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Independant releases Spring 2005

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  Category: New Releases

Author: phanthomas
Publishing date: 19.04.2005 21:16


We were quite surprised by the amazing quality of recent independant releases namely Earl "Chinna" Smith(JA) with "Inna de Yard", M.D.V.(UK) with "Style One" and a representative from Sweden with Urban Tribe´s "Bob´s Bar". And yes we also had a selfproduced german release by Radikal Sunflowers Colectivo from Germany but mainly in spanish language that´s a bit off the usual reggae or dancehall league. Please read on for reviews and snippets..


Earl Chinna Smith - Inna de Yard
Earl Chinna Smith - Inna de Yard
Label: Makasound / Inna de Yard
Artist: Earl "Chinna" Smith plus others
Title: Inna de Yard
Avail: January 24, 2005
Distr: Makasound / Inna de Yard

Rating: [XXXXXXXXXX]

Earl "Chinna" Smith may not be too well known within the average reggae listeners´ ranks, but he is one of the most inspiring guitarists, composers, authors, singers and arrangers for more than 3 decades now who already played with the likes of the Wailers and many others and more recently backing up Sizzla. This perfectly blends with a new concept/sublabel by french Makasound label named "Inna de Yard". The projects intention is to take the music back to where it originally came from - the yards with limited acoustic arrangements together with a raw voice that brings it´s natural beauty and does not need to be largely post-produced or otherwise technically enhanced. On this 13-track masterpiece Chinna presents seven of his own songs and left the rest for artist he wanted to introduce on his project album such as Jah Youth, Emmanuel I, The Maestro, Ken Bob and Michael Henry aka Ras Michael Jr.

It is also noticeable that the CD is available together with a DVD that´s also very exclusive and well-done.

From first arrival until today - this release has been on heavy rotation daily str8! I can´t emphasize often enough that i´m from a 90´s dancehall background and more or less stuck there, but there are releases that just impress. This CD/DVD is a must have!


Tracklist:

Makasound
Makasound
Label: Makasound / Inna de Yard
Recorded in Chinna's yard, Kingston 10, mid-august 2004, by Clive "Dub King" Geffrey & Earl Smith Jr.
Produced by Earl "Chinna" Smith
Executive producer : Baghir for Soundicate
Mixed at Bunny Lee Studio by Clive "Dub King" Geffrey
Mastered at Dubwise Factory by Serial P
Inna de Yard
Inna de Yard
Coordination project : Winston McAnuff & Baghir
Photos & films : Nicolas Maslowski
Guitars : Earl Smith & for themselves The Maestro, Ken Bob, Emmanuel I, Michael Henry
Percussions : Jah Youth, Ken Bob, Emmanuel I, Earl Smith
Faraway drums : Kush McAnuff


Further Information:
Makasound Website
Earl Chinna Smith - Inna de Yard @ Makasound
Inne de Yard Info Sheet



MDV - Style One
MDV - Style One
Label: Too much Peace & Quiet
Artist: MDV
Title: Style One
Avail: March 13, 2005
Distr: MDV / Too much Peace & Quiet

Rating: [XXXXXXXXXX]

M.D.V. - "Many Different Variations" - is the name of the UK-based band that supplied us with their latest 7-track release named "Style One". MDV who formerly played under the name of "One Style MDV" come from the London boroughs of Hackney and Islington and now successfully play together for over 20 years. Starting within the local community scene and it´s performance eventualities, One Style soon managed to attract hard-earned attention at Nottinghill Carnival, Anti Apartheid/Racism festivals and other performances. Rather than studio-musicians the band would describe itself as a live-band that has always been trying to directly adress their audience and receive live-feedback from it. On their journey they came across and supported the likes of Burning Spear as well as Gregory Isaacs, Aswad, Maxi Priest, Misty in Roots, Winston Reedy and The Mad Professor and - as a cross-over band if you want to call it like that - also with artists of other genres like Asian Dub Foundation, Super Furry Animals, The LA’s , Yr Anhrefn, The Blaggers, The Levellers and Back to the Planet.
Stylistically MDV are hard to compare as their repertoire and influences range from reggae, roots, soul, blues, jazz, ska, rock to hiphop and this reflects well on their EP. Where the majority of the tunes is rather roots or dub-oriented, "Who R you?" for example is a nice and up to di time dancehall piece whereas "So good" could easily be seen in the R´nB-Charts. Altogether a nice release, but I really fear it doesn´t reflect the bands full potential that would probably be best experienced on a live gig.

Tracklist:

Further Information:
MDV - Official Website
Order Record Online



Urban Tribe - Bob´s Bar
Urban Tribe - Bob´s Bar
Label: Independent / www.urbantribe.nu
Artist: Urban Tribe
Title: Bob´s Bar
Avail: Early 2005
Distr: Own Distribution / www.urbantribe.nu

Rating: [XXXXXXXXXX]

The Promo-info reads like this:
The story of Urban Tribe in actuality starts on a beach in Thailand when Adam Atterby and Charlotte were on honeymoon in Kamala, Phuket. The idea was to simply write a tribute song to Bob’s Bar – a wonderful little reggaebar by the beach hosted by Mr Surin "Bob" Sikapain. The whole thing snowballed and two months later, Adam had material for a whole album. The album was recorded during the summer of 2004 with bits and pieces added during the fall. Renowned dubartist and producer Internal Dread was brought in to do dubbing and also to lend his expertise to the final touches of the mixing of the album. Toaster Bamma B was gracious enough to put the final icing on the cake by appearing on three tracks ("We Say No", "Soul Rebel" and "Bob’s Bar")

In Thailand, Bob’s Bar was more or less leveled by the tsunami on Boxing Day 2004 so 20% of all the proceeds from the sale of the album will go directly to Bob to help him rebuild the bar.

The album is released independently and will only be sold through the website www.urbantribe.nu.
Update: It seems as if Urban Tribe found a distributer in the US - Congrats guys!

To be honest, this album - though being a primer of this band - is very nice stuff that we highly recommend in any way. It is not only perfectly mastered the lyrics are also inspiring and the music just takes you away. You feel reminded to some wellknown band within each tune, but soon you´ll recognize that Urban Tribe don´t copy at all but developed their very own style. It might sound funny for a band from Sweden but Urban Tribe already found some prominent fans on Steelpulse´s Website and one thing is for sure - they´re right!

Tracklist:

Further Information:
Urban Tribe - Official Website
Urban Tribe Lyrics on Claat.com



Radikal Sunflowers Colectivo - Movida
Radikal Sunflowers Colectivo - Movida
Label: Independent / www.radikalsunflowers.de
Artist: Radikal Sunflowers Colectivo
Title: Movida
Avail: Early 2005
Distr: Own Distribution / www.radikalsunflowers.de

Rating: [XXXXXXXXXX]

It always hard to judge a release where you do not understand the language at all. Especially when it´s from a genre that the Band itself calls "LatinRagga - DubJazz".. The Radikal Sunflowers Colectivo coming from germany performs live on various riddims from several genres in an interesting mix with the vocals in spanish, english and german. From the six-track ep there are three tunes that convinced me and three that just plainly failed. The winners are "Movida", "So schön" and "Bahia" and in fact, there are no real losers but "Rub a Dub Song" which really annoyed me after some sessions. To be honest about the rest - they just don´t really fit into our genre. I´d call them "Worldmusic" maybe.

As a résumé: Musically, Radikal Sunflowers Colectivo plays on a high level, but their musical repertoire still needs to be improved. Besides i´m sure they´re able to inspire the crowd during a live gig.

Tracklist:

Further Information:
Radikal Sunflowers Colectivo - Official Website
Download Movida Snippet

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Independant releases Spring 2005 Description:
Independant releases Spring 2005
 




 

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