It says here that the tracks on Dub Zealand, “highlight the surprising relation,” between the islands forming New Zealand and Jamaica. ‘Surprising’!? Given the Olympic quantities of weed smoked in either nation there’s little to be surprised about. Jamaican marijuana consumption is, of course, legendary but I’ve actually been to the ‘land of the long white cloud’ and they’re just as bad over there. There’s clouds all right. Of bong smoke.
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Monthly Archives: March 2011
JSTAR & DR CAT present: Dub Zealand – 2011 + tracklist
FAB SAMPERI: Power Bossa – 2011
Fab Samperi a.k.a. The Captain (or ‘Commander Of The Beat’ as he’s known around these parts) follows up flagship single Listen Up with the rest of his fleet of new tunes in the shape of album Power Bossa. As the ‘bossa’ bit of the title implies, continuity throughout this LP comes from being rooted in the rhythms of Brazil but as the ‘power’ bit would suggest – percussion is generally rather more substantial than a little latin-jazzy cocktail shimmy
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JOHNNYPLUSE: Laser, Lasers, We Need More Lasers – 2011 + ‘It’s Some Craic’ free download
Here he is then, back once again like a renegade master – yes – it’s Irish beat assassin JohnnyPluse with new album Lasers, Lasers, We Need More Lasers – or (as it’s almost certainly destined to be known) Lasers. For those who aren’t in the know, JP is a man afflicted by ‘breaks’-ADHD – a little known disorder that I’ve just invented but which perfectly describes his clear conviction that there can never be enough breaks.
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FOREIGN LEGION: ‘Night Moves’ + tracklist – 2011
Even more delayed than the Beastie Boys Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 fellow true-schoolers Foreign Legion finally release ‘difficult third’ album, Night Moves on 12 April this year.
Full-Time B-Boy was the big underground banger that broke them (in the UK at least) at the turn of the millenium
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BEASTIE BOYS: Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 – Album release update + ‘Make Some Noise’ single snippet – 2011
Full Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 review and audio HERE.
I slept on this a bit just to make sure the ‘Rolling Stones’ of rap weren’t pulling another fast one on release dates and album names but it does seem fairly certain that the next proper Beastie Boys hip-hop album drops on 3 May this year – due in no small part to the recovery of MCA from throat cancer. Just to clarify, the album is entitled Hot Sauce Committee Part 2
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EURO CINEMA: Ten-4 – 2011
Euro Cinema? From Holland? Yeah, it’s ok – I’m referring to Euro Cinema the hammond beat band, from Holland, not the ‘Euro cinema’ ‘from Holland’ that my mate’s dad used to keep in a shoebox at the bottom of his wardrobe…if you know what I mean. What’s Hammond-y jazz funk got to do with cinema? It’s a ‘library music’ reference isn’t it? You know – all that ‘groovy’ sixties stuff
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SAVANT (feat. Visions Of The Sun, Random, Mr Miranda & Medaforacle) (prod. by Marvel 76): State Bar AZ Cypher – 2011 – Free download
It’s yet another one from workaholic Tucson emcee Savant who this time invites a few of his mates around (apparently under the auspices of Donuts & Milk to drop a bomb-track posse cut over a beat from Marvel 76. It’s an uptempo affair, chock full of ill rhyme play about how dope Arizona hip-hop is (and judging by this, that’s fairly dope) with a rather interesting retro organ stabs throughout and fuzzy guitar chops on the outro. Don’t they have any TV in Arizona? The rate Savant’s putting stuff out
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WINDMILLS: As Above, So Below – 2011 – Album review + Free download
HIGHLIGHTS: Solitary Figure – Slow Mode – My Summer Fantasie – Windmills – Reborn Of Thought
SOUNDBITE: “You want hip-hop the way that it was?/ Then it’d be more fun to hang around instead of killing my buzz/ It’s Windmills motherfucker and we’re happy you came/ Do I expect those to front? That’s the way I was raised”
Rating: 
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PHILLIP MORRIS: Lady Liberty Is Wasted – 2011
Hats off to Chi-town’s Phillip Morris, for avoiding such rap clichés as restyling his name to reduce at least one part of it to an initial and/or adding a ‘street’ nickname. True, this does mean he sounds like some sort of interior designer but I suspect he’s unlikely to give a shit about that since his tongue is frequently in his cheek throughout this collection of unreleased back catalogue cuts and a few new ones.
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LUCKY BROWN: ‘Lucky Brown’s Space Dream’ + tracklist – 2011
I had a space dream once. It was after I ate some cheese that had been in the fridge a while, by mistake. I don’t know if Joel Ricci a.k.a. Lucky Brown has availed himself of the mind-expanding properties of what might best be described as very mature cheddar but his particular space dream seems to have taken him on a funky trip back to the dawn of funk. And when I say ‘dawn of funk,
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