2 videos from Skepta off his debut album Greatest Hits: “In A Corner” features Trigga, Spyda and Roll Deep’s Flowdan. “Sweet Mother” was a hit last Spring (especially around Mother’s Day) but it’s worthy of a rewind here:

Skepta - “In A Corner” With Trigga, Spyda and Roll Deep’s Flowdan

Skepta - “Sweet Mother”

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Every time I see an amazing lineup for live music, like this one for Ninja Tunes’ record release party or the Bang Face Weekender, I have to ask myself an important question: Do I live on the wrong side of the pond? When every flyer and lineup that I drool over is happening in or near London, it gets more and more difficult to understand why I stay in the US, with the ever-weakening dollar. This is the time of year where party people in the UK and Europe start to promote major music festival weekends that have me gazing at my passport with longing. Next up is a Ninja Tune extravaganza at Electrowerkz in London. On 15th February, a massive posse of premier musicians will take over 3 whole floors of the Electrowerkz nightclub to celebrate the new release of YOU DON’T KNOW: NINJA CUTS - one floor for each CD in the monster compilation! (There’s a whole post about the Ninja Tune compilation too, so scope that next.) ([More →])

Digging through the ([HearingTest]) audio archive for the Top Rankin Tunes of 2007, I discovered that most of my favorites could be summed up as shotta anthems. So, I pulled out 10 tunes for Top Rankin Shotta Anthems of 2007. These selections are from the archive of tunes featured on ([HT]) over the last year: ([More →])

When asked to describe the sound of The Bug, Kevin Martin responds, “Beats, Bombs, Bass, Weapons, Congestion, Space, Concussion and Seduction.” !!Sounds Beautiful!! Martin [the man behind the bug] has refined an arsenal of tuff tunes (with Flowdan and Warrior Queen passing the mic) and wicked remixes (for Ghislain Poirier and Thom Yorke of Radiohead) into dangerous dubplate killahs! Perhaps the don of toxic dancehall finished construction on his urban-legendary soundsystem and now makes distorted ragga dubs on a barricade of bassbins instead of a pair of studio monitors! “Poison Dart” is The Bug’s most recent weapon of choice: a staggering riddim made razor-sharp by Warrior Queen’s defiant tongue. It’s a heavy tune that aches to be played BiG and LouD in an open space where the bass can unfurl into the wide wobbling synths that decay into long echoes.

HearingTest has the brand new video for “Poison Dart” and details on the remixes by Skream, South Rakkas Crew, Stereotyp and a Flowdan version that will accompany the originals to be released in December. I’ve even posted Warrior Queen’s lyrics for “Poison Dart” which aim Warrior’s wisdom at young shottas inna de dance. If your native tongue is more patio than patois, these subtitles might help. ([More →])

What What? Logan Sama has been hired by Kiss FM? Ok, so I’m behind the times, but what a loss for Rinse FM listeners! Well, Rinse can’t let that stand in the way of having a great time at the Rinse 01 Record Release party. It’s set for August 17th at The End and the party is a joint collab between Rinse and FWD>> to forward the release of Geeneus’ Rinse 01 compilation. ([More →])

Fans of extreme music, experimental electronica, ragga and grime - I have a fantastic treat for you! There is an excellent interview with The Bug over on the french DubStep website. Kevin Martin (The Bug) talks about everything - how he first got involved in music, his time spent working with Justin Broadrick (Napalm Death, Jesu) as Techno Animal, his brief stint with Warner Brothers, and a whole lot more that has led up to him being a brilliant pioneering musician that blends ragga, breakcore, dubstep, dancehall, electronica, and extreme noise into totally original music. ([More →])