It goes without saying this has been a strange year. For many it has been a whole lot worse than “strange”. Painful, shocking, harrowing, tragic, heartbreaking… For me, Andrew Weatherall’s death on February 17th 2020 opened a hole that I spent most of the year trying to fill. It was the starting gun on a […]
Read More Good night Andrew, goodbye 2020This mix was inspired by several conversations, records, continuing recollections and reflections on the life and works of Andrew Weatherall, a few records he made and played, and a near-lifetime exploring dub in its many guises. In a conversation about what constitutes proto-techno on Facebook, Fat Cat Records boss Alex Knight posted The Cure’s epic track […]
Read More Mix from out on the borders of the dublandsAlton Ellis… One of Jamaica’s first superstar singers, Alton Ellis’s soulful croon helped popularise ska and reggae during the 1960s. His star faded as roots reggae took hold during the 1970s but his mellifluous tones have never really gone out of fashion. Eek-a-Mouse… Legendary dancehall deejay Eek-a-Mouse hit the heights in 1982 with the splendid Wa-Do-Dem […]
Read More The A-Z of reggae: E is for… Alton Ellis, Eek-a-Mouse, Clint Eastwood and…The Congos… There is not a lot I can add here to the realms that have already been written about The Congos’ classic 1977 debut Heart of the Congos. It is possibly the pinnacle of Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s explorations in deep dubby roots reggae. ‘Open Up the Gate’ is a beautiful devotional hymn… …and […]
Read More The A-Z of Reggae: C is for… The Congos, Culture, Don Carlos and…B is for Dennis Bovell… and Blackbeard (same thing). A book could and should be written about Dennis Bovell and his journey through dub, reggae, post-punk and electronic music. In fact, I think those nice chaps at Sounds of the Universe said one was being written but don’t quote me on that. I might be spreading […]
Read More The A-Z of reggae: B is for… Dennis Bovell, Burning Spear, Junior Byles and…The Abyssinians… are as good a place as any to start a history of reggae. ‘Declaration of Rights’ and ‘Satta Massagana’ are two of the foundation stones of roots reggae. Bernard Collins and Donald Manning formed The Abyssinians in 1968 when they wrote ‘Satta Massagana’, which was recorded at Studio One in 1969 but did […]
Read More The A-Z of reggae: A is for… the Abyssinians, Aswad, African Headcharge…The latest issue of Electronic Sound magazine presents A History of Electronic Music in 75 Records to celebrate 75 years of electronic music from 1945 to 2020. It’s a personal selection (as much as a selection can be personal when selected by several people). “The records we’ve singled out aren’t necessarily the best or the […]
Read More Two histories of electronic music… and another charting 30 years in 30 recordsAndrew Weatherall’s brother Ian kindly shared two more tracklists from Andrew’s notebooks this week, so I spliced the songs together and uploaded them to Mixcloud. Following last week’s Songs for Swinging Subversives from 1982, we were given two mixes from 1985. They were less diverse than the 1982 tape, with one focusing on indie pop/rock […]
Read More More early Weatherall mixtapes: the indie one and the soul one from 1985Following last week’s blog, Ashley Beedle kindly got in touch to update us on his current manoeuvres. The good news is that there’s a stack of new material coming out including: a solo EP and LP; a debut album from Afrikanz on Marz (Ashley’s partnership with former Massive Attack keyboardist Darren Morris); and the first […]
Read More Ashley Beedle to release solo and Afrikanz on Marz LPs plus new Black Science Orchestra materialThis week, Andrew Weatherall’s childhood friend Paul McKee posted a track listing of a mixtape that Andrew had made for him back in 1982. I thought it would be nice to hear it in something like it’s former glory, so I stitched it together and uploaded the mix here: It gives a glimpse into the […]
Read More Songs for Swinging Subversives: Recreating the mixtapes of Andrew Weatherall’s youth
