Reggae Roast This Sunday

North London's DJ Moodie played before me at the excellent Peanut Factory rave just before Christmas, getting the room jumping with a selection of 80s dancehall, new roots and reggae/hip hop refixes. This Sunday I'll be heading down to his regular all-day reggae event in Kentish Town: it's free, features music from Louis Slippaz, Joe Lickshot and more and is hosted by Daddy Chester.

Posted by Gabriel Heatwave | Wednesday 09 January 2008 | Add a comment

Two Thousand and Great

Despite being the start of the calendar year, I don't always see January as a time of renewal - September usually feels more like that to me and the gloom of winter months isn't always conducive to kick-starting new projects. But this year feels kind of different and very much the beginning of a whole set of new stuff for The Heatwave. Firstly there's the upcoming release on Soul Jazz 12" vinyl of our first production, Warrior Queen's Things Change on our Piano riddim:

Though she began recording as Wendy Culture for producers such as Steely & Clevie and Donovan Germain (Penthouse) in her native Jamaica nearly 20 years ago, Warrior Queen has made her name while living and working in London. So it seemed apt to include Things Change on our forthcoming compilation, An England Story. Especially as the track details the struggles of making it as an artist in London and explores the relationship between the sunny island of Jamaica and our cold, wet and grimy capital city.

An England Story will hit the shops in February also courtesy of Soul Jazz Records, an official, double CD version of our 2006 mix that shines a light on the importance and influence of Jamaican music in the UK. The twenty tracks showcase the cream of reggae-influenced English MCs, from the old guard like London Posse and Tippa Irie to younger artists such as Jakes and Doctor (pictured), alongside 90s classics by the likes of General Levy, Blak Twang and Navigator.

Also in February, after several months of silence our monthly bashment will be resurrected at Salmon & Compass, a regular feel-good dose of the bashiest dancehall, reggae and hip hop around. And in the same month more cuts on our Piano riddim from Riko Dan, Rubi Dan and Quality Diamond will be out on 7" vinyl. We've already got a varied of bunch of riddims slated for release later on this year featuring vocals from English artists like Suncycle, YT, Tippa Irie and Top Cat, while UK producers Flex and Mr Benn are also stepping up their game with excellent original productions vocalled by Papa Levi and Blak Twang respectively.

Considered alongside the recent output of producers Curtis Lynch, Toddla T and Seani B, the prospect of albums by YT and Lady Chann and the ever closer relationship between grime and Jamaican MCing (Doctor, Badness, Flow Dan), it all seems to indicate we can expect to hear a lot more noise from UK dancehall in 2008. I'm looking forward to the resurgence of talented, deserving and often under-appreciated English artists as a force to be reckoned with, not to take anything away from the Germans, Italians, Bermudans and Canadadians who have dominated non-Jamaican dancehall in recent years. Two thousand and great?

Posted by Gabriel Heatwave | Thursday 10 January 2008 | 1 comment

The Heatwave Chart - January 2008

Our first top ten of the new year sees Vybz Kartel's brilliant cut on Stephen 'Di Genius' McGregor's massive Bee Hive riddim taking the number one position. Plus other big new tunes from young Californian rapper Meech, Elephant Man's vocal over a bashment riddim based on Sean Kingston's Beautiful Girls, another great reggae song from Tarrus Riley and a guitar-heavy production by Stephen McGregor again, for his brother Chino.

1. Vybz Kartel - Money Fi Spend (Bee Hive Riddim)
2. Cotti & Doctor - Calm Down
3. Elephant Man - Jook A Girl (Jook A Gal Riddim)
4. Meech - Thicka Than A Snicka
5. Akon, Busta Rhymes & Shabba Ranks - Clear The Air
6. Beenie Man - Wine Gal
7. Tarrus Riley - Protect Your Neck (Midnight Hour Riddim)
8. Chino - I Know
9. Riko Dan - Hard Life
10. Queen Ifrica - Daddy (Eighty Three Riddim)

Posted by Gabriel Heatwave | Monday 14 January 2008 | Add a comment

Shook Volume One

We're doing a regular news column for Shook, a brand new magazine set up by former Straight No Chaser assistant editor Jez Smadja and featuring work from many of that publication's contributors. The first issue hit the shops this month and includes interviews with Benga and Leroy Burgess alongside features on coupé decalé, bhangra, the sad demise of Goya Music and much more. You can buy the mag direct from their website as well as shops - in the meantime, you can read our column below or by clicking on the scanned image of it...

Queen Ifrica's been getting a lot of hype recently with a trio of songs touching on often-taboo subjects. The Jamaican singer's been recording and releasing great music for a number of years now: 2002's beautiful Peace and Love on the Belly Skin riddim was followed up by tunes like Boxers Or Stockings, Perfect Combination (with Buju Banton) and Burn Some Herbs. But it's her recent singles, Put On Yuh Thong (Below The Waist), Stop The Genocide and Daddy, dealing deftly with a violent domestic argument, the genocide in Darfur and sexual abuse respectively, that have catapulted her to the centre of reggae's attention. Queen Ifrica will be performing at Sting in Jamaica on Boxing Day and is currently working on an album with producers such as Sly and Robbie, Shane Brown and Don Corleon.

Following in the footsteps of hip hop entrepreneurs like Jay-Z and Lil' Jon, bashment superstar Vybz Kartel is launching his very own drink, Vybz Rum. The rum's distributors even go so far as to call Kartel "the Jay-Z of the dancehall music world" with his line in a triple distilled white rum and a five year red rum. Vybz Kartel aka Adidja Palmer is perceptive in recognising the fact that dancehall/reggae's cultural influence has often failed to translate to economic clout and recompense for its pioneers. He describes how his deal demonstrates that, "the [dancehall] industry can be taken seriously as a viable economic force because of the influence and power that dancehall wields as an art form in Jamaica."

From the highly militarised build up to the 1980 general election which spawned lyrics such as Soldier Take Over (General Echo/Yellowman), Raiding Party (Sassa Frass) and Radication Squad (Burro Banton) to the 'night noise' regulations and Operation Ardent (as chronicled by Buju Banton) in the 90s, Jamaican dancehalls have long been in the line of fire for their supposed links to dissent and opposition as much as crime and violence. Within a week in December, two high profile reggae/dancehall events in Jamaica were locked off by the police: first Mavado's birthday bash and then Reggae Fever in Montego Bay. At the time of going to press, there were concerns that the Boxing Day extravaganza Sting, known for its occasionally controversial onstage lyrical clashes, might also come under similar scrutiny from the authorities.

According to New York-based dancehall entertainer Skerrit Bwoy aka Sponge Bob, who was at the Mavado event, "A policeman took the mic and made his 'nobody move, we have soldier ina bush, soldier ina air, soldier ina river' speech. Someone shouted out, "what about the soldier ina panty?" and everyone who could hear was dead with laughter. I think that vexed the police - they locked the gate and searched everyone after that." A police helicopter circled the venue and shone its bright lights on the crowd while the search was conducted; the police found one handgun, a few knives and some ice picks. Only a week later, the Reggae Fever concert in Montego Bay headlined by Beenie Man and Busy Signal was also abruptly halted by a major police operation, though nothing notable was discovered in the ensuing search. A third event, Riding West in Llandilo, was also raided in over the same weekend but the show was over and the venue empty by the time the police arrived.

Elsewhere in the Caribbean, Puerto Rican duo Calle 13 deservedly won Best Urban Album at the Latin GRAMMY Awards for their effort Residente O Visitante. The childhood friends have turned the reggaeton rhythm of their homeland into a solid base for experimentation with pan-Latin sounds like salsa, cumbia and tango. They bring rhythmic variety and humour to a genre which sometimes seems to stagnate sonically even as it becomes more popular outside Puerto Rico. Check out the hilarious video for the Colombian-inspired Cumbia de los Aburridos to get a taste of their refreshing take on the urban Latin style.

Posted by Gabriel Heatwave | Friday 18 January 2008 | Add a comment

Pearl Haaba Riddim

I first heard this riddim on CD/mp3 promo about four or five years ago; it seemed destined never to reach vinyl until it appeared on 7" late last year. It's kind of weird: about the same time that I finally come to terms with actually playing out mp3 promos rather than waiting (in vain) for the vinyl to drop, up pops this, which was one of the first dancehall mp3s I remember downloading. Incidentally, Dave Stelfox's Guardian article goes into a lot of detail on the shift from vinyl to mp3 distribution and is a very interesting read.

Anyway, all that aside, the minimal bounce of the rhythm track sounded great all those years ago and it still sounds great today. Here's a short mix of three vocals on the riddim courtesy of Vybz Kartel, Wayne Marshall (pictured above) and Bounty Killer:

Various - Pearl Haaba Riddim

Being a few years late though, the tunes are slightly anachronistic, with Wayne Marshall singing enthusiastically about Sean Paul's first Billboard number one (Get Busy). Just as noticeably out of time in 2007/08 is Vybz Kartel's crisp, clipped MCing - in contrast to the generally slipshod, unmelodic stuff he's been churning out recently. Either someone else was writing for him back then or he's really gone off the boil.

Given that the riddim name is Pearl Haaba/Harbour and Vybz Kartel refers to Osaka, you might presume that the sampled, chanted vocals are Japanese. I don't know, but I do remember a riddim from a few years back initially called Latino that was renamed Middle East by the time of its vinyl release. It seems that the general exoticness of the foreign sample is sometimes more important than its specific provenance. Plus this was produced by Black Pearl, so who's to say it's not just an easy pun?

Posted by Gabriel Heatwave | Tuesday 22 January 2008 | Add a comment

Ragga Twins Dancehall Set

According to their seminal 1991 album, reggae owes the Ragga Twins money. Well, it paid up at least a portion of that debt recently when they passed through Bounce, our monthly residency at Bar Rumba, and spat some of their timeless lyrics over dancehall riddims like Eighty Five, The Buzz and Capleton's Tour.

Ragga Twins - Live at Bounce, Bar Rumba

You can listen to the full 40 minute live recording of them hosting the dance, or just download their three live vocals using the link above.

Posted by Gabriel Heatwave | Tuesday 22 January 2008 | Add a comment

Paradise by way of Kensal Green

We're doing a night in West London this Friday. All the usual dancehall, reggae, hip hop and more to chase away the January blues. Plus we'll joined by Lixo from local collective Get Me. Full details here or here.

Posted by Gabriel Heatwave | Thursday 24 January 2008 | Add a comment