Playlist Abstract Index June 17/10

Looking through my Facebook group page, I noticed that my last several weeks' worth of blog post images have been black and white. Some have a hint of colour, but dammit it's summertime and it's time for the red gold and green.

Nick Manasseh has been one of my favourite UK producers for many years, but I didn't realize just how far back his career stretched until I heard this album.

Setting up a sound system in the mid 80s, by decade's end he'd started producing custom dubplates, and also music for a commercial audience. Teaming up with Scruff (not Mr. Scruff) they called themselves Sound Iration In Dub.

The irating sound in question takes off from where Augustus Pablo left us with his digital-era Rockers Come East album from 1987. Manasseh's melodica soars over rhythms which strike a perfect balance between urgent and relaxed. Many point to this album as the first example of UK Steppers, characterized by the DIY, drum machine driven sonic choices. One can see where this sound in the early 90s would get both harder, especially when married to breakbeats, which led to jungle, and weirder, as their label mates The Orb would pick up on the trancier elements of this kind of dub. However, this sound has never really gone out of style: being home studio dub, it's basically the prototype for the laptop aesthetics of dub, that is, something that doesn't need a live room bigger than a closet. It's timeless in its own way, playing well with reggae from all eras; you can spin Sound Iration In Dub in a nostalgic 70s and 80s set, or in a contemporary mix.

Rejoice in this encore edition of a classic slice of UK sound system history!

Podcast

noche de estrellas - dj dus (no label)
gruppenweise - root 70/rashad becker (nonplace)
new style (scruff dub) - sound iration (year zero)
rebel dub - citizen dub feat prince blanco & ammoye (vx)
errare humanem est - seu jorge (now again)
turtle eyes and fierce rabbit - torngat (alien 8)
thrills - matana roberts (central control)
jazz is the teacher funk is the preacher - james blood ulmer (strut)
undressing - ronald shannon jackson & the decoding society (antilles)
la botellita - grupo palma africana (soundway)
beteando - los beta 5 (vampisoul)
mambo no. 8 - los socios del ritmo (emi)

DJ Marcus Boon

Un Niño Que Llora en los Montes de María - Petrona Martinez (ZZK)
Do_the_Astral_Plane - Flying Lotus (Warp)
Yes [Bongo Disco Mix] - Mgo (remix) (Outhere)
Show Dem (feat. HHP) – JR (Electromode)
Hungry For The Power - Azari & III (I’m a Cliché)
Footcrab (James Braun Edit) - Addison Groove (Swamp81)
Zuata Zuata – Puto Prata (Akwaaba)
En La Nalga (On The Ass) feat. Jordy - Ronny Santana (DL)
Duro Duro - María y José (Cocobass)
Maldito Fiesbu (Dj Fantasy Original Mix) – Rita Indiana y Los Misterios (DL)
You Don't Wash (Dub)- Kode9 (DJ Kicks)
Webaba (Black Coffee & Culoe De Song Remix) - Culoe De Song feat. Busi Mhlongo (Electric Melt)
Distant Planet – Mr. Fingers (Blackmarket)