Week 02 - Hardwax
Long time no see legendary record store.
Remember when we were saying this is the place to please your ears thirsty for Reggae and Dub? Well, in case you have been missing everything happening in these crates of the store, they were nice enough to remind you of every record not to miss in this category with one of their video, which is pretty handy if like me you keep drooling when you see this mixer. Saves you a potential slap as all you'll fuck up is your own computer.
Apart from that, still loads of unbelievable records, more since we did our last review from there, and though it is not a hard task to pick things we love from these crates, it is a torture to pick only a handful which we will have the time to review without losing a day job. Still these 5 pretty much stood out for their brightness.
Facing the level of the selection, we of course could not compete going for an only reggae selection, we then decided to mix up the genres as usual rather then trying to be better then Hardwax themselves in vain
Happy New Year !
Black Uhuru - Showcase
My personal definitive reference. When I think Reggae and Dub, I think about this album immediately without hesitation. The sound, the music, the lyrics, the vocals, and the loveliest delay sounds I could dream of for any record. Simply a pure masterpiece no one would get enough of anytime.
Funny to write about an album containing a song named "Guess Who's Coming For Dinner" when you're right in the middle of a food intoxication that almost takes you away from having dinner. Thankfully enough this is not a v-log and you won't hear me burp for the next two weeks.
If these scratches remind you of "Pull Up To The Bumper", that could be because the people behind that record had very probably such a good taste and also owned this piece and got inspired, or is it me anticipating the new German law half of the country is waiting for to pass (we are for sure talking about the digital sick note right?).
This album collected hits one by one and pressed them into something that became such a legendary record that the world still needs, 43 years later, to press copies of it for the younger generations to know, and for the experienced ones to remember. A magnificent piece of beauty.
Stasis - Rare & Unreleased Vol. 1
For some time now, we have witnessed Fencepiece putting in the work to re-issue some of the best, rarest, and unreleased works of one of the most influential artist that the category Deep has been able to handle in the past 30 years: Stasis.
For those who like me, pretty much feel like giving 40 or 50 bucks to a kid in the countryside who just got lucky picking up a record is a rip-off, considering not a single penny of that money is being given to the label who might have lost money pressing this, or the artist, is happy about this game of re-issuing pieces which have shaped the sound of Electronic Music sharper than any Japanese blade can ever be. This is then a perfect example of one of these pieces which you may want to buy double in case one stays too long in your flight case and collects an entire family of dust, a tsunami or beer and vodka shots or simply stays in the sun for too long to get out like tortellini our of a saucepan.
A piece for us all to dream higher and higher listening to the memorable English deep sound of the 90s at its best, to get inspired and keep the spirit of music alive while we appear to be away from the dance, for another period of time.
Jared Wilson - Positivity EP
Rawax coming in once again with the good words of wisdom the world needs, with an EP screaming for a brighter future to show up one day or another through the raging sound of a Roland orchestra.
This EP shows up giving that swing (for it to mean a thing), for the madness to release itself same way as it did during the 10 years of Rawax party at Renate in last October (which I will mention for a very long time), and the other half delivering more of a straight impact or elongated
Positivity will be the king of swing, giving fresh air to start with, followed agressively by Lynnwood 18 Artifact and the raging 303 sound that we were mentioning above which still, decades after someone discovering it outside of its original purpose, is considered the ideal salt and pepper to season the music of your choice.
Lynnwood 7 plays the longer game and gets under your skin over time, even though the piece is not particularly long, revealing the superpowers a magic high hat can have when placed at the right spot, to then make space on the dancefloor for Lynnwood 19 who will combine the idea of the raging 303 to the swing to make it all come together like a bag of gun powder and a fuse would.
To finish up with, RF2 reminds us that life does not need to be always fast, and displays slow funk to help the audience calm down before the end of the party.
God bless Rawaxica.