Jahdan Blakkamoore / Ticklah / Victor Rice - The General b/w Elimination Game
(7 inch) Liondub 45 LNDB45001, 2009-12

Coming from the mind of internationally renowned reggae & drum'n'bass DJ Liondub, Liondub45 is a brand new sub label of the already well established and highly sought after LionDub International imprint, which represents the electronic, reggae influenced worlds of Jungle, Drum'n'Bass, and Dubstep sounds. Liondub45 is intent on releasing a catalog of collectible 7"s focusing on deep, vintage dub and scorching Roots Reggae showcasing the talents of a venerable who's who of modern Dub producers and original foundation vocalists. Things kick off with Ticklah's remix of the red hot Jahdan Blakkamoore, whose debut album Buzzrock Warrior on !k7 subsidiary Gold Dust is currently tearing up the charts. Axelrod flips the The General into a deep and heavy dub workout complete with an otherworldly skank and analog squelching bass. To the B-Side, Elimination Game, a monster slice of dub with a driving Steppers beat, swirling sound effects, deep percussion delays, bubbling organs, and all the studio wizardry we've come to expect.

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King Tubby & The Dynamites - Sound System International Dub
(CD/LP) Pressure Sounds PSCD0065/PSLP0065, 2009-09-19

Sound System International… this Clancy Eccles produced dub set is so incredibly obscure that it has even the most serious collectors scratching their heads. The set features ten early King Tubby's deconstructions of a selection of Dynamites rhythms produced by Clancy Eccles where Tubbs spins the tunes around and comes up with something very, very special. Anyone who really wants to now what King Tubby's mixing style was all about need look no further as he takes on these straight forward reggae songs turns them upside down, inside out and then takes them on to somewhere completely different...

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Groundation - Here I Am
(CD) Young Tree Records/Naive, 2009-06-16

Groundation's sixth full length studio album Here I Am continues the band's groundbreaking fusion of Jazz/Funk Fusion and heavy Roots Reggae with altogether fresh and innovative results. Here I Am features long-time colleagues of Groundation, Roots Reggae legends Sticky Thompson, Pablo Moses and all three original Congos vocalists. This album also presents a new side of the Groundation family; Kim Pommell & Stephanie Wallace sing lead on three songs, including the title track, while new drummer Tekanawa Haereiti's jazz pedigree shines through. Here I Am is just what it sounds like it is: a declaration of presence and a commitment to action in these perilous times at the dawn of the 21st Century.

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Lyrics Born - I Like It, I Love It (Grant Phabao Remix)
(Exclusive MP3 download on ParisDJs.com) 2009-08-13

When Berkeley hip hop meets Jamaican reggae...

Pressure keeps on rising for the upcoming releases of Grant Phabao's three (!) new albums with The Lone Ranger, Carlton Livingston and The Jays (on his own label T.I.M.E.C. co-run with Djouls and Captain Detendu)... The french dubmeister offers here a bouncy reggae rework of I Like It, I Love It, taken from last year's hit album Everywhere At Once (released on Quannum/ANTI). It's kind of a cousin of the N.A.S.A. remix he did earlier this year (featuring David Byrne and Chuck D.!) - all party-style with its rolling drum breaks and hookish chorus-like lyrics all along! A certified floor filler already tested and approved by fellow DJ Erik Rug at is famous WaxGroove nights.

More Grant Phabao remixes to be released and/or podcasted soon for Tosca, Diesler feat. Laura Vane, Antipop Consortium, Le Damn Dog, Ocote Soul Sounds (all official ones!)...


Podcast XML Link : parisdjs.com/share/feeds/podcast2.xml [podcast?]
Direct download : Lyrics_Born-I_Like_It_I_Love_It-Grant_Phabao_Remix.mp3

Tracklisting :
01. Lyrics Born - I Like It, I Love It (Grant Phabao Remix)

Note : DJs may want to contact us for a 256k MP3 version

Links :
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facebook.com/lyricsborn
twitter.com/lyricsborn
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyrics_Born
grantphabao.com
myspace.com/grantphabao
parisdjs.com
myspace.com/parisdjs
facebook.com/parisdjs
twitter.com/parisdjs

Biography :
One of the most critically acclaimed and best-selling independent hip-hop artists of this era, Lyrics Born is not the type to sit still. While recording his fourth solo album, completing new projects, and making decisions at Quannum Projects, he still averaged over 150 sold-out shows a year. He's a whirlwind.

His breakthrough solo debut, Later That Day, was a huge indie seller and one of the top 5 most critically acclaimed American hip-hop records of 2003 alongside Jay-Z's The Black Album and Outkast's Love Below/Speakerboxxx. With the release of Everywhere At Once, rapper/producer Lyrics Born finds himself part of a new vanguard of hip-hop artists like Gnarls Barkley, M.I.A., and Kanye West who are pushing the edge with compelling yet instantly accessible sounds.

Everywhere At Once reveals the full breadth and depth of his skill and vision: minimalist grooves, reimagined electro, East Bay greasy funk, devoluted punk, futurist dancehall, postmodern blues, tomorrow's slappers. He's an artist who is not interested in the limits set by the market or even his past triumphs.

Everywhere At Once leads off with a brace of crowd-pleasers. "Hott 2 Deff", "Differences", and "Cakewalk" feature guest work from Jurassic 5's Chali 2na, Baby James, B'nai, Myron Glasper, Jake One, Amp Live, Trackademicks, and LB's brilliant partner, Joyo Velarde. Kat Ouano from Crown City Rockers, C. Holiday, and The Count are also featured.

Although soul-baring songs have marked Lyrics Born's career—think his 1996 indie hit, "Balcony Beach", or 2000's global smash "I Changed My Mind"—Everywhere At Once is also his most personal record to date. Songs like "Whispers" and "Skin I'm In", he admits, are his attempts to come to grips with the passing of his best friend Benjamin Davis and his identity issues growing up Asian American, respectively. "I don't think that people know a whole lot about my personal experience," he says. "And as a people, Asian Americans are kind of like background music in this country. These are parts of my experiences so I just wanted to talk about it." The album reveals much about one of the most beloved artists in the game.

His 1997 debut with Lateef the Truth Speaker, Latyrx, sold 100,000 for his influential indie label, SoleSides. When the label was reborn as Quannum Projects, the album he helmed, Quannum Spectrum, yielded him an international hit with "I Changed My Mind". His day-in-the-struggle concept album, Later That Day, featured "Callin' Out", a monster crossover that lodged at 1 at the influential rock station LIVE 105 for 5 weeks. Same !@$ Different Day collected new tracks and alternate versions of tracks and became Quannum Projects' fastest seller. Overnite Encore captured the excitement and intensity of LB's live show, and produced another chart-topper, "I'm Just Raw".

Lyrics Born has been one of the most licensed hip-hop artists in the world, with placements on Diet Coke, Motorola, Nokia, and Vans commercials, TV shows such as "Entourage", "Six Feet Under", "What About Brian", "Gossip Girl", and "Gilmore Girls", films like Michael Mann's "Collateral" and Justin Lin's "Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift", and videogames by EA Sports, 2K Sports and Atari. He has had sponsorships with Puma, Adidas, Diesel, and Evisu.

"I came up in a tradition where you made records, then you toured," he says. "I like seeing people having a good time. That's how I feel like I'm moving forward, that things are in motion. I'm a performer — it's part of who I am."

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Alborosie - Escape From Babylon
(CD) Greensleeves GRE2039, 2009-06-15

The hottest thing to come out of Sicily since Mount Etna, Alborosie has established himself since moving to Jamaica as both an in-demand producer (UB40, Mario, Angie Stone and Manu Chao among others), songwriter, and a successful reggae artist in his own name. He released his first album (Soul Pirate) last year independently, which contained the hits Kingston Town and Herbalist. Alborosie’s new album, Escape From Babylon, is a throwback to the golden age of reggae, merging vintage sounds a la Bob Marley, Burning Spear and Black Uhuru, with modern roots and dancehall. The album’s lead single Mama She Don’t Like You is a humorous uptempo ska track in the vein of Madness and Toots & The Maytals. (extracted from the press release)

I managed to listen to the whole album and it's just like the new Queen Ifrica one, Welcome To Montego Bay: even though this is cool roots reggae, it's just less cheap and more listenable than most of what's coming out these days, and doesn't compare with productions from 30 years ago (or current productions from Grant Phabao). To sum it up: just above the average. The single is quite enjoyable indeed, but that's nearly it. I'm sure the deejay/live thing is cool though. (review by Djouls)

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