Reggae Playlists

S90

Blue Boot : Eric Donaldson
Ghost Dance : Prince Buster
Jack Of My Trade : Sir Lord Comic
Preacher Man : The Stingers
Chi Chi Bud : Max Romeo
Them A Fi Get A Beaten:Reuben : Peter Tosh
Dark Shadows Version : Charles Hanna & The Graduates
Do Your Thing Part Two : The Tornadoes
Milk & Honey : Dennis Alcapone
This is a Welding : Keith & Romay
Finders Keepers : The Crystalites
Dr. Who : I Roy
I've Got a Burning Fire : The Wailing Souls
DJ Special : King Sporty
The Gardener : Julie Anne (Judy Mowatt)
Ontarious Version : Charley Ace
Lorna Banana : Junior Byles
Cow Thief Skank : The Upsetters
Black IPA : The Upsetters
Whole Lot A Fire (12" Mix) : Big Youth
Brimstone & Fire : Clifton Gibbs & The Selected Few

CB200

Aily Sound : Lloydie
Guns In the Ghetto : Broadway
Ethiopian War : Roland Alphonso
Bike No License : Easton Clarke
Festive Season : I Roy
Gone Is Love : Inge Larsen
High Locks : Pablove Black
If Loving You is Wrong Version : Busty Brown & The Chosen Few
You're No Good : Ken Boothe
Love of Jah : Vivian Jackson and The Prophets
Tell It Like It Is Version : Glen Brown:King Tubby
Liberty : Junior Ross & The Spears
Freedom : Tappa Zukie
Weeping : Junior Byles
Water Rate : I Roy
Big Cockey Wally : Fay Bennett
Big Pussy Sally:Big Sally Dub (Extended Version) : Lord Creator & The Upsetters
Deck of Cards : Prince Far I
Lagos : Heptones Version
Chim Chim Cheree : The Upsetters
Hard Man Fe Dead : I Roy

GPZ900R

Eek a mouse : Virgin Girl
Horace Andy : Spying Glass
Tristan Palmer : Spliff tail
Michigan and Smiley : Nice up the Dance
Nicodemus : Dog is Better than a gun
Michigan and Smiley : Diseases
Tenor Saw : Golden Hen
Sophia George : Girlie Girlie
Reggie Stepper : Cu Oonuh
Nitty Gritty : Hog in a Minty
Super Cat : Si Boops deh
Shelly Thunder : Kuff
Shabba : Roots and Culture
Nardo Ranks : Burrup
Flourgon : Follow me go dancehall
Cutty ranks : Hitman
Ninjaman & Flourgon : Zig it up
Cutty ranks : Pon Pause
Shabba : Respect
Tony Rebel : Chatty Chatty
Shabba : Wicked Inna Bed
Marcia Griffiths/Tony Rebel/Cutty Ranks/Buju Banton : Discovery
Wayne Wonder : I'd Die without you
Papa San : Hippity Hippity Hop
Louie Ranking : No Move
Louie Ranking : Typewriter
Supercat : Don Dada
Shabba : Ting a ling
Dirtsman : Dance fever
Shabba : Caan Dun : Steely & Cleevie
Capleton : Armshouse
Buju Banton : Batty rider
Ninjaman : The World
Buju Banton : Mind behind the wind

RMZ 450

Buccaneer: Skettel Symphony
Beenie Man: Badder than the rest
10%: U Sue Dub
Tanya Stephens: Big Ninja Bike
Beenie Man: Old Dog
Stink: Girls Anthem
Stranger: Dugu Dugu
Beenie Man: Who Am I
Mykhal Roze: One A Wi
Luciano: One Way Ticket
Johnny Clarke: Leggo Violence
Capleton: Mankind
Louie Culture: Bogus Badge
Sizzla: Black Woman And Child
Sizzla: Mama Africa
Vybz Kartel: Picture This
Elephant Man: Fuck U Sign
Sky Juice: Dance Moves
Wayne Marshall: I Will Love The Girls
Beenie Man: Girls Way
Goofy: Fudgie
Beenie Man: Year 4
Red Dragon: Explode Gal
Beenie Man: Row Like A Boat
Sean Paul: Ever Blazin'
Vibes Kartel (sic): Nobody No Dead
Bounty Killer: Sufferer
Vybz Kartel: Send On
Buju Banton: Up Close And Personal
General Degree: Last Night
Elephant Man & Wayne Marshall: War
Elephant Man: Wrong Application
Baby Cham: Wha Dah Fah

Woebot In Dub v2

Dub So True: Treasure Isle Dub
More Dub Version 2: Dub Serial
Open The Iron Gate part 2: Max Romeo Revelation Time LP
A Who Sey Version 2: Drum Sound
Beware: Yabby You
Counter Attack: Maxfield Avenue Breakdown
Full Dose of Dub: Harry Mudie Meets King Tubbys In Dub Conference
Hell and Sorrow Dub: Jimmy Radway
Jah Macka: Natty Locks
Kunta Kinte: Drum Sound
Ordinary Version 3 Forward The Bass: Randys
Dub with a Difference: Harry Mudie Meets King Tubbys
Pick Up The Dub: Tappa Zukie In Dub
Rebel Dance: Strictly Dub Wize Dennis Bovell
Heavy Duty Dub: Harry Mudie Meets King Tubbys In Dub Conference
Rockers Meets King Tubby Inna Firehouse
Rocking Vibration: Black Foundation Gussie
Romans: Don't Underestimate The Force
Taxi to Baltimore: Scientific Dub Scientist
West Dub: Dreadlocks in Jamaica Jah Stitch
Verdict In Dub: Randys All Stars
Glen Brown: Black Dub
Jammys On The Move: Fatman Dub Contest
Country Gal Dub: Dangerous Dub

Indian Classical Mix

Ok, so let's drop some fuckin' science!

I wrote about these records, as cursorily and unprofessionally as is expected of me, at the original TWANBOC blog. In those antediluvian days one couldn't simply upload mixes which people could stream. That's all changed.

Currently I have 89 mixes on my Mixcloud page. My aim is to have 100 there. 100 mixes which cover the fields of music I'm interested in. Which do justice to my tastes. None of us lives forever. All good things must come to an end.

Accordingly I've been going through my collection of records by genre; slowly picking off the important ones. And Indian Classical music is very close to my heart. It surprises me that in a climate in which the "Composer", "Neo-Avant Garde" and "Drone" are such immutable fixtures that there is almost no coverage of this massively important music. No reissues. Like for instance (to pick a random example) INA-GRM has arranged for it. And yet, of all the "out" musics this is unquestionably the most lovely.

I picked up these records in the nineties. With both my own recent travels in the sub-continent and the post-Acid musical climate in mind. I can't claim to have any gurus with regards to guiding my choice, but I remember David Toop was also "out there". I suppose Arthur Russell's influence, "World of Echo" dropping in my world like a Neutron Bomb, is also tangible.

This selection amounts to a third, the best, of my collection of this music. The whole part in itself carefully chosen. 

The things I liked were almost always on non-standard instruments. That boils down to NO SITARS. I don't mind sitars actually, but once you remove them from Indian Classical Music its "unflavoured" sonic purity is made manifest.

You may not have enjoyed this music before, you may be prejudiced against it. But cast aside your preconceptions - zone out - think of it as summertime, Ambient Music if you like - but LISTEN to the awe-inspiring breadth of expression these masters bring to but single instruments as these sonic worlds unfurl like mandalas.

Sivakumar Sarma - Rageswari

On the legendary French Ethnographic label "Ocora". The Santur sounds a little like a Harpsichord - it's a strange instrument played by hammering strings with small wooden sticks. Sarma, or Sharma, was the undisputed master. This LP was on my WOEBOT 100 list and it justifiably belongs there.

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan - Ahir Bhairav

If the Santur is like a dulcimer, the Sarod is something like an Oud, guitar or mandolin. Much lower in tuning than the Sitar. I always think this stunning recording by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan has a bluesy, almost Rolling Stones-like, quality to it. A bit like that delicious, forbidden pleasure Ry Rooder's "Paris, Texas" soundtrack, even. Notes here like birds.

Ustad Bismillah Khan / Prof V.G.Jog - Jai Jawanti

Jugalbindi as a form is something like a jam. A duet between two master musicians. Bismillah Khan is the go to man for the Shenai, which is like an Oboe with X-ray powers. Jog, a magnificent violinist.

Another wonderful thing about this recording is the cicadas which mesh with the drone of the tambura to create an ecstatic, psychedelic background. Just wait till those spine-tingling, magic moments when they dovetail their phrases...

Ustad Nathoo Khan - Purbi

Sarangi, a bowed string instrument, is another fantastic "non-standard" Indian Classical music instrument. The "late" Ustad Nathoo Khan, yep he was dead when this record came out, was a legendary instrumentalist. Another great Sarangi player is Ram Naryan, of whom I have a number of discs, but there's something particularly eerie about this recording.

Pannalal Ghosh - Yaaman

Old pal Sacha Dieu and I have a shared appreciation for the gaussian waft of flautist Pannalal Ghosh. There's an unmistakably stoned haze about this perfect LP which, like the subsequent Pran Nath LP, is unique in its "high-in-the-mix" tambura. The tambura is that constant drone which sounds like electrical power-lines.

Pandit Pran Nath - Yaaman Kalyan

OK, so here's the bridge to Western music. You like The Velvet Underground? Well this disc was produced by La Monte Young, VU-godfather and Avant-Classical Titan - John Cage's chosen heir. La Monte frickin' loves the tambura, it reminds him of his inadvertently psychedelic childhood spent zonked out on gasoline fumes lurking atop industrial step-down voltage transformers, so here that instrument is pumped way high. Cover here by his wife the gifted calligraphist Marian Zazeela.

Pran Nath was the master of the Kirana school, in some ways an eccentric, non-central body in the Indian Classical Music Cosmos. I always think this is how Dr Seuss's Lorax would have sounded if he sang, rather than spoke, for the trees.

Hiralal - Yaaman

And finally another "Yaaman" - a supposedly romanic night-time raga of which there are three versions in this mix. This Barenreiter Musicaphon LP, like Ocora a top-flight ethnographic recordings label, is curated by the celebrated ethnomusicologist Alain Danielou. As one might expect from such a survey-type recording it takes a bit of digging round in the linernotes to discover the name of the master Hiralal. Always loved the incredible intensity of the Shenai on this one.

OM!

Nu Grooves: New York House and Techno 1983-1996

Calm yourself people! No, this was not mixed by a machine. It was mixed by I, the god-like Woebot. Live on the twelve-tens. No edits. Bo bo bo! Absolutely stunning mix skills in effect. The final part of my massive all-conquering epic House and Techno Roots trilogy and displaying almost scarily perfect taste, education and acumen.Oh my gosh... Bit shorter than the other two mixes at 1 hr 40 mins - a mere 35 tracks - but it felt right.

The sonic argument here is that, in real terms, in genres spawned and ideas conceived, New York was the true sonic innovator of the golden era of dance music (1984-96). New York gave us House (the epicentre moved from Chicago quite quickly), Rave (Beltram, Landlord), Trance (Revelation - first trance track IMHO), Ambient House (the likes of Sound Waves), Jazz House (Burrell), and Dub Techno - Dubstep, even! (Bobby Konders).

We start with a slice of Electro-Garage, Cuba Gooding's "Happiness" already pre-echoing the UK's innovations, take in Todd's "Weekend" remix (Disco still very close) and then we're off! Special mention must go to Code 6's "Third Aura" - Beltram's finest moment. No "Energy Flash" in the same way the Detroit mix had no "Strings Of Life" and the Chicago mix skipped "Acid Trax".

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Cuba Gooding - Happiness Is Just Around The Bend
The Todd Terry Project - Weekend
Lenny D and Tommy Musto - Everything Bamboo
Masters At Work - Alright Alright
The Break Boys - And The Break Goes On
Ray Love - The Delusion
Flowmasters - House The Crowd (Dub The Crowd)
Landlord - I Like It (Blow Out Dub)
Fallout - The Morning After
DMS - And The Beat Goes On
Royal Orchestra Ltd - Get Down
Bas Noir - I'm Glad You Came To Me (Dub Mix)
Sound Waves - I wanna Feel The Music
33 1/3 Queen - Searchin'
CLS - Can You Feel It (In House Dub)
N.Y. House'n'Authority - Apt 2A
Metro - Angel Of Mercy
Aphrodisiac - Song of The Siren (Black Sea Mix)
Project 86 - Total Recall (Original Mix)
Rydims - Rydim #2 Version
Code 6 - C.O.D.E.S.
Project 86 - Legends
Revelation - First Power
4 Most Poets - Reasons To Be Dismal
Beltram - Reflex
Lost Entity - On The Verge
Code 6 - Third Aura
Major Problems - Overdose
Gypsymen - Bounce
Nu Yorican Soul - The Nervous Track
Aly-Us - Follow Me
South Street Player - (Who?) Keeps Changing Your Mind (The Night Mix)
Kenlou - The Bounce
Mood II Swing - I See You Dancing
Todd Edwards - Fly Away