photo by Niall O’Brien. Courtesy of Ninja Tune.

JC Funny, every time we’ve played together I’ve always tried to leave the building when you were sound checking. It’s massive volume and you take it so seriously; oftentimes if the sound guy is not up to speed, you’ll let him have it. Can you talk about the importance of getting the sound you want in a live situation?

TB Boy, I guess I’ve got a bad reputation for being a bit finicky and demanding. Once you’ve had the experience of what music can be like, if you are a perfectionist and obsessive (like I realize I’ve become), you don’t want to compromise. I don’t follow the idea of making any type of compromise in my life, and definitely not in my music: music is my life. If you’re happy to shut up and let someone water down what you want, then you really shouldn’t be making music. It’s not important enough to you, you know? I believe in a hard-core mentality. Any art should be a pure reflection of the intention of the person making it, and any degree of compromise along the way is just going to lessen the impact of what that person is trying to do. As far as I’m concerned, the physicality of sound is crucial; it takes you beyond intellectual discourse, to very primal, psychological confrontations. I like what it can do to you: it can be seductive, it can be sexy, it can be aggressive, it can fuck you up, it can flatten you, it can wake you up. Intense musical experiences have changed how I live my life, full stop. To some people this may sound a bit over-the-top. My passion is music, and that is reflected in how I approach the live arena. Now, increasingly, when record sales are shrinking, it’s important to leave a statement, to walk away having done something memorable. Volume in itself isn’t memorable; anyone can turn the volume up to 12 and crush someone with it. That’s not impressive. It’s the constructions within the music that are important.

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Repost from mattshadetek.com

Blak Ryno – Nuh Tek Talk (Matt Shadetek Dutty House Rmx) by mattshadetek

My new EP entitled ‘DUTTY HOUSE’ will be out as an early exclusive Dec. 7th on Juno and everywhere Dec. 14th on Dutty Artz. In advance of it I’m giving away this remix I did of Blak Ryno’s ‘Nuh Tek Talk’. The original is on Chimney Records’ Death Row Riddim. Blak Ryno is an exciting new Dancehall artist who came up under of Vybz Kartel’s Portmore Empire / Gaza movement. He uses a lot of interesting eastern sounding melodies in his singing which sets him apart from the new crop of Dancehall artists coming out to my ears. The original was 120bpm which is a little slower than I’ve been playing lately so I decided to speed it up to 128bpm and add some grimey house beats. I didn’t have an acapella so I actually just took the whole tune and EQd out the bass, adding my own drum and bass parts making it more like a mashup than a true remix. I’ve been playing it for a bit and thought it’d be appropriate to share it in advance of my new EP dropping on Dutty Artz. It’s my first time in a while busting out my distorted kicks and badman lyrics vibe in a while, so fans of Brooklyn Anthem may be pleased.
Matt Shadetek Dutty House EP Cover Art Work

Dutty House Cover Art, designed by me

Blak Ryno Artist page:
http://www.myspace.com/rynodgreat

Chimney Records Label Page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chimney-Records/

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Tu connais le CIASTEP?

Disons

BABYLON RESIDENCE est le laboratoire des expériences musicales des Producteurs ANGELOSPI & GREENDOG, CIAFRICA

Voici l’Histoire

En ce temps Ninja Tune avait 20 ans
Spi a la crève d l’hiver. GreenDog le palu des tropiques. Barboza crie au loin.
Ces productions datent de 2003 à 2009

C’était le son du futur. Ca sonne clairement CIAstep

————

You know CIASTEP?

Say

BABYLON RESIDENCE is the laboratory for the musical experiments of Producers ANGELOSPI & GREENDOG, CIAFRICA

Here’s the History

At the time Ninja Tune were 20
Spi has winter flu. GreenDog has tropical malaria. Barboza is shouting in the distance
These prods are from 2003-2009

It was the sound of the future. Clearly sounds CIAstep

*********

Babylon Residence is sick.
Enjoy

History of BABYLON PART 1 produced by BABYLON RESIDENCE mixed by GREENDOG

1)Dubstrip remix
2)Canabella 2min18
3) 24 3min06
4)Skungha (intro) 3min39
5)Avancia 3min56
6)Corde Indus remix 4min16
7)Quadraspèremétal Harmonie 5min39
8)Passion off Green remix 6min 56
9)Phyzikochilik 7min21
10Dis moi 8 min41
11)Chacun sa voix 9min57
12)Boombass 11min15
13)Elephant Apooo 13min04
14)Methamorphose 14min10
15)kimielectra 14min51
16)Elecwarafrik 16min51
17)Industrialdark 18min04
18)Babylon advisory 18min53
19)Bad y live 21min58
20)Kartaket 24min07
21)Hohiss 25min02
22)Akwaba 27min33
23Bouge 29min
24)Afristepdub 29min43
25)Darl 30min39
26)Slarapoler 31min33
27)Psychi! a3 32 min 25
28)Océane rapace 34min19
29)Skulzz 35min55
30)NBT 3 37 min 30
31)vendsuisam 38min46

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMjuzMcDeYI[/youtube]

“DJ /rupture presents CIAfrica” @ amazon / ttl / boomkat

“MANUSA: La clé du puzzle” @ tunecore

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Dutty Artz will release Lamin Fofana‘s debut EP What Elijah Said on September 21. Lamin has been steadily working on beats for the past few years, and he’s about to make a public birth.

When we asked him to describe the music, Lamin sent us this sentence: “Yet, he would refer to the Mother Plane, a mysterious space ship with superior beings, giant black gods or something like that, that patrolled the universe, keeping an eye on the devil and ready to rescue Black Muslims from Armageddon.” Sounds like sci-fi, but turns out it’s from the New York Times 1975 obituary (!) for Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad.

Everything is not what it seems, and this music’s mark of greatness is the way it so effortlessly calls for repeat listens.

What Elijah Said EP:

01 Happy 2010 // Dark Days Are Coming
02 “I will admonish you and give you absolution”
03 What Elijah Said // Eye on the Devil
04 Dance In Yr Blood

Artwork: Boy holding fluorescent bulb,  photo by Brendan Bannon, Dandora Dumpsite, Nairobi. 8/29/2006.   Hundreds of trash pickers scavenge the dump for food, plastic, glass, and metal. Areas of the dump smolder from a slow burn of plastics and detritus just under the surface. Local activist have attempted to close the site due to pollution concerns.

+

Lamin Fofana  was born in the West African country of Guinea. When the political situation got bumpy, he moved to Freetown, Sierra Leone, where his routine involved listening to Goodie Mob and Organized Konfusion as well as attending Quranic schools/mosques. In 1997 Lamin’s family had to flee worsening conditions in Sierra Leone – losing friends, belongings, documents, a home. They spent several days crossing roads and bridges destroyed by rebels to prevent people from escaping. At the end of the year, Fofana found a new home in Harlem, New York, where he lives today.

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My daytime employer Dubspot is sponsoring this event at Love with a who’s who of bearded NY dub guys (including your’s truly) at Love. It’s on 9/11, a date easy to remember if not for pleasant reasons. Jahdan will be in the building and we’ll do some songs together and I’ll be throwing some wamp at the Love sound system. It should be a lot of fun.

Lineup:
Dub Gabriel
Matt Shadetek
Liondub
Emch
DJ Kiva

MCs: Jahdan Blakkamoore & Infinity

Where: Love 40 W. 8th St. New York, NY 10012
Sept. 11th, 2010 $5 before 11PM, $10 after
Sponsored by Dubspot, Halcyon, Konkrete Jungle and Brooklynradio.net

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Gotta love the fact that we’re moving past the studio and the night club, into a visual realm. Tropical Bass doubles down this week with two new music videos from a few of our favorite artists this year.

First up, Mexicans with Guns new video “Dame Lo” shot by System D-128 could possibly represent more elements of chicano culture than Danny Trejo’s tattoo collection.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/13786446[/vimeo]

and Uproot Andy’s remix of Los Rakas tune Abrazame gets the treatment and rakes in over 4000 views in just 1 day. BOOM!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyujRXZ2Gms[/youtube]

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CIAfrica coverf

[DJ Rupture presents CIAFRICA cover art, Dutty Artz/Soot 2010]

So the music of Abidjan’s CIAfrica crew does sound a bit like a grimey, glitchy elephant staring you down as angular new-money architecture burns or smolders or looms in the background and the sky’s color stumbles from white to black with a few lasers for good measure, because we’re not living in the future, they are.

Sometime last year the visionary ringleader, Amadou aka Green Dog (RZA to their Wu) gave me access to their deep hard drives — packed with singing, rapping & fwd-thinking beats. Thrilling material. I pulled out my favorite 17 songs for a CD which will be released later this month, DJ Rupture presents CIAFRICA. This coincides with CIAfrica, Nettle, and myself performing at Gotenburg’s Sweden Way Out West festival next Friday, August 13th. I’ll be DJing separately from them, in a party with Sleigh Bells and Fool’s Gold (the band). It’s a 3-day affair, with folks like Wu-Tang, M.I.A., Jay Electronica, The xx, etc performing, so if yr in Scandinavia, might be worth the trip… & I’ve found that drunk Swedes tend to still be really nice, at least in Gotenburg.

It will be the first time the CIAfrica MCs and vocalists perform outside their Côte d’Ivoire/Ivory Coast home base! They have this awesome Pam Grier video for one of their female MCs, Nasty, but it keeps getting censored by YouTube. So here’s a vid from one of the guys coming over, Manusa:

and a placeholder vid for the Nasty tune:

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[audio:http://culturesystem.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/NYghtOutV2GarageStyle.mp3]

New mix (Park Here) from our good friend Waer Rock/Culture System focusing on New York area producers making garage-y beats. This one is thick with unreleased jams from folks like Incyde, Peter Gunn, Mikey Dubs, and more – plus a track from our very own Matt Shadetek, “Beenie Eyes” from the album Flowers.

PS – I’m still here. Money calls, but indeed family is always first!

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Last Monday we had a great show here in the basement of Dubspot on Dutty Artz radio.  We streamed live on UStream as usual and had a bunch of people logged in while Taliesin, Mosholu Park and myself played some short sets followed by an epic 80 minute throwdown from NguzuNguzu.  Listen through to the end to hear Daniel playing congas over juke beats live.  I was a little drunk by that point but I remember it sounding super duper dope.  You can check our ustream channel to see video of the session.  I’m told that not all files in these posts are being pushed to the podcast stream so I’ll put their set first and you can click to stream or download the rest of ours.

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Raz Mesinai at Dubspot Radio
Raz Mesinai at Dubspot Radio

Me and Lamin are both working at Dubspot now and we are doing a new radio show out of the Dubspot basement!  It’s being streamed and podcasted.  Subscribe at the original post!

Our first guests on the Dubspot Radio Podcast are two New York heavyweights: Dave Q and Badawi.  Dave Q has played a pivotal role in bringing Dubstep to NYC through his respected Dub War parties and his forward looking DJ sets.  Badawi aka Raz Mesinai is a long time participant in many mutant strains of dub music in NY and internationally and has now teamed up with Dave Q to start The Index, their new label project.  Among his many activities Raz is also an instructor here at Dubspot teaching students to produce in Ableton Live.  The broadcast contains a mix by Dave Q playing from Serato followed by a short set from Raz on Ableton and at the end an interview with host Matt Shadetek.

Check out the mix and interview on Dubspot’s soundcloud:

Dubspot Radio Podcast: Ep. 1 Dave Q & Badawi by Dubspot

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This week Konkrete Jungle has NYC culturalists Dutty Artz touching down in advance of Matt Shadetek’s forthcoming solo album Flowers. He and Moshulu Park (aka Lamin Fofana) will be turning out their homegrown sounds, funky steps and bass heavy wares alongside Hipstep master I-Cue and KJ soldiers Krunchy and Junglez. Human? and Lifeline will be making sure there’s plenty of dutty to go around at the bar while Goldenchild and I-Cue bring you the real art of mixology. Follow Man Like Mac http://twitter.com/konkretejungle for the Holla For A Dolla and $5 all night passwords Dont Sleep!


(more…)

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“iHop” excels as a futuristic dubstep number with its focus on strong shuffling rhythms, thick bass melodies, and soulful, pitch-shifted vocal sampling on par with UK funky’s finest” – Patric Fallon, XLR8R

“excellent throughout… It’s always possible that he just went so deep into Detroit that he arrived in Africa by mistake.” – Eddie Stats, The Fader

[audio:http://media.xlr8r.com/files/downloads/mp3s/iHop_0.mp3]
Matt Shadetek – iHop

Earlier this afternoon, the good folks over at XLR8R liberated a track “iHop” from Flowers, Matt Shadetek’s first solo instrumental album which drops June 8th – just a couple of weeks from now. This will be the first time we announce the album on this blog! We’re all excited about Flowers, which is Matt’s most beautiful and light-hearted work to date.  Read Patric Fallon’s review and download the tune at XLR8R.