Panda Dub - Protect the Dub

Out of Lyon, France, come Panda Dub: heavily UK dub influenced grooves, now releasing his first single. Protect the Earth/Protect the dub is released on the Dubatriation label from Dijon (check out his Outernational roots & culture radio show called Ital Corner Radioshow on http://www.dijon.radio-campus.org/)  featuring Paulette Wright on vocals.Released by Kingston Connection (uhurudisciple@yahoo.fr) on 7 inch vinyl, beginning of April 2010 and limited to 500 copies!

Got this one from our friend Dubfader, thanx, also for the party last weekend!

JARRING EFFECTS GOES CHRISTMAS

French label Jarring Effects, are Santa Clausing once again: they're giving away a free cd stacked with 18 Jarring Effects goodies. Well worth checking out for anyone into bassheavy, experimental dance music!

Tracklist:

1) Bassnectar - Heads Up
2) Caterva- Monkey
3) Filastine - Hungry Ghosts
4) Ghislain Poirier - Diaspora
5) Debmaster - The Last Robot
6) Zol - Syphilisupastar (Borgias edit)
7) Tony Oheix - Galaxy on the table
8) Dub Gabriel ft No Surrender - Rundown
9) Ben Sharpa - B to the E
0) Oddatee - Not even one
1) France Loisir - Le Peuple est une fiction
2) Trash von Traxx - Zona Zero
3) Stormfield - Inner silence outer violence
4) Opti & Ohmwerk - Hammering
5) m3t4 & Myrkur - Wobble diktat
6) Von Magnet - Mostar Angels
7) Professor Psygrooves - 24/7
8) Josef Bilek Experience - New Genesis


Go deh and support: http://www.jarringeffects.net/jfxbits3

Annie Philippe - J'ai Tant De Peine (Barclay 7inch 1965)

This last year I really learned to appreciate French music, and in particular, the works of Serge Gainsbourg. Which inevitably lead to the discovery of the French yeye girls of the sixties. So fate smiled upon me when encountering the here featured Annie Philippe 45 in the bins of our favourite local recordshop Da Capo. Never as big as Gainsbourg-Girl France Gall, with whom she was often compared, Annie Philippe recorded a bunch of really groovy tunes in the sixties, combining angelical French Yeye with American Girl Group and British Sixties garage sounds. From Phil Spector arrangements with a cute-girl style delivery to French pop ballad orchestration with fuzzy guitars, including handclaps. Annie was getting noticed by the time of her 1965 third EP, that included tunes like J’ai Tant de Peine, Trois Petites Tambours, Lui and Le Souffleur De Verre. Covering a broad diversity of styles, however not always with satisfying results, some recordings being too cheesy, even for me. For more of her work, check out her 2Cd compilation L’Integrale Sixties on Magic Records. Listen to J'ai Tant De Peine below:



Born on 17 december 1946, in the Ménilmontant district of Paris, and already taking dance classes when young, she became a DJ, aged 17, at the Twenty One Club, located at the Rue Balzac near the Champs Élysées, and it was here where she met Paul Mariat. Mariat had already worked with Charles Aznavour and would later enjoy huge success with L’Amour Est Blue, launching the career of the Greek-German Vicky Leandros. After auditioning for Mariat, performing songs by Leny Escudero, Marie Laforêt and France Gall, he got Annie her first recording contract on the Riviera label, a sublabel of Barclay, and she released her first EP in 1964 (produced by Paul Mariat and Yzi Spighel, owner of the Twenty One club), including Vous Pouvez Me Dire (in the UK performed by Lulu as He Don’t want your Love Anymore), Une Rose (Presley’s Love Me Tender), Qu’il Le Dise and Je Chante et Je Danse. Unfortunately, she failed to make any impact initially. Her Second EP contained tunes like J’ai Raté Mon Bac, the France Gall-sounding Tout finit à Saint-Tropez, C’est Loin Domani (from the movie Le Rolls Royce Jaune) and a super-cute French version of the Supremes classic Baby Love. Annie was getting noticed by the time of her 1965 third EP, that included tunes like J’ai Tant de Peine (written by Guy Marchand), Trois Petites Tambours (Private John Q by Roger Miller), Lui and Le Souffleur De Verre. The follow up EP contained the handclapping garage stormer On M’a Toujours Dit, Tu Ne Comprends Rien Aux Filles, Quand L’Amour Est A Deux Pas and her biggest hit Ticket De Quai, a sweet ballad which charted in March 1966. After changing to the Philips label, she recorded the dramatic Pour Qui, pour Quoi, Tchakaboum and Cause Donc Toujours, while returning to the charts with the laidback Mes Amis, Mes Copains. Next was the fuzzy Swinging London–like (and one of my personal favourites) C’est La Mode in late 1966 (The EP also included the loungy Ca Fait Pleurer, Soeur Angelique and Le Temps de Poupees) and Le Mannequin in early 1967 (also including tunes like Pas De Taxi, Sensational Jeffrey and Tu Peux Partir Où Tu Voudras, a French version of Mama Cass’s Go Where You Wanna Go. Following her success she recorded an complete album in 1967, containing her hit C’est La Mode, a different version of Pas de Taxi and 2 unreleased songs (Bon Vieux Carillon and Ma Liberté). Now working with Christian Gaubert, the follow up EP, Lettre Pour Annie, also included Coeur Brisé, Coeur En Tête, De Ce Cote De La Riviere and the excellent Pour La Gloire. Next, she recorded the title track for the movie La Blonde de Pekin and the orchestral Les Enfants de Finland, which turned out to be her last chart entry. After her last Philips 1968 EP Une Petite Croix, including Laisse-nous Tranquilles, Bonjour, Bonsoir Et Au Revoir and Le Flingue (written by Frédéric Botton), failed to make an impression, she started working with Claude François on his Flèche label in 1968, releasing tunes like Le Même Amour (again written by Guy Marchand), Croix De Bois, Croix De Fer, Oiseaux de Novembre and Boeing Jet Et Caravelle. Her second Flèche EP included Je Découvre Tout and Laissez Votre Chapeau Monsieur Lee (Move in A Little Closer Baby by Mama Cass). However, sales were disappointing, and she continued to release some work in the seventies but her glory days had passed.

PS
Watch Annie's Le Jouet Extraordinaire on Youtube, I know this tune sucks, but just check the magician in the studio.

GUTS

New discovery! Being all into the new Wax Tailor, I totally overlooked this great piece of music. Fortunately, I got me a copy of Guts' forthcoming album (release date is 17 september 2007) "le Bienheureux" through his Dutch distributor who kept pushing it as "better than the latest Wax." Don't know if this is true, but magnificent it is! Guts is best described as being the funny leg in French hip hop: His photos are hilarious, as is his cover-art for his new album, but taking in the sheer quality of the songs it is clear that Guts is undoubtly taking his art serious. Using only "his vinyl an a MPC4000" Guts is cooking up some outstanding tracks that are a fine blend of Wax Tailor, Gorillaz, dj Shadow, Dangermouse, Tommy Guerrero and pinch of reggae, funk 'n soul. Lively and uplifting! The song "And the living is easy" will be featured as the first single. I'd say: hurry up with releasing that and Guts is bound to hit a big summerjam hit.

Pay Guts a visit: click

WAX TAILOR::HOPE & SORROW

Finally, after the superb "Tales of forgotten melodies", Wax Tailor hits the stores with a new album: "Hope & sorrow," albeit only in the US, Canada and France. That, however, makes sense since Wax is a big name in those countries and fairly unknown in other countries. Or is he? In Holland, where yours truly resides, he's got quite a big following these days and his new album will only seek to increase these numbers.

Although feeling a bit of dissapointment at first, "Hope & Sorrow" only seems to give way to its sheer beauty after a couple of rounds. Sure, the sound is familiar by now and that might very well be the main reason for the aforementioned dissapointment, but give it a good listen and mark the excellent production, the superb songwriting and the small details that tie the album together like glue. The main thing that makes "Hope & sorrow" a more than worthy succesor, though, is that it doesn't sound like an album made up by various artists: it's not crammed with ideas like its predecessor. Wax' newest is beautifully set up like a musical journey making it very worthwhile to listen to the album as a whole instead of skipping through highlights. Although that doesn't mean there aren't any on this one: "The Way We Lived" featuring Sharon Jones is simply superb and "The Tune" is a funk anthem in its own right.
Formost, this new album shows that the abilities of Wax Tailor as a songwriter and musician are te be taken into serious account: I believe his next one will be the true masterpiece we're all eagerly awaiting.

But untill then: get off on this one. It's good. Very, very good.

Info: Wax Tailor

OLD CAPITAL PRESENTS NEW RIDDIM

Last year we wrote a small piece about the first release of Old Capital in which we stated that the label made a promising impact with their first riddim "Rasta Pickney". Now the french based label is about to unleash their newest creation, called "Togetherness," and it is even better than we had hoped for. "Togetherness" is a thick 'n bassheavy roots riddim with a pumping sound that is beyond uplifting due to the incredible production skills by Judi K. The sound is clear and heavy, but still maintains to keep a certain "genuine" feel to it.

Then there is the excellent choice of artists riding the riddim: Fantan Mojah, Perfect & Lutan Fyah are presenting some valuable songs and will provide the riddim its claim to fame in the dancehall. Equally strong songs are provided by lesser known artists like: Don Pako, Keefaz and Malijah, making this set of 7"s yet again essential.

Listen to a compilation of all songs on the myspace page of Old Capital

Special thanks to Old Capital for the preview.

JAMAICA vs THE WORLD

Ever since german reggae-superstar Gentleman broke big in almost every chart throughout the world, it is clear: you don't have to come from "the island in the sun" to make good reggae. We knew it all along, but somehow the productions made in Jamaica were always better then those that were not. Fiercer, rougher, more to the point and always one step ahead. But somewhere along the line the competition got harder. Sure, Gentleman still records a lot of his work in Jamaica (and thus getting that dusty, hot weather, scratched equipment feeling that comes with it for free) but a lot (including the backing of one of the biggest hits of 2004/5: Tanya Stephens' It's a pity) was recorded in a neatly set up recording studio in Germany. And for a change, it didn't sound overproduced, out-dated or ultra slick, which was often the big issue with outer-Jamaican productions. No, these new recordings sounded like real REGGAE! No Bob Marley clones, no instrumental dub bands covering the seventies, no poppy takes on the original style, but good companions to the ruling Jamaican sounds of today. And to prove the point: Tanya hit big in Jamaica and went on to conquer the world on the back of just that german produced song, Gentleman hit big allover the world, ze germanz of Seeed were the best act performing on the Jamaicans laden 2004 edition of Two 77 Splash and the German based production factory Germaica were suddenly a force to be reckoned with.

Ofcourse there are always exceptions, but fact is that, apart from the english (whom often use a productions style I'm not very fond of...)no other country ever fully satisfied my needs for good reggae. Not even when I was visiting the good continent of Africa, was I blown away by new sounds.

However, ever since the Germans broke big, the floodgate of good productions seems to be wide open. More and more good reggae keeps coming at us from all over Africa, Germany, France and even...the Netherlands! Maybe the Germaicans opened up some eyes? Or is reggae THE new trend and is everyone just copying a style? Whatever it may be, the result is good new music, with everybody putting in some of his own and in doing so making reggae a true uniting force once again.

Here are some tips for your listening pleasure:

Various Artists: African Rebel Music (OutHere Records)


Presenting hits from 10 countries ‘African Rebel Music – Roots reggae and dancehall’ gives a first insight into the new reggae dancehall movement in Africa (including a very informative 24 page booklet). So far only two reggae artist have had real international success: Lucky Dube and Alpha Blondy. A new generation has long arrived but although many of them are stars at home and regulars in their local charts, this compilation is the first chance for most of them to release their music internationally. Personale fave is the H20 featuring Zubz take on the mighty "WorldJam" riddim, produced by none other then Jazzy B of Soul II Soul.

more info and mp3's here

Ziggy: So Much Reasons (Rock 'n Vibes)

Hailing from the Netherlands and a future star on the rise. So Much Reasons, Ziggi's forth coming debut album is a hot mixture of dancehall and modern reggae and is set to be released on February 6th 2006. The album includes the hits "In My Head" featuring Shanaira Rey, "High Time", "Call Me", the remix of the international hit "Notorious" along side Turbulence and "Inna Mi Bed" featuring "Energy God" Elephant Man. You can listen to this youngster via the link below, but make sure to catch him on the stage as well. Who knows, in the future you might be one of those lucky bastards who can say that "I was there..."

More info and mp3's here

Various Artists: Sky is the limit (emi japan)

This one is a bit older (from 2002 actually) but still does the job quite well. The Japanese love reggae. The are notorious for paying huge amounts of money on e-bay for original 7"s and also famous for having the biggest collections of reggae music in the world. On top of that, the last dancehall queen contest in Jamaica (a BIG event!) was won by...a Japanese girl. Not to everybody's satisfaction, so much is clear after reading the dozens of forums complaining about it. This cd, however, shows us that they also know how to make hardhitting dancehall. Though some of the tracks are produced by Jamaican producers, it sounds like it was made for the Japanese market only. Seldom was dancehall this tough...The Japanese lyrics even make it filthier although I don't have a clue what they are singing about.

Listen here (reading info might be a bit tough i think..)

Various 7"s: Rasta Pickney (Old Capital)



And these nice gems come from: France! And they sound good. Not astonishingly different due to big Jamaicans artists riding the riddim (a.o Turbulence, Lutan Fyah and Lorenzo) but still very worthwile listening to because the french built riddim is heavy heavy heavy. This is a promising start of this new label. Keep an eye on these freshmen!

Info and mp3's here