Roots & Culture 194 Items

The first international african hit, classic groove of summer ’73 gets instant jamaican treatments by ex-Melodians Brent Dowe backed by The Gaytones. Years before Manu Dibango came to Kingston for a Sly & Robby session, a tribute had been paid to the negropolitan”. From coast to coast! From Africa to Jamaica! This is Earth Sound!

Record is close to NM!

Watch out, this clear 45 rpm single is limited to 250 copies worldwide!

Record Kicks presents a new limited edition transparent 45 rpm single vinyl by UK rock steady/soul/dub combo Pama International feat another two winners.
On the A side the new single "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye" flipped by the reggae 69 stormer "Gasoline" on the B side.
In their first 10 years Pama Int'l recorded 9 albums, 3 BBCRadio 1 Maida Vale sessions, won the Rebel playlist on BBC6, and became the first new act to sign to Trojan Records in 30 years. Their collective nature saw them work with members of The Specials, Madness, Steel Pulse, Style Council, Galliano, Kasabian, Mad Professor, Toots & The Maytals, Jimmy Cliff to name a few.

In the last months we had the pleasure to open a connection with Eeyun Purkins, he helped us to mix some Abeng riddims and sent us some riddims to work with. February/March/April /May , the "lockdown months" have been very active and "Moonlight Runner" is one of the results of the collaboration we created during that period , Ian ‘Upsettah’ Burgess , Eeyun Purkins & Abeng worked independently on it so it's for us a pleasure to publish this music on our Dig This Way Records! We hope you enjoy this moody roots music... In the next months we will press more chunes born from this Roots-Heads meeting!

A reissue of a Max Romeo tune recorded at Lee Perry’s Black Ark around 1974/75 with a trombone instrumental / Dub on the B side.

Ajukaja & Mart Avi shake claws on “Scorpio”, a sweet and sour digi-dub skirmish. Having worked together for a number of years, this is the duo’s first proper release. It’s jittery shape may come as a surprise, but it gets straight to the point. Just listen to Avi sing and let your heart ache – it’s okay! We suggest you slide it in your bag next to “Spirit World” by Tapes & Superstar. Out to all the digi-dub and lovers rock heads. The original is in good company on the 12” with not one but two lengthy remixes by Wah Wah Wino affiliate Morgan Buckley.

Outstanding three track EP from the archives of Caliban (A side project of London musician Milton Myrie; a session guitar player who worked with cult UK buddhist afro and reggae band Ozo as well as on the much sought after Steel and Skin ‘Afro Punk Reggae’ 12”). Talk about bang for ye buck.. 1 side crucial oddball digital cuts, b side sounds like a UK jazz funk classic... Gold Print Sleeve. BIG TIP!

Caliban produced only one self-released 7” ‘Open Mind / Digital Reggae’ in 1984.

Following the re-discovery of this very little known 7” by Caliban a few years back, UK producer Jackson Bailey aka Tapes managed to track Milton down, who as well as being in possession of most of the stock of the original record, was also sat on a number of amazing unreleased recordings from the Caliban sessions. With an album of unreleased Caliban material compiled by Tapes to follow later on Music From Memory, this EP introduces one of the unreleased tracks; the incredible feel good disco anthem “Supernatural”. Taking us on a glittering, rhythm charged rocket tour of the Funk Cosmos, this until-now-unheard future classic will surely set the summer nights alight.

The three track 12” also includes “Digital Reggae” which featured on the original Caliban 7”. This computerised dancehall/funk hybrid was partially penned to address the lack of black culture included in the payload of the United States’ first space station; “Digital Reggae will be included in the Payload of Skylab!”. As well as the original mix, the EP also includes a new dub put together by Milton himself and assisted by riddim specialist Tapes!

Check out this classic Roots material from around 1967!

Check out this classic Roots material by V. Vinstrick and The Vibrators from around 1968!

Check out this classic Roots material byThe Kingstonians from around 1968!

Check out this classic Roots material by The Ethiopians and Dave Baker from around 1968!

Check out this classic Roots material by Jackie Bernard and The Upsetters from around 1978!

The Skatalites’ massive dancefloor ska Anthem + some serious dub on the flip

It's been a long journey from the day in Nigeria when we found, inside an Alpha Kuffa - Messiah I sleeve, a blank test press of the Yangaman Bob Lp with a little Top Rank sticker on it to the day we met the producer, the great and brilliant George Dureke, who gave us the test presses of the remaining unreleased albums from his Top Rank label, till to the complicated audio Restoration handled by Colin Young and Bassi Maestro. After two years of hard and intensive work it's finally arrived the time for this compilation to be ready and see the light! Eight Unreleased Digital Roots tracks made in Nigeria in the late 80s, never released or pressed, if not on a couple of test presses made on recycled plastic. Surely it includes some of the most interesting Reggae Music made in the Roots Land call Nigeria! Now Ready to be spreaded worldwide!

7inch and video originally released in 2017 and now reissued by popular demand after the quickly sold out

Million Stylez, Mr Williamz and Charlie P flow over “Modern Time Riddim“ produced by Dreadsquad.

music by King Earthquake & Word Sound and Power

music by Russ Disciples, Jonah Dan & Mighty Massa

Debut vinyl album from Boston's top roots dub reggae band, whose sound is truly of another time and place. Deeply in debt to the original Jamaican engineers of the 70s who turned mixing consoles into the lead instrument, the Vipers drop steady drum & bass rhythms w/ post punk attitude.

A third and final volume of Jamaican doo wop & R&B records taken from the late 50s and early 60s.

These records represent a period in which sound-systems were beginning to dominate the island, with Duke Reid and Sir Coxsone Dodd stepping up their rivalry by beginning to make and release their own records rather than rely on US imports for use in their dances. Many of these records are definitely more-or-less imitations of the American records, as the uniquely Jamaican ska sound was yet to take hold - however many of the future stars of ska, rocksteady and reggae were beginning to cut their teeth in the industry on these records, incl. Alton Ellis, Derrick Morgan, Derrick Harriott and more, and provide a unique view into the fledgling independent record industry culture in Jamaica that would prove to be unbelievably prolific and unparalleled for an island of it's size.

This Road' is the debut LP by one-to-watch Denise Sherwood, which features writing, production and instrumental contributions from Adrian Sherwood (On U Sound), Lee "Scratch" Perry, Mala (Digital Mystikz, Deep Medi Music), Mark Stewart (The Pop Group, Mark Stewart & The Maffia), Skip McDonald (Tackhead, African Head Charge, Little Axe) and Doug Wimbish (Living Colour, Tackhead). In addition to this extended family who came together to help her talent flourish, the album also features drums by the late Style Scott, who the singer lovingly recalls as my "my beautiful uncle." Portraying dark themes and damaged characters through an empathetic filter of bittersweet optimism, 'This Road' is a work of contrasts, which musically matches the mixed emotions felt in life. Bass pressure, contemporary club beats, nourishing roots music, sumptuous instrumentation and accessible, pop-schooled melodicism are woven together by her soothing but heavy-hearted voice, which is perfectly matured and full of depth. Saturated in vibes and an ingrained cognitive understanding of recording, 'This Road' is in part the product of childhood/teenage osmosis spent imbibing the sounds at her father Adrian Sherwood's On-U Studios. The impressionable youth gained an unparalleled education in music and also human nature, living in a house/studio where Lee Perry, Neneh Cherry, Jah Wobble, Big Youth, Little Annie, Style Scott, Tackhead, Bim Sherman and countless more made tracks. Like an epic coming-of-age movie focussing on Denise's part in the ongoing On-U chronicles - charting her changing roles as daughter, musician, mother, lover and more - it's little wonder 'This Road' is both contemporary and timeless, spanning time like a family tree.

The best of the early singles by Bob Marley and the Wailers Volume 2. The partnership of Bob Marley and the Wailers in its short life would create what many consider to be some of the greatest reggae ever recorded.

Killer roots reggae tune produced by Alvin "GG's" Ranglin in 1977. Taken from the "Best of Freddy McKay" Album. First time on 7 inch with Dub on the flip !

Dreadsquad, AKA Marek Bogdanski, returns to the scene with the second and third instalments of his Riddim Machine series. As part of a collaboration consisting of Dreadsquad’s own Superfly Studio and the renowned Moonshine Recordings, listeners are in for a treat, courtesy of Poland’s most prolific reggae dancehall producer. As ever, Dreadsquad manage to encapsulate all evolutions of reggae – from rocksteady , roots and rub-a-dub to dancehall and dub – all with a present-day twist to keep the bass bins rumbling and the people skanking. Both volumes will be available in both vinyl and digital format, so there’s no excuse to miss out! Volume 2 is laced with an amalgamation of characters from the Reggae/Hiphop/Soul scene, featuring the likes of Kojo Neatness , Gardna, El Fata, Dub Princess, Tenor Youthman, Takeyce-Ti, Monkey Jhayam, ManeceLive or Greg Blackman in his soulful roots tune Clean Up. Among a plethora of sublime productions, with throwbacks to the old sounds of early reggae, roots and rub-a-dub, there’s the highly anticipated anthem Issues (previously released on Bun Dem Riddim), with none other than the mighty YT on microphone duties . Keep an ear out for the remix of Chainska Brassika’s Knowledge Is King (featuring Tom Spirals); there’s some serious stepping to be done to this riddim. The closing track for this volume is more than worthy of a mention, as ‘Space’ manages to deliver a transcendentally meditative dub vibe to bring the record to a close in a suitable fashion.
Both volume of Riddim Machine feature artwork illustrated by Kasia Wilk. The releases will be available digitally, via most online download stores (iTunes, Juno, Bandcamp, Amazon, etc.), as well as a physical vinyl release, available at most usual vendors.

Limited edition for Record Stoe Day 2017!

At long last, in proper quality and officially licensed, here's a pair of records long worked at, historically important, largely unheard, and most of all, musically brilliant. Above all, the dub mixes on these records are known among connoisseurs as being among a handful which can not only be considered a definitive King Tubby's style statement, but also among the most radical, transformative and forward thinking mixes ever committed to tape by the King himself. This is proper King Tubby's music; Tubby the man, not just Tubby's the studio. These two 12"s represent most of the known cuts of this brilliant rhythm, played by the Wailers' Barrett brothers, alongside Earl Chinna Smith, Augustus Pablo and Gladdy Anderson, all together truly a rhythmic force to be reckoned with. "Message from the Congo" and "God Is Love" are two vocals cuts produced via the mid 1970's partnership of Milton "Billy Hutch" Hutchinson and the late Linton "Bob Soul" Williamson. Together these upstart artist-producers operated from a base of operations on King St. in downtown Kingston, nothing short of a historic location that was both concurrent with and adjacent to both the Wailers own record shop and Channel 1's first pressing plant.

With the Barrett brothers at the helm of the session, the rhythm was laid at Randy's studio with Errol Thompson as engineeer, then brought to Tubby for voicing and mixing. "Message from the Congo" finds Bob Soul & The United Stars chanting a message of rastafari over the propulsive uptempo rhythm driven by the late Carly Barrett's masterful drumming. The harmonizers in the "United Stars" as they are dubbed on this record, were actually members of both the Righteous Flames and Rocking Horses vocal groups. The dub mix, "Congo Dread Chapter 1", is actually worthy of the type of genre cross-referencing hyperbole I normally decry in music writing. In hindsight we find in this track, Tubby prefiguring not only the remix and the 'edit', but also the frantic yet orchestrated chaos of a lot of the complex electronic dance music that would being to come into its own a full decade later. To try and describe the magic herein would be pointless, you must simply listen to Tubby deconstruct and reconstruct the rhythm using a melange of his now famous tools and techniques to devastating effect. Indeed, it is tracks like this one which made the man himself and those very techniques now so famous. These two tracks were originally released in Jamaica on both the Gemini and Danger Zone labels (in identical mixes). On the flip side of this first 12" we find Billy Hutch's little known vocal on the rhythm, entitled "Ten Long Years." The soulful vocal finds Bill in top form, and this track was originally released on Bill's very first album "Reggae Showcase", released only in NYC and extremely tough to track down. Rounding out the 12" is a real treat, a previously unreleased different take of "Message from the Congo", with different harmonies, and a background voice telling you "this is a message…", bringing the title of the song sharply into focus.

Check out this nice new joint by Junior Murvin featuring Hempress Sativa! TIP!!!!

Second single by Black uhuru. Recorded in 1975 at Randy's Studio. Augustus Pablo on Melodica. Produced by Clive Chin.

Horus Records’ fifth release is the first production played and recorded at their studio ‘The Arch’ in Tottenham, North London. An all analogue affair, recorded with real instruments live and direct to tape, sounds pumped through homemade valve pre-amps and other equipment amassed over the last few years.A 2015 production, heavily influenced by Horus' love for the sonic qualities and approach of 1970’s reggae. Ronnie Davis shouldn’t need an introduction, considered one of the founding artists of reggae music. Starting off with legendary rocksteady and reggae group The Tennors, he remained a prominent force throughout the 70s working with producers such as Bunny Lee, Phil Pratt and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, to create tracks that are still relevant today. On this release, his voice is as distinctive and strong as it ever was – with lyrics to match.

Limited Edition EP, Tribute to Stare McCallum. Four deep roots titles from the 70's with extended version.

Green Vinyl.
Record is close to NM.
Includes original insert.