Monday's Long Song

 

Just in time for the start of summer, another heatwave has hit southern Germany. Temperatures of around 30 degrees are drawing thousands to the outdoor swimming pools, and there is no sign of the heat letting up in the coming days. We are expecting temperatures to rise to just under 40 degrees Celsius on Thursday. This means that any physical exertion leaves you drenched in sweat, and a fan is the most frequently used household item. 

Musically speaking, I’ve also taken it down a notch in this heat and have been listening to Rhythm Collision again. The Ruts were at the forefront of British punk when they formed in 1978. With their political punk, infused with reggae elements and a flair for melody, national fame was guaranteed.  

After their singer, Malcolm Owen, sadly passed away following a heroin overdose, the band – now calling themselves Ruts DC – set out in search of a new sound. Alongside this, they played as Kevin Coyne’s backing band; he also lent them 1,000 pounds so they could record another album. Working with producer Mad Professor, they consistently pursued a dub reggae direction and, in 1982, released one of their best albums, which unfortunately failed to attract nearly enough buyers, leading the band to eventually split up shortly afterwards.  

Ruts DC Meet Mad Professor - Love And Fire

How Times Fly

 

How fast our time is I recognized when a few days ago I heard about the release of a special edition of Django Django's self titled debut from 2012. I liked their album because of it's manifold quotations of pop history. Without problems, Django Django switches between influences from surf pop, art rock and even more exotic forms of pop music. This album was one of those a lot of people around me could agree with. 

Django Django - Default

Django Django - Hail Bop

Now they whole album was remixed by Mad Professor, adding his distinctive ambient electronic stylings and a melee of rhythmic drum beats to their sound. 

Adding his distinctive ambient electronic stylings, Mad Professor weaves a melee of rhythmic drum beats and mellow and magnetic instrumentals into the record’s fabric. 

Monday's Long Song

 

The release of Horace Andy's new album prompted me to listen to the music of Massive Attack again after a long time during the weekend. When people talk about one of their best albums they seldom name their second one Protection. For me it also a highlight of Massive Attack's output and not only they were lucky to replace Shara Nelson by Tracey Thorn. Protection had except the title track no song that reached high position in the charts but the whole album has a very special mood for relaxing. In 1996 they made together with Mad Professor a remix album on a dub floor. This version of the song is one of the highlights of this project.

Massive Attack - Protection (Radiation for the Nation Mix)

100 Years Of Theremin

London based musician and producer Gaudi released an album celebrating the 100 year of developing Theremin. I must admit that I didn't knew anything about this instrument before. But listening to this tribute album it makes a lot of sense using it for dub reggae. For me it sounds like the missing link of roots reggae and sci-fi sound. For this album Gauid gathered legendary producers like Mad Professor, Dennis Bovell and Adrian Sherwood and their work is superb. A fantastic album for long hot summer nights. 

Massive

On Monday Drew offered us a fantastic remix of Massive Attack vs. Burial that inspired me to grab out a few records by the Bristol legends. Massive Attack was one of those bands that established Trip-Hop and the Bristol sound in the early 90's. The songs were stamped by a reduced rhythm, clear vocals and sometimes sharp guitars. I don't know why but the first record I grabbed out was No Protection, their 1995 dub remix of their second album in collaboration with Mad Professor. Still a great dub record after all these years and well worth to listen to.

Massive Attack vs. Mad Professor - Trinity Dub (Three) with Nicolette and Mad Professor

From their most successful album Mezzanine is the next song I almost forgot and was remembered when I listened to the record once again. It is not Teardrops or other songs from the charts. Inertia Creeps with it's Arabic influenced rhythm was always a favorite of mine and need to be featured on this small place in the internet.

Massive Attack - Inertia Creeps

What Ever We Do

For a long time I didn't post some reggae and dub. One of my favorites in this genre are Ruts DC, especially their collaboration with Mad Professor. This record was released in a tinny case and it is a record that accompanied me during the last decades. It might be music for the end of the day but I still love this relaxed and ambitious sound. It's the sound for the last drink before you finish the day - for sure!

Weak Heart

If punk was merely loud, quick and aggressive music at the beginning , it has changed during the following years. More and more bands developed a nearly infallible feeling for melodies and harmonies. Other discovered reggae for himself and developed an individual sound. Of course The Clash did it extremely well. Another group has also discovered very early this music for itself and has made this sound popular.

The Ruts started 1977 as a typical punk band, made two top-selling singles (In A Rut, Babylon's burning) , a good longplayer and were highly promoted by John Peel. The band continued as Ruts D.C. (an Italian term standing for da capo, meaning 'back to the beginnings') in a different musical vein. They released two albums in 1981/82. Ruts D.C.split in 1983.

Todays songs were from their second album Rhythm Collision and are dub versions they did in collaboration with Mad Professor a Guyanese dub music producer.

Ruts D.C. & Mad Professor - Whatever We Do (12-inch mix)
Ruts D.C. & Mad Professor - Weak Heart (12inch vocal mix)

Problems

Let us start this short working week with a little roots reggae from Horace Andy. Born in 1952 in Jamaica he worked there together with great producers like King Tubby. In early 80s he settled down in London to live as a musician. I first recognized him as a guest singer of the first record from Massive Attack. Remarkable is his voice on Five Man Army. He also joined Massive Attack on several tours. Later he collaborated with Mad Professor. This are tracks I won't miss - so enjoy and have a good week people.

Horace Andy - Problems

Massive Attack - Five Man Army