See if you can find these geezas:

and this guy:

in this new Toddla T video - “Sound Tape Killin”:

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Jr Gong Damian Marley premiered his new video this week for “One Loaf Of Bread (Something For You)”. The tune is off the Gang War riddim compilation on Tuff Gong Records and the video is beautifully shot on 8mm film. The black and white super 8mm footage was all shot in Haiti, while the color super 8mm footage was all shot in South Africa.

Damian Marley - One Loaf Of Bread (Something For You)

Gang War riddim is becoming a favorite of mine this year. Every tune I’ve heard on this militant production is heart-felt and serious. The music brings a real conscious vibe that made even Damian sound good!
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The Energy God gets to know the “Gully Creepa” in his new video. Elephant Man told the Observer, “We just release the video and it bad. We have the dance lock and throw way di key.” The song is off Elephant Man’s loooooong awaited LP Let’s Get Physical and the video was directed by Julia Braham.

Elephant Man - “Gully Creepa/BOOM!”:

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The new Mavado vid for “Last Night” is finally here! Little X directed this gully tale from Mavado’s debut album Gangsta For Life.

We also have this mash-up of Mavado and Jay-Z on the Mission riddim - the tune is called “The Rock”:

([ Click To Add Mavado & Jay-Z "The Rock" To Player ])

(I’m still working on this ^ new feature, so let me know if it works for you or not. Thanks! )

A Heatwave mash-up of General Levy and Lily Allen titled “Mad LDN”:

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A new song called “Serious” features the combined powers of Sean Paul, Busy Signal and Busta Rhymes (audio only):

Energizer Medley featuring Bounty Killer, Mavado, Aidonia, and G Mafia:

A new compilation from Ninja Tune - You Don’t Know: Ninja Cuts - is filled with 50 tunes that map the sonic territory the label has explored during it’s 2 decades in the biz and adds sonar imagery of what lies ahead. The 3 CD set features tracks all the way 1998 reppin for the label’s early days (Mike Ladd’s rare classic “Blah Blah”) and big hits from every year since plus 9 tunes slated for release later this year! (Yet-to-be-dropped tunes like John Matthias’ fragile and ethereal “Evermore”, The Bug’s toxic dancehall slayer “Poison Dart”, and Pop Levi’s superb, princely “Dita Dimone”…) To celebrate such an amazing audio history, the Ninja Tune extended family is hosting a 3-room banger at Electrowerkz this month that features many of the artists on the 3CD collection!
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Ninja Tune is releasing an epic compilation album called You Don’t Know: Ninja Cuts that drops March 11th. It weighs in at 3 CDs, stacked with 50 Big Tunes from 1998-2008, from Mike Ladd to Pop Levi and from Roots Manuva to Wiley! Last year, HearingTest featured a few of the tracks that made the cut:

The version of “Free” by DJ Kentaro on You Don’t Know: Ninja Cuts is actually an “Armani XXXChange Remix” and the version here is the original edit from Kentaro’s Ninja Tune LP Enter. (I don’t have the remix yet)

The lyrics are en francais but the story told is universal. Here is the mini-movie for Admiral T’s “Ti Moun Ghetto” on the Guardian Angel Riddim:

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The video for Vybz Kartel - “My Scheme” on the Darker Shadow Riddim by Stephen “Di Genius” McGregor:

I live in the kind of haus where random zines and propaganda often appear and disappear like time-traveling nomadic visitors. This week, an issue of Cyclic Defrost from January 2005 appeared on the kitchen table. Cyclic Defrost, one of the most exciting and well produced zines on experimental music culture, is based in Australia; and the fact that I picked up an issue from January 2005 and thought it was something fresh will attest to how ahead of the game their content is. This particular issue featured an interview with DJ/Rupture about his travels, his music, his influences, etc. A Boston-native who was living in Barcelona at the time of the interview, Rupture is an extremely active experimentalist who mashes everything from world music to breakcore and makes it sound good. Rupture recently teamed up with one of NYC’s hottest producers, Matt Shadetek, to form the multi-media platform that we often Big Up on this site: Dutty Artz. ([More →])

David Katz, a music journalist and Lee Perry’s biographer, wrote a good review of the reggae book that I contributed to: “The Reggae Scrapbook”. The review was published in Riddim Magazine in Germany. Riddim was briefly published in english, distributed in the US and immediately became my favorite publication about reggae music. Many of the dub and dancehall artists I wish I had space for in the Reggae Scrapbook are regularly featured in Riddim. Unfortunately, the publishers halted the american edition and haven’t returned to it yet, so you can only get the magazine in german. Roger Steffens was kind enuff to email a copy of this review to me, so I thought I should publish it here for those who would otherwise never get a chance to read it. If you do speak german and you love reggae music, I highly recommend Riddim Magazine. In the meantime, here is David Katz’ book review of the Reggae Scrapbook by Roger Steffens, Peter Simon, Roy Sweetland and me, Molli Fire! ([More →])

New Sean Paul choon called “Pepperpot”:

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Send fi di fire department - Big Ship studio is on FIYAH!! That’s what neighbors might have been thinkin when Big Ship hosted a smokin recording session at the end of last summer. The recording session was for “Keeping It Gangsta” by Alliance with Mavado, Bounty Killer, Busy Signal, Wayne Marshall and Bling Dawg on top of a Stephen McGregor riddim! The crew just wrapped up the video shoot last month, so we should be seeing that real soon. In the meantime, we have the audio for the “Gangsta” production… ([More →])