POSTS TAGGED : Reggae

Zun II Zon – ‘Sunset at Dubtown Beach’

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Zun II Zon, are two German musicians Kim and Jan residing in Aarhus, Denmark, who together create what they call ‘Tripical Tribal’; essentially a musical mix of dub, reggae, afro and electro.

Over the past two years the pair have been honing their ‘Tripical Tribal’ style and grafting on their debut record Dubtown Beach, which was released at the start of October. As a taste of what to expect, Zun II Zon have released the record’s lead single, ‘Sunset at Dubtown Beach’. It has a mystical aura, of hazy, burning hot deserts and interstellar intrepid adventures through time and space. An eclectic and colourful blend of downtempo dubby tones and mellow undulations, it shuffles along some clip-clop beats before picking up pace midway through with the introduction of some utterly glorious brass. Welcome to Dubtown Beach – where dark matter and rainbows meet!

Listen to ‘Sunset at Dubtown Beach’ below and if that is to your liking, why not check out the entire record here?

Jenny Mayhem – ‘Pickup Boy’

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Jenny Mayhem is a Toronto-based, Barbados-born musician and songwriter who performs solo and under the collaborative act Jenny Mayhem & The Fuzz Orchestrator.

It is the former that draws our attention on this occasion, and Jenny Mayhem’s brand new single ‘Pickup Boy’. Bright, bouncy and buoyant, it skips along with some irresistible reggae/dancehall vibes as Mayhem’s airy vocals float across a bouncy beat that all combine for what is a super, super catchy tune. Like much of some of the finer reggae/dancehall sounds of old, the lyrical content is more serious than the playful, feelgood tune would suggest as Mayem takes a silly pick-up artist to task. Catchy as they come, the allure of ‘Pickup Boy’ is nigh on impossible to resist.

Listen to ‘Pickup Boy’ below & hopefully wherever you are, you’ve the weather to match it.

The 2 Bears – ‘Money Man’ ft. Stylo G

 

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Comprised of  Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard and fellow UK DJ/producer Raf Daddy, The 2 Bears have released a series of EPs and remixes since meeting on the club circuit in 2009, a collaboration which culminated with their superb debut album, 2012’s Be Strong. Now, the duo has announced plans for not one, but two new releases: The Lambs Bread and Weepers EP out August 25th, followed by their new LP, The Night Is Young, on October 13th.

Appearing on both releases, their new track ‘Money Man’, sees The 2 Bears shift in a slightly different musical direction. Featuring the vocals of UK reggae artist Stylo G, it begins as an upbeat, bright and happy-go-lucky sounding reggae cut with some playful pop harmonies, before morphing into a big bass dancehall beast, and back again. It is not just the aesthetics they have embraced, discussing their intentions for the release Goddard said: “I love tunes that disguise things. A really sweet melody with a really dark sentiment. ‘Money Man’ is meant to be like that, you can have those glossy reggae records that still say something. We didn’t want to just be in that culture of not saying anything, where it’s all a fantasy world and everyone just goes and gets fucked up but no one says anything.” With ‘Money Man’ The 2 Bears play these dynamics off each other with perfection. Utilizing the steady rhythms, cheery vibes and sunny disposition as a means of allowing the politically-charged lyrical attack on capitalist society and it’s ‘money men’ go down much easier.  ‘Money Man’ is all kinds of marvellous from The 2 Bears, and it comes with a pretty snazzy new video to boot, driving home a similar sentiment as the song itself, with added satire and smirking.

The Lambs Bread and Weepers EP out August 25th, followed by their new LP, The Night Is Young, on October 13th via Southern Fried Records.

Trojan Warriors 2 Mixtape (Ska, Reggae, Dancehall & Rocksteady)

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Last summer I put together the ‘Trojan Warriors‘ mixtape, which was basically a selection of Jamaican sounds ala Ska, Reggae, Dancehall, Rocksteady etc. It was a whole lot of fun putting it together and as it proved far more popular than I had expected, I decided to do a sort of follow up. 

So yeah, I can’t guarantee that all these featured on Trojan Records (I’m pretty sure quite a few didn’t) but ‘Trojan Warriors’ just has a great ring to it, that and in the interests of continuity, I’m sticking with the Trojan handle. Between that and bouts of boredom over the weekend ‘Trojan Warriors 2’ was born.  The premise is the same once again, I listen to all this stuff quite a lot and regularly add to my collection yet it rarely features on the blog. The mix is compiled from favourites off the various albums, compilations and box sets I have acquired throughout the years. Some are fairly well known, others less so.

I got a real kick out of putting this together and hopefully people enjoy ‘Trojan Warriors’ mark two as much as the first incarnation. Well, that’s enough waffling from me, give it a spin below and the tracklisting is after the jump. Also, credit for the image goes to my very talented cousin(t), Kevin Squires.

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