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CULTCHA Clash Outer National: Global-Community-Radio Broadcasting, Online Marketplace, Digital Zine & Subversive Propagandist Organization.
Combatting the mundanity and commodification of human existence with Art, Music, Comedy, Social-Criticism and the Promotion of Alternatives to Corporate Culture.
David Asher is an individual who puts his whole heart and soul into his music, and it shows. From his time fronting Detroit's premier reggae / rock band, The Process, to his more recent work with DAB, he's been putting out original music for over 30 years.
The first new single since 2021's self-titled DAB LP does not disappoint. From the start of the track one finds themselves immersed with infectious rhythms and positive vibrations.
David's vocal delivery is raw and soulful, lyrical content is righteous. According to Asher... "about the Creator's protection from jealous bad-minded people, vampires and back-biters." The instrumentation sounds fresh, reggae lovers will want to hear this.
Production is high quality, by Mr. Asher and Chris Lewis. the sound is full, rich and crystal clear. Played in a club, this one is sure to get some motion on the dance floor!
Get the digital release, including instrumental version, from Bandcamp.
Back with their first album in over forty years, On-U Sound's original house band, Creation Rebel is back with a vengeance.
With an album titled after former Prime Minister Theresa May's heavy-handed immigration policy, the band who originally formed to back the late Prince Far I on his European tour and went on, along with with Adrian Sherwood, to spark a punky reggae revolution in the U.K. with the developement of On-U Sound, is dread in every sense. Serious music for serious times.
Original members Crucial Tony (guitar), Charlie 'Eskimo' Fox (drums / vocals), and Mr. Magoo (percussion / vocals) come together (Keith 'Lizard' Logan, their original bassist has passed but is present in tribute, a print of his image adorns the insert) with bass player, Kenton 'Fish' Brown and keyboardist Cyrus Richards for the album. Of course, Sherwood is at the controls!
It was pressed on yellow vinyl and the A side is set off by Swiftly (The Right One) which, fittingly, features vintage vocals from Prince Far I as well as the conscious singing of Mr. Magoo. Production is crisp and the players are tight.
Stonebridge Warrior is a version, or instrumental, it's steppers type beat drives the track that treads the line between dub reggae and jazz. Quite sophisticated when juxtaposed with the groups early work.
Drummer, Eskimo Fox steps up to the mic for Under Pressure, singing, deejaying and generally nicing up the tune.
That's More Like It is a dub, the instrumentation is spacious, leaving plenty of room for Sherwood's mix-board wizardry and sound effects. The spaced-out psychedelia present in earlier work from the group, like Starship Africa, is captured on this track.
Jubilee Clock rounds out the first side on a strong note, another steppers type track with peaking bass, play it loud!
This Thinking Feeling sets off side B with pure fire, pairing posthumous Prince Far I lyrics with lyrical assassin, Daddy Freddy, who has collaborated on a few On-U releases, of late.
Another Mr. Magoo vocal track, Whatever It Takes is an uplifting one accentuated by Dean Fraser's saxaphone and trumpet by Okiel McIntyre.
The jazz infused Salutation Gardens Crown Hill Road is a dub with haunting keys and space age reverb and delay that the label has become known for.
Gaudi is the guest synth player for The People's Sound (Tribute To Daddy Vego), another heavy dub version with all of it's players in top form.
The final cut is Off The Spectrum, ending the LP in a fine style. From the tip-top to the last drop, this one is a winner.
Here's an interview from On-U Sound with the group discussing the new album.
This time around, tempos are up. Not that the group ever confined itself to down tempo rhythms before, quite the contrary, as would become evident with one listen to My Life In A Hole In The Ground, their debut LP that was released by On-U Sound in 1981. The group has had a following amongst garage / house music aficionados for decades, and on this release, a very modern, electronic sound is embraced. Simultaneously, the roots elements of African drums and chants are not left behind, and the popularity of Afro-Beat is fully taken advantage of with the inclusion of African singers & players of instruments, like King Ayisoba, Ghanaian vocalist and kologo (traditional two-stringed guitar like instrument) player on two tracks.
A Bad Attitude is the first tune and features King Ayisoba as well as vocal snippets from Noah, a P.M.A. P.S.A. done the On-U Sound A.H.C. way. This one sets the energy for the album and would surely get the dance floor jumping.
Accra Electronica is another uptempo cut with a familiar bass line and clarinet by Paul Booth. It's a high energy club banger with intense percussion.
The following track, Push Me Pull You brings the BPM down to a more expected dub tempo. The mystical sounding chants that A.H.C. are known for with gliding sub bass, and more horn contributions from Booth that sound organic in contrast. The smashing snares echo like noise from another dimension. This one will be massive played on a proper sound system.
I Chant Too has what reminds me of an The Art Of Noise vibe and is another slower tune that showcases Noah's drumming skills.
Asalatua kicks the tempo back up to a house groove and features additional percussion by Emmanuel Okine (Aka Iu) and Mensah Akaa. The call and response type of chant is captivating.
I'm A Winner is another positive reinforcement in the form of an interlude with a bit of a dancehall vibe with wicked synths.
The title track is A Trip To Bolgatanga, a hypnotic groove with percussive triplets that give it a clunky feel which Doug Wimbish's bass rides along fluidly. Paul Booth's fantastic horn arrangement eases the tune out at the end.
Never Regret A Day is another track with positive affirmations chanted over a bouncy track with a funky flute.
The final tune on the album is Microdosing, which further excavates into and creates the vision of a psychedelic Africa pursued by Noah and company for many years, now.
As anyone who follows CULTCHA Clash Outer National knows, we are proponents and advocators for anything On-U Sound related or Adrian Sherwood produced, this one is no exception other than the fact that On-U records are always exceptional, to me. Buy it!
Public Image Ltd. - End Of The World (PiL Official)
I had pre-ordered this album from MerchBar and waited for it's arrival for nearly a month after the release date before cancelling and ordering it from Discogs, so this time it's not all my fault that the review isn't posted in a timely manner...
P.I.L. are a band that I will always buy a new album from, John Lydon has been sort of a hero of mine since I was 12 years old, when I got a copy of Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols. The debut Public Image Ltd. album, First Issue, is the record in my collection that I have owned for the longest (hung on to the same copy since 1984). They fall into my top 10 bands list, without a doubt, and even the albums that aren't spectacular are at least "pretty good," to me.
This one is no exception. Pressed on double vinyl at 45 RPM for superior sound quality, the packaging is exceptional, including several variations of colored vinyl, a gatefold jacket, and artwork by Mr. Lydon, whose immediately identifiable lyrics and vocal delivery has been at the group’s forefront since its inception. The band consists of Bruce Smith on drums, who is also a founding member of another of my favorites, The Pop Group. Lu Edmonds, previously of The Damned, The Mekons, Shriekback and numerous other groups, is on guitar. Scott Firth plays bass, rounding out the groups diverse sound with a background in jazz and funk.
The albums opener, Penge is poignant in its bleak imagery and martial instrumentation. It sets the album off on a strong note and prepares the listener for the rough terrain that lies ahead.
End Of The World, the following track, is futuristic and nihilistic. Lu’s guitar sounds otherworldly, the group, in its current carnation, undoubtedly work well together.
Car Chase is one of my picks from the album. Exciting musically, dance-provoking and bass heavy without pretension, raw and purely energetic.
Being Stupid Again sets off side 2 of record one. Johnny will always say what’s on his mind and I always feel like what he says is from the heart, I always respect him (even when he puts on a silly red hat), but I’m not really into the vocals on this one… It seems to be some kind a reaction to “woke-ism” or cancel culture, or something. Ultimately, it sounds a bit like the rantings of an old man who’s watched too much Fox “News.” The track is hot, though! I would love to see what Dennis Bovell or Adrian Sherwood would make of the master tapes of this one, a dub version to make it a little bit less "Get off my lawn!" would be Fire!
Walls has the vintage P.I.L. Second Edition feel, instrumentally, with a little bit more of a melodic side of Lydon showing through.
Pretty Awful sounds a bit like eighties pop, it’s grown on me a bit after a few plays. That one sums up the first record of the set, So far it’s not my favorite P.I.L. Album, but I don’t regret the purchase.
Strange opens up record two. This one is really interesting, as are most of the tunes on side 3. Not too far off from some of what the group has done in the past but well written and produced.
Dirty Murky Delight if fun, quirky and goofy, a swinging jazz number with Lydon doing a lounge scat kind of thing.
The Do That is another fun one with a bouncy rhythm and a stream of consciousness kind of lyrical flow that is a little reminiscent of Lee “Scratch” Perry’s vocal rants.
LFCF (Liars, Fakes, Cheats & Frauds) is obviously aimed at Johnny’s former Sex Pistols mates over the beef from the recent Disney production about the band. Not quite the screed that Low Life came off as in 1978, but the bluesy backing track goes pretty hard.
North West Passage shows Lydon and company at their peak, undeniably P.I.L. While not trying to recreate anything from the past. Lyrics as introspective and honest as ever and a grinding, mid-tempo groove pushes on tirelessly.
Hawaii is the song that John wrote for his late wife, Nora, as he cared for her at the end of her life. The song was the groups entry to this year's Eurovision song contest. Maybe I'm just partial to the band, but I find this song to be beautiful and a fitting closure for the End Of The World.
On a final note, I would like to come back to the silly red hat... The P.I.L. website features a segment from Fox of their resident twat, Greg Gutfeld, comparing the defeated ex-president to the rest of the candidates that the GOP has to offer in terms of Johnny Rotten to the rest of The Sex Pistols, implying that Johnny was the main character, so to speak. I've also heard Johnny himself compare the media's treatment of the pathologically lying con-man, defeated ex-president to the treatment that he received from the press when the Pistols were in their heyday. The difference that I can't help but notice is that John Lydon / Rotten has always exercised honesty and integrity in his words and actions... the shock value may be similar, but that is where the similarities end, in my opinion.
This marks my return to the world of writing after a brief hiatus starting last winter. In the usual fashion of C.C.O.N., this one is late (release date was April 21, 2023), but I felt it necessary to cover this one as it pays homage to an album that has been massively influential to me, as well as countless artists and listeners, alike.
Covering entire albums in an alternate genre certainly has its inherent novelty value, but there is nothing gimmicky about their dub, dancehall or drum 'n' bass interpretations of these classics.
The song sequence is the same as on the 1972 original on this one. The opening track, "Five Years" finds one of British Reggae's biggest names, Steel Pulse, joining the crew to reconstruct the Brixton born Bowie's apocalyptic ballad in a rub a dub style.
It is followed by "Soul Love" featuring Mortimer. The tunes, so far into the album, don't stray too far from the original versions in lyrical content or song structure, with perhaps a little bit more boom in the low end. Other than the genre difference, these few don't deviate much from those of The Spiders From Mars.
Naomi Cowan offers a fresh voice to "Moonage Daydream" which rides upon the well known dancehall riddim, Cuss Cuss.
Another British Reggae act, Maxi Priest, contribute to this funky reanimation of "Star Man" which is sure to get a dance floor packed.
"It Ain't Easy" features Samory I covering vocal duties over a steppers rhythm with blazing horns, closing out side one of the LP.
Side two is set off by "Lady Stardust," featuring Sundub (whose Spirits Eat Music was released by Easy Star Records earlier this year), which is reworked into a lovers rock sizzler.
Roots reggae veteran, Carlton Livingston, adds his vocals to the skanking version of "Star."
California's ska-punk legends, Fishbone, and JohnnyGo Figure transform "Hang On To Yourself" into a dancehall rock hybrid, incorporating the timeless riddim, Sleng Teng. That particular riddim was built around a pre-programmed Casio keyboard part, the story is that the programmer based the program off of a popular rock song... which was alleged to be "Hang On To Yourself" (some also thought it was "Anarchy In The U.K." by The Sex Pistols)... according to an interview with the programmer, neither of those are actually the inspiration for the beat, although the similarities are uncanny. Anyway, not sure if that was intentional on the part of the All-Stars, but I bet that it was. This is my top choice selection off of the album, would love to have a 7" pressing of it!
From east London, The Skints get in on the action, combining the Answer riddim to "Ziggy Stardust," serving great justice to the original title track.
Southern California's The Expanders join the gang for an energetic take of "Suffragette City" in a reggae rockers style.
The final cut is "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide," on which Macy Gray was enlisted for vocal duties. She's a surprise, recognizable guest that fits perfectly into those platform boots. Like most of the tracks on the album, this one doesn't depart much from the original tune but is a fresh take on an old favorite. It's powerful crescendo signals the end to this nostalgic and magical tale.
As a whole, if this one lacks in originality, then it makes up for it with quality of musicianship and adventurousness. It has extra sentimental value to me due to the impact that Ziggy Stardust, and most of Bowie's material from the seventies, had upon my young mind. It was the early eighties that these albums came to my attention (often found in discount bins or low-cost second hand racks at that time) and set me on a path that would lead me in multiple musical directions and eventually back... it seems like I'm not the only one.
Jon "Selecta J-Cut" Soldanels aka "Johnny Rebel" (photo from circa 1984)
