Dancehall Vinyl 112 Items

'Rayhana' EP is a departure from the cerebral, industrial deep dive of his debut album 'Unlit Signals', and now draws from wider influences, twisting Baile funk, broken beat and hi-tech bass music into floor-focussed, sinewy new shapes. Guaranteed to cause jubilant carnage wherever heard, the heavy artillery of title track 'Rayhana' is a vocal led, rumbling rhythmic monster with chest-pummelling low end, neck-snapping metallic claps and razor-sharp hats. Almost a deeper dub of its predecessor, 'Dark Lavis' is an instrumental tension builder, where mangled eastern elements whip up a head spinning vortex that's carried by behemoth bass and stuttering, swung beats, which take you deep inside the ride. Based around the UK broken sound, with a touch of dancehall, on '5G Bats' Smith slow things down but ups the energy, with double-time breaks, stroboscopic samples, machine gun like flickers and all manner of stretched, wavey tones. 'Rayhana' follows tastemaker favourites by Ploy on esteemed imprints Timedance, Hemlock, Hessle Audio and L.I.E.S., plus remixes of his music by Beatrice Dillon and Peder Mannerfelt. Ploy has graced Best Track Of The Year lists in The Guardian, Crack, FACT, Mixmag, Dummy and DJ. He did a week-long residency on Rinse FM, helmed multiple NTS shows and recorded mixes for Dekmantel. Boiler Room and FACT. A regular at discerning UK and European clubs, he has also appeared at Dimensions festival, Dekmantel Selectors, and has toured East Asia and the US multiple times. Last year Ploy released the impeccable album 'Unlit Signals' which was released via L.I.E.S. with no PR, and therefore only caught the attention of a few astute journalists. This future classic deserved to be huge, but slipped largely under the radar. On launching Deaf Test, Smith comments, "it's a vehicle for my personal output now. I have more club-focussed music on the way, and I'll be exploring meaningful collaborations too. The name is due to me being deaf in one ear from an early age".PRINTED SLEEVE WITH INN...

We proudly present to you our new vinyl release, Subactive strikes with their first 12” on our imprint. After the first 7” release with the legendary Mikey Murka, Subactive now teams up with El Fata and Danny Dread on the vocals and a mad Dub Version from Naram and Art out of Jahtari and Colonel Mustard.

Side A features El Fata on a relick of the Run Run Riddim, a modern digital style with fat basslines and melodic progression chords that will shake up the dancefloor. The dub version comes in a very different style and influenced by the German down-tempo dub culture.

On the B side we can find the veteran Danny Dread with his conscious lyrics and a dub version by Naram which is heavily influenced by Asian and Arabic sounds. This is a limited edition of 500 copies with our first full print sleeve.

Nearly a decade since their last record, Jay Malinowski and Eon Sinclair better known as duo Bedouin Soundclash, return with their fifth studio album ‘MASS’ to be released Oct. 4th via Mr Bongo.
While pulling from their old catalogue of eclectic post-punk world-beat tendencies, the band journeys further into New Orleans jazz, afro-pop, electronic and gospel on their latest offering, reflecting a creative rebirth influenced by the cities and musicians that surrounded them. Co-produced by Bedouin Soundclash and legendary Philadelphia House DJ King Britt, along with musical direction from Ben Jaffe of Preservation Hall, ‘MASS’ spans two communities, recorded at Marigny Studio’s in New Orleans with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and in Vancouver at St. James Church with the children of the St. James Music Academy.
Mirroring the magnetic energy of New Orleans, ‘MASS’ is a dense sonic journey that incorporates an impressive array of musical influences including Big Band swing to New Orleans jazz, pop, electronica, and more. From the post-punk-soca of album opener ‘Salt Water’, the jangling Big Band swing-pop of recent single ‘Clockwork’, to the Talking Heads-channelling ‘When We’re Gone’, and the dubbing afro-pop gospel of ‘Holy’ that features Mike Dillon distorting his marimbas into another sonic dimension, ‘MASS’ is jam-packed with infectious melodies and summery feel-good vibes.

“Kizaki Ondo” is a folk song from Nitta Kizaki town in Gunma, north of Tokyo. Played annually by local performers at the Bon-Odori traditional summer dance festival, it features unabashed lyrics about prostitution along with a rhythmic drive sure to appeal to fans of contemporary electronic genres as well as aficionados of traditional musics. The first track is a wildly echoing vocal version recorded in 1980, redolent of humid summer nights; the second track, recorded in 1981, is an instrumental version, both by the Kizaki Ondo Preservation Society. The other two tracks are extensions of tradition, with Tokyo-based producer Clark Naito’s 2018 revisions of “Kizaki Ondo”, providing trap-inspired interpretations, with a vocal version using the original lyrics, along with a sweet instrumental take. This release, the third edition of the EM Records Japanese folklore series, directed by Riyo Mountains, is available on LP & CD, with English lyrics and notes, and rare photos. Evocative cover art by Shinsuke Takagi (Soi48).

Limited to 300 copies!

Now also available as LP-Vinyl is the new album for one of Jamaica's most exciting voices! - "Lovesick" is the third album and a natural next step for the young artist to expound on the ups and downs of love and relationships. Known to fans as an 'old soul' his lyrics and the emotional impact of his voice go beyond his years and show kinship to the great R&B/reggae balladeers. The 15-track strong longplayer will be released as CD-Digipak with an additional 12-page booklet and is a great and long awaited follow-up to the self titled debut "Romain Virgo" from 2010 and "The System" from 2012, it will appeal to all the worldwide fans of contemporary reggae music!

VP Press Release: "LoveSick," the upcoming album from rising reggae star Romain Virgo. The 16-track album takes listeners on a journey that explores every emotion felt when finding love, losing love and finding love again. In the many twists and turns of romance and relationships, Romain represents a young man who has experienced it all and now has a dynamic story to tell. Executive produced by Niko Browne for Lifeline Music, with additional production by Sting International and Vikings Production, the album presents a new pop reggae sound traced with his signature lovers rock style woven throughout.

Eight years after their first collaboration, ‘The Compass Joint’, slipped out as an ultra-limited white label, Charlie Soul Clap and Tom Trago have reunited to bring us a similarly warming, sun-splashed sequel, ‘The Compass Jawn’.

Like its predecessor – a now near-mythical 12-minute epic recorded late one night in Tom’s former squat-turned-studio close to legendary Amsterdam venue Trouw, and subsequently championed by DJ Harvey – ‘The Compass Jawn’ was inspired by the pair’s mutual love of both Caribbean keyboardist and FM synthesis enthusiast Wally Badarou, and the 1980s output of Chris Blackwell’s legendary Compass Point studio in Nassau, the Bahamas.

As sequels go, ‘The Compass Jawn’ is a bit of a belter. During the recording in 2019, Tom and Charlie sought to subtly evolve the original’s memorable lead line, reaching the for Yamaha DX7’s percussion patch – something utilized many times by Badarou during the 1980s.

The resultant ‘Studio Version’ is, if anything, even more emotive and uplifting than its predecessor. Underpinned by a shuffling rhythm pattern, the track ebbs and flows brilliantly, with jaunty synth stabs, undulating melodies and sparkling keyboard riffs ushering in held-note chords and a gorgeously rushing, ever-rising lead line. Throw in some starry pads and sunset-ready synth motifs, and you have another gorgeous, life-affirming treat.

‘The Compass Jawn’ comes backed with two top-notch alternative mixes. First up is an ambient ‘Dub’ mix from Trago that strips back the beats and instead focuses on the track’s many key melodic elements. Pushed forwards by drum machine handclaps, it’s a bubbly, sun-bright revision full to bursting with twinkling electronic motifs, jammed-out motifs, hands-aloft riffs and a bleeping take on the fluid and kaleidoscopic lead line.

Rounding off the package is the duo’s original demo mix – a raw, tough, and slightly more sub-heavy affair that’s notably more percussive and sweat-soaked whilst still sporting the key lead lines and FM synth sounds that make the studio version such a memorable and mood-enhancing affair.

Strictly limited edition of 300 copies of the 29th release in our »HHV Boombap 45's« series.

A true mid-90's classic jam for the dancefloor right here. Gettin' nutty with OGC and Cutty!

When Will We Learn sees O$vmv$m reunite with Gloucester voice of thunder Rider Shafique for the spiritual successor to 2017’s Lion (lava Lava). These tracks have been circling around in various forms for a few years and graced dancefloors / soundsystems from Riga-Bristol-NYC - but for various reasons are only now coming to light. The A side features Rider delivering a wake up call / warning over a Computer Paul via Radiophonic workshop style rhythm track while on the B side Dj Neek sends it through the desk on the fly and strips the instrumental down to its core essence.

Six Black Hole jazz dubs by Cosmic Threat, coming together in one truely epic album straight from the astral echo chamber. Jammed over various sessions in an empty Leipzig club during lockdown, Kiki Hitomi, disrupt and bass clarinet black belt Volker Hemken (from Gewandhausorchester Leipzig) are keeping the track structures in constant warp mode, psychically locking in with the machines and freely exploring all the sonic territory inbetween Sun Ra and Prince Jammy.

This highly hypnotic spiritual sequel to Kiki Hitomi’s 'Karma No Kusari' (2016) comes on red vinyl and with hand-painted artwork by Ellen G.

Limited edition of 300 copies on triple vinyl in a gatefold outfit.

TEKA as the musical mastermind behind “Vizion” has created hits for the likes of Lutan Fyah, Richie Spice, Ziggi Recardo, Trettmann and Megaloh and more within the last 15 years. In 2005, his “Crystal Woman” riddim got voiced by the energetic deejay Cali P among others – which led to a close work relationship. Since then, Cali collaborated with artists like Walshy Fire, Capleton, Equiknoxx, Swing Ting & Massive B. In late 2018, Cali P and TEKA launched “Vizion” on the freshly founded label LowLow as a new project exploring the hybridity of reggae and hip hop.

The two reggae protagonists use current styles from the international hip hop scene and unite them with their typical, heavyweight roots sound. The result is a warm, authentic hybrid of tracks, which blast both radio and sound system suitable productions through your bass bins, with an optimistic yet serious flavour.

Deejay-turned-produced Jah Thomas’ Midnight Rock helped shift roots reggae to dancehall in the late 1970s and Thomas continued producing in the new millennium, sometimes revamping Roots Radics tracks from Channel One, and alternately cutting fresh work at King Jammy’s, Black Scorpio, and Mixing Lab. Secret Tapes has stellar guests like roots messenger Luciano, dancehall don Super Cat, supreme crooner Courtney Melody, Jah Thomas himself, and a collab between Pinchers and Josie Wales; Tony Curtis, Ghost and Mitch are courtesy of a Buju Banton co-production. Special request to all dancehall fans!