Friday 21 December 2007

Markle B2B Sully Shanks/ 2nd Drop Radio Show – Sub FM 17th Dec 07

Markle B2B Sully Shanks/ 2nd Drop Radio Show – Sub FM 17th Dec 07

http://archive.subfm.com/MarklefeatSullyShanks17Dec07SubFM.mp3

Bill Withers – Grandma’s Hands (live) (Sussex)
Heralds of Change – Spotted (All City)
King Tubby – Tribulation Dub (Attack)
Etherealites – Matador Dub (Roots Garden)
Jah Warrior – Satan Bites The Dub (Jah Warrior)
Monie Love – The Power Roach Motel Heavy Dub (Cooltempo)
Ce Ce Rogers – Someday (Atlantic)
Smith & Mighty – Bi Line Fi Blow (K7!)
TRG – Feel For You (Subway)
TRG – Back Like That (Hessle Audio)
Elemental – Soul Fire (Destructive)
Kommonazmuk – Bad Apple (Unreleased)
Sully Shanks – Give Me Up LD Remix (2nd Drop)
RSD – Pretty Bright Lights (Punch Drunk)
Marlow – The Ropes (Destructive)
Randomer – Incarcerate (Unreleased)
Parson – Ghostliner Distance remix (Dubline)
---
Sully Shanks in the mix
Elemental - Strange Brew (Forthcoming on Runtime)
Shonky/Shonx/Dysfunktion - Drunken Master (Dub)
Shnyde - Zoompy Riddim (Harmitage Dub)
Dark Angel - Cool n Humble (Forthcoming on Boka)
Sully - Flashback (Forthcoming on Urban Graffiti)
Shonky/Shonx/Dysfunktion - Hit List (Dub)
Sumone - Zombie, Innasekt RMX (Harmitage Dub)
HOD - Oblivious (Urban Graffiti Dub)
Sully - Trackside (Harmitage Dub)
Reso - 2 Faced Rasta (Dubting)
Parson - Conduit (Dub)
Sully - Duke St Dub (Harmitage Dub)
---
Sully Interview
Musical Bed = Sully Shanks - Give Me Up (2nd Drop)
---
Skream – There’s A Sign (Unreleased)
Clouds – Mighty Eyeball Rays (2nd Drop)
Ikonika – Please (Hyperdub)
Funk Ethics – Blues Is Now (Pitch Black)
Konnek Deep – Dive In (Unreleased)

Tuesday 18 December 2007

Mid December top ten (ho ho ho)



Sully Shanks – Give Me Up LD Remix (2nd Drop)
Mala – Demons (Disfigured Dubz)
Skream – There’s a Sign (Unreleased)
Dutty Dubz – Contact (2nd Drop)
Sukh Knight – Mount Pleasant (Unreleased)
Rusko – 2 and A Q (Sub Soldiers)
Kommonazmuk - Bad Apple (Unreleased)
Natural Marcus - Talks of the Prejudiced Clouds version (2nd Drop)
Randomer – Nothing Left (Unreleased)
Pole – Winkelstreben (Peverelist Remix) (Scape Music)

Special retro selection:
Benny ill Vs Goldspot – London (Tempa)

--------------------------------------
2nd Drop Radio Show
Bi-weekly Monday's 6-8pm on Sub Fm
www.subfm.com

Plastician Interview (as featured in ATM Magazine Nov 07)


As I trawl the Internet looking up some background on the UK’s premier grime & dubstep DJ and producer Chris Reed aka Plastician I am directed to a new blog page from his myspace. The Royal Artist Club is a new marketing gimmick from a company called Frukt, “I thought it sounded like a laugh”, muses Chris. I am treated to short video clips of Chris back flipping into a swimming pool in full city gent outfit, introducing the Alchopop monstrosity called the Randomiser and catch a glimpse of the multi-coloured, costumed group of misfits called Wotless. The man behind classic grime tracks Venom and Cha, and a key conduit in crossing grime from car boot mixtapes and the bleak tower blocks of east London to the record collections of electronica and bass addicts through his input on the Rephlex grime compilation in 2004, is both consummate professional and dead-pan scally wag. With his long awaited and much maligned artist album dropping before the years out, Plastician waxes lyrical on the LP set backs, why he’s happy to be back at Rinse, and doing a porn film.


The Radio One gig has come to an end. What’s the next step for you?
I’m back on Rinse. As much as being on Radio One is brilliant, it’s not as fun. Pretty much everything I did on Radio One was pre-recorded, and that interaction with the audience was lost, and that’s a real buzz when you are on the radio. The next step is doing good shows, good gigs and putting more music out.

The album has had it’s fair share of dramas and set backs.
Yeah, there were loads.

You had Problems with artwork, mastering, pressing and barcoding. Then it got leaked.
It’s happened to me so much now that when I see it now I’m like, fuck, what can I do? I don’t think that it’s gonna hurt, there hasn’t been massive topics on internet forums and the quality of it was poor, so whoever ripped it didn’t rip it at a high quality. The people who will buy it (the Album) are not just supporters of the music, but of you as a person.

What’s behind the name of the Album?
Just people talking about “is it Grime, is it dubstep?” For me it’s just a combination of all the music I listen to. Dubstep is really energetic now, but when I started making certain beats on the album dubstep was more atmospheric and about the weight, rather than the beats. It was like listening to a film score, but with bass, in a club. I took the mid-range, melodies and energy of grime and mixed it with the weight and structure of dubstep. My main inspiration to make music is my mood and what is going on at the time in my life. It’s just me trying to make music differently to other people and not trying to fit to that blueprint of the Divinche stab or a Coki wobbler bassline. It’s music that works in both genres but it’s not the same as anyone else’s music.

Do you think a lot of people will be surprised that there aren’t a lot more MC’s on the record?
I think the grime heads will, because they are used to buying mixtapes and it’s back to back MCing. The whole MCing side of grime was not something I’ve fully been into myself. Even in the early days on Rinse FM I never used to play that many vocal tunes. And still now, I only play ones I really like or they have a really good concept. So it was more a representation of what I was into. I did a few tracks with MC’s. Real Things is a straight up grime track, and then you’ve got Intensive Snare, which is almost like hip hop, but really weighty and dark. That’s one of my favourite on the album.

If we go into the tracks in more depth….I can’t believe its not Benny?
There’s a story behind that right? That was me listening to a lot of Benny Ill, Kode 9 and really deep early dubstep stuff when I built that track. I wanted to build that track that sounded empty, but that had a lot going on in it almost subliminally. It was almost like a tribute to Benny Ill and Kode 9 coz that was the vibe I was on at the time.

Violent has that classic grime sound, but with added weight, as does Shallow Grave, which is an update of an old track isn’t it?
That’s right, the original was on the back of Cha that came out years ago. I really like the beat and the energy, that’s why it made it onto the album.

That’s why I like Badboy, because it really tonks along.
It’s ridiculous; a loud, noisy in your face energy burst 8 bar track. And a track a lot of people have picked out of the album.

I think the album has great fluidity.
We tried so many different combinations with the ten tracks, but I always wanted it to finish with Japan, coz I though that closes it out nicely.

How did you get involved in making a soundtrack for a porn video?
It was random, they’re a London based company and they got in contact with me through Myspace about the possibility of me working on a soundtrack. I was like, why not? It would be quite interesting to see what happens in that industry. I met up with all the guys and they were proper sound, really nice people. I did a 2 hour-long soundtrack with 5 or 6 tracks that are about 20 mins long. It’s something I’ve always been interested in. It’s just funny that of all things to do, it was a porno.

Did you get a free copy of the movie?
Yeah, it’s upstairs somewhere (in his house). I don’t know where, one of my mates has probably nicked it.

Explain quickly what the legend of Wotless is.
Wotless is just me and my mates. The whole prop thing came from lads on holiday. Stupid shit, like let’s wear armbands and goggles for no reason. Then we were like what do we do next? Now it’s so serious, people want to be the best.

Was the gimp suit just the next step in costumes?
I was looking for an outfit to wear in Zante, I was just scowering Ebay, and I had an idea to goes as a gymnast. So I typed in leotard and unitard came up. It’s like a leotard but It covers your face. I had to give my height, my weight and it got sent over from Hong Kong. When I walked through the door no one knew what I was gonna be wearing. Still to this day I have never heard or seen laughter like it.

Plastician’s Beg To Differ album is out soon on Terror Rhythm. Check the Terror Rhythm show on www.rinsefm.com Monday 11pm -1am and www.myspace.com/plastician for gigs and the infamous Wotless crew antics..

2nd Drop Radio - Sub FM 3rd Dec 07

http://archive.subfm.com/Markle03Dec07SubFM.mp3

Markle 3rd Dec - Sub FM - 6-8pm

Roots Manuva – Movements (Big Dada)
Earl Zinger – Last of the Great Bassline Hunters (K7!)
The Revolutionaires - Kunta Kinte (Pressure Sounds)
Augustus Pablo – Braces Tower Dub (Message/ Shanachie)
Wailing Souls – What A Feeling (Jah Guidance)
Reggie Steppa – Drum Pan Sound (Steely)
Steven “Lenkt” Marsden - Diwali Riddim (40/40)
Butch Cassidy Sound System – Brothers & Sisters (Soma)
Benny ill Vs Goldspot – London (Tempa)
So Solid Crew – Dillema (Ministry of Sound)
Wiley – What D’you Call It? (XL)
Al Da Bubble – Double Trouble (Archive)
Sukh Knight – Diesel Not Petrol (Unreleased)
Joker – Stuck in the System (Earwax)
Skream - ? (?)
Martin Buttrich – Well Done (Headhunter remix) (Four: Twenty)
Dutty Dubz – Back and Forth (Unreleased)
Elemental – Raw Material (Hotflush)
Rusko – 2 and A Q (Sub Soliders)
Randomer – Incarcerate (Unreleased)
Skream – Oskilator (Tempa)
Westos – Ankle Rotissery (Unreleased)
Sully Shanks – Give Me Up (LD Remix) (2nd Drop)
Pole – Winkelstreben (Peverelist Remix) (Scape Music)
Sukh Knight – Cop Killer (Unreleased)
Peverelist – Roll With The Punches (Punch Drunk)
Sukh Knight – Mount Heaven (Unreleased)
Reso – Holograms (Pitch Black)
Martyn – Twenty Four (3024)
Bowser & DZ – Another Day (Unreleased)
Niney & the Soul Syndicate – Couchi Dub (Wascal Refix) (Unreleased)

Friday 2 November 2007

November Top Ten pt 1


There is so much good music coming out of the dubstep scene right now...different angles, influences, textures....But i have to say that there is a heavy roots thread running through my selection this month. Check the 2nd Drop Radio Show this Monday 5th Nov from 6-8pm on www.subfm.com to hear the below in full audio glory!!!!

In no particular order....

Healing of the Nation - Talks of the Prejudiced (Clouds version) 2nd Drop
Sully Shanks - Give Me Up (LD Remix) 2nd Drop
Templer - Black Story Dub
Somejerk - Lack of Sleep Dub
Rusko - Snes (The Others Remix) Dub Police
Dark Angel - Cool N Humble (Untold Remix) Boka Dub
Goldfinger - Contact 2nd Drop
Mala - Demons Disfigured Dubz
Swing Dat Skirt - LD Ringo Dub
Quest - Paradise Found Deep Medi Dub

Special request 7" ->
Butch Cassidy Soundsystem - Radioactive Red Hook

Wednesday 24 October 2007

Mastering at Transition - Clouds 2nd Drop 003



Mastering. It's a special moment. Sitting in the softly carpeted space of a mastering studio taking in the banks of analogue and audio equipment twinkling away like traffic lights on aphetimines. I still get a slighty nervous sensation when handing over a CD of brand new tunes ready for a bit of tweak and boost. Whilst I didn't make them, I still feel intimately linked with the music. I've chosen it, filtered it from other tracks which didn't strike that chord within me. So, I'm a nervous A&R I suppose. But i'm not worrying about if it will sell or whether the shops will take 5 or 50. I'm worried if people will like it, love it, play it every monring when they get up and before they go to bed. Longevity is a word that pops into my mind regularly and is something that you can rarely predict. I hope, as I'm sitting there listening to Jason EQing, that the tunes playing out before me will be listened to 10, 20 or 50 years from now, the vinyl passed through generations, lovingly played and cherished, and kept unconditionally.

And I do feel that both Clouds's "Mighty Eyeball Rays" and Healing of the Nation's "Talks of the Prejudiced" (Clouds Version) will stand the test of time, and not just be another big tune that is played for 2 months and then relagated to the has been pile. But I supposed I'll have to let the public decide that one.

Big up to Jason, Leon and Chefal at Transition. Always a fantastic experience sitting in the studio with you, seeing and hearing you do your thing and putting the world to rights. Bless up!

Friday 19 October 2007

2nd Drop Radio Show

After a number of guest slots on Sub FM, React Fm and Streamizm it was only a matter of time before 2nd Drop Records snaffled its own show.

So kickin off - Bi weekly Monday's 6-8pm on SUB FM
www.subfm.com
www.subfm.com/chat

Starting this Monday (22nd Oct 07) with some exclusive new tunes, pushing some new artists, playing lickle bit of old stuff from a variety of genres in the golden shower hour aka The Randomiser, radio battleships and generally havin a bit of mischief.

Lock on for other news, views and maybe some interviews - guest MC's, DJs and scenesters - who knows who'll be pass thru.

_________________

www.2nddroprecords.com

001 Ramadanman - Good Feelin B/W The Woon - OUT NOW
002 Rusko - William H Tonkers B/W Roma - OUT NOW
003 Clouds - A. Mighty Eyeball Rays - NOV 26th
Healing of the Nation - AA. Talks of the Prejudiced (Clouds Version)

Thursday 27 September 2007

October top ten



In no particular order. They are all corkers!!!

Dutty Dubz - Contact (2nd Drop)
Loetech - Northern Harm (Dub)
Digital Mystikz - Shake Out Them Demons (Disfigured Dubz)
Distance - Feel Me (Chestplate)
Clouds - Mighty Eyeball Rays (2nd Drop)
Sully Shanks - Heartbeat (Dub)
Benga & Coki -Night (Tempa)
Benny Page - Time to Kill (Dub)
Tunnidge - Geddon (Dub)
L-Wiz - Cowboy Universal (Red Volume)

DJing here:
*Private show, Design Museum, London - 3/10/07
*DOTS, Plan B, Brixton, London - 4/10/07
*Fez Club, Reading - 11/10/07
*Oxjam, Reading - 18/10/07
*Valve - Fez Club, Reading - 25/10/07
*Blag Club, London - 30/11/07

------------------------------------
2nd Drop Records second release is due out in all good record shops from Monday 1st October 07.

Rusko
A. William H Tonkers
B. Roma

Go cop dat!!!

www.2nddroprecords.com

Saturday 18 August 2007

Rebel Skankin in Reading 24th August @ Plug n Play



Reading's biggest dubstep rave yet!!

This is set to be an absolute blinder...and it's the same weekend as the Reading Festival, so it's gonna be an absolute road block!!! Get there early! Pap!

ROOM 1 (Dubstep/Reggae/Dub)
Rusko (Dub Police/Tempa/2nd Drop)
Reso (Pitch Black)
Afterdark (Boka/3.5 Records)
Psalms 1 Sound - The Reality Shock feat Selecta Jah Squeachi & live pa's from Mikey Murka & Deadly Hunta
Will Blaze b2b THC (3.5 Records)
Markle b2b JBliss (2nd Drop Records)
Bunzer0 (Sub FM) b2b Distinction (Dub Police)
Farm Yardies (Step One)

Hosted by: Sgt Pokes (DMZ) & Rogue Star (Urban Graffiti)

ROOM 2 (Dub/Roots/Reggae)
Ring the Alarm sound with Selecta's Jamie & Diamond finger
Littleboselecta
HashMoney
DB
Unit 23

Extra info: 33- 35 Milford Road, Reading, RG1.


- Licenced bar until 6am
- Outdoor smoking/chillout area
- Extra Soundsystem
- £7
- BBQ
- £5 limited concessions & NUS for early concessions call: 07771924093 / 07834379072
- 9PM – 6AM

www.2nddroprecords.com / www.ringthealarm.com / www.audio-revolution.com / www.realityshock.com
_________________

Thursday 16 August 2007

More space please...

This blog has been created because i can't get enough spacee in print magazines to review all the wicked records i get sent.
Watch this space.....reviews, interviews, comment, tom foolery, pics and info. Simple as dat!

Markle - 2nd Drop Records - London

Top Ten August 2007 - In no particular order:

Rusko - 2far - (dub)
Loefah - Yours (Ringo)
Sully Shanks - Give Me Up (2nd Drop)
Reso - Climbing the Walls (dub)
Loetech - Northern Harm (dub)
Tes La Rok - Bass 31 (3.5 Records)
DZ - Strong On Ya (Scuba)
Clouds - Cloud Lion (2nd Drop)
The Others - Mango (dub)
Dutty Dubz - Contact (dub)