Duff Review: Flying Vipers "Cuttings"

Music ADD Records
Digital (July 3, 2020)/LP and cassette (Fall 2020, Jump Up Records)
2020

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Back in the mid-nineties when I ran the Moon Records promo department out of a bedroom in my apartment (with my assistant and an intern or two), I often played dub albums (loads of Lee "Scratch" Perry after reading an extensive overview/ranking of his recordings in the Beastie Boys' magazine "Grand Royale"), as the rhythms and melodies would help keep us working at a steady pace without being too intrusive or overpowering. While I'm certainly not implying that dub is akin to background music a la Muzak, it is great music to play either while doing something else or when taking the time to do nothing but be alone with your thoughts. If Flying Vipers' Cuttings had been available back then, it would have been in heavy rotation on the office stereo, as well as during the off hours.

After releasing a series of superb cassettes (The Green Tape, The Copper Tape), and physical and digital singles ("Highest Region," "Nervous Breakdub (Pandemic Version)" b/w "PMA Calling") over the past few years, Flying Vipers have finally issued their first long-player Cuttings, which, as one would expect, is crammed with incredibly hooky, dubby roots reggae instrumentals reminiscent of Dennis Bovell's magnificent productions and Perry's recent and awesome collaborations with Adrian Sherwood and Daniel Boyle.

Cuttings, of course, refers not only to the leaves that have been harvested from cannabis plants, but these musical fruits of the band's labors in the studio--and they have one bounteous crop here. Highlights include "Leaf Miner," which has a wonderful interplay between a rigid and relentless bass riff and a series of answering free flowing Rhodes piano lines; the prescient, apocalyptic "Two Twenties Clash" (and people thought things were bad back in '77!); the Bunny "Striker" Lee tribute "Flight of the Gorgon" with its majestic, panoramic horns; the bad-ass "Scorpio Son" and its version "Son of Scorpio"; and the supremely confident and untouchable "Puff Adder" (many of the cuts on this album are ripe for being versioned by deejays and singers--and becoming well-known riddims in their own right).

Flying Vipers are comprised of the devastatingly good rhythm section of Marc and John Beaudette (Destroy Babylon, The Macrotones), the gifted Zack Brines (Pressure Cooker) on keys, and Jay Champany (10 Ft. Ganja Plant) on percussion and the master at the analogue controls (plus ace guests on horns, sax, flute, clarinet, and binghi).

If you haven't been paying attention to this band, Cuttings is a brilliant introduction to the mighty Flying Vipers; and if you have, you're going to love this album,

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Duff Review: Lee "Scratch" Perry "The Black Album"

Upsetter Records
CD/Double LP
2018

(Review by Steve Shafer)

On The Black Album, Lee "Scratch" Perry collaborates again with co-producer Daniel Boyle (who also recently worked with Max Romeo on his fantastic Horror Zone in Boyle's Black Ark-modeled Rolling Lion studio), since their initial foray--2014's Back on the Controls--garnered a Grammy nomination and great notices. As with that release, Boyle's and Perry's mission on The Black Album is to capture the sound and spirit of Perry's spectacular 1970's analog Black Ark productions (Upsetter keyboardist Robbie Lyn plays on many cuts here), which were exceptionally warm, organic, and had a vibrant immediacy, and featured otherworldly percussive and aural effects resulting from Perry's masterful, spur-of-moment inventive, and wildly unorthodox approach to music and studio production. And it will come as no surprise that they've accomplished all this again here on a terrific new set of roots reggae cuts and their excellent track-for-track dub versions.

According to the liner notes, during the recording of this album Perry referred to the sound as "black," which then needed "space, light, and darkness" to help give it form and definition--all of which implies that there's a necessary ying and yang type of harmony/balance for everything in creation (including the diversity of people). This point is perhaps best illustrated on the wonderful and most perfectly realized track on the album, "Your Shadow Is Black" (and accompanying dub!). It's a bright, mid-tempo reggae cut with flute, melodica, harmonizing back-up singers, and Perry singing/saying stream-of-consciousness lyrics (he even makes kissing sounds at an appropriate spot): "Whirlwind and fire/Dark shadow in the room/Love your shadow/Your shadow is black/Your shadow is mud/Your shadow is God..." The Old Testament reference to Sodom and Gomorrow (Gomorrah) and mention of an ominous dark shadow on the moon suggests that evil is amongst us always (as a contrast with the good and righteous), but also infers that there will be divine punishment for wicked doers (the Lot reference in "Your Shadow Is Black" made me look up Perry's work on The Congos' magnificent "Sodom and Gomorrow" to compare their productions and they're incredibly similar in sound and vision!).

The great, eerie album opener "Mr. Brown In Town" makes direct lyrical reference to the Glen Adams-penned Bob Marley and the Wailers song "Mr. Brown" (which versioned Jackie Mittoo's "Pennie Wallie" and was based on a rumor about a ghost "upsetting" everyone by riding around Kingston in a three-wheeled coffin with three crows riding on top asking for a Mr. Brown; Perry also sang about "Mr. Brown" on his 1998  "Dr. Lee PhD" collaboration with The Beastie Boys). Essentially, "Mr. Brown In Town" declares that Perry is back "on the street again," "I'm still alive/refuse to die," and asserts that rebels/devils in the poor, violent Back-o-Wall slum don't fear Mr. Brown (and at one point--message to the Resistance--when exhorting Mr. Brown the clown to get out of town, he inserts "Trump!" instead of Brown).

Other standout tracks include the (expected and) knowingly boastful/self-aggrandizing "Trendsetter" ("Lee Scratch Perry/Upsetting the universe") and "Captain Perry" ("...of the mothership/Captain Perry/Don't miss a trick")--and perhaps Scratch isn't a big fan of some forms of reggae (see: "Killing Dancehall Softly"). Perry mounts a more-than-credible defense of being a vegetarian on "Dead Meat": "666/Me no eat meat...I'm so crazy because I don't eat dead flesh...No cannibals/You gotta to believe in animals." (Just the other day, I saw a video of Perry singing to cows in a field...) I'm not completely sure of the message being conveyed on the amazingly upbeat "Solid State Communication" (Perry as the instrument of God's word?): "Genesis/Revelation/I'm the Bible/I'm black Jesus...I am the God of Creation/I am the Lord of the Lords/Solid as a rock/King of Kings/And Lord of Lords/Conquering Lion of Judah/Solid state logic communication/The Upsetter...I'm a computer!" Of course, few but Scratch can pull off something like this so spectacularly well.

At 83--in his sixth decade of continually making and producing groundbreaking music--Scratch continues to move forward, always creating and amazing all with the results. (May everyone be so fortunate in their own lives...) Needless to say, fans of Perry and roots reggae will be more than pleased with The Black Album.

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The Duff Guide to Ska "Best Ska/Reggae 7" Singles of 2011" List!

Here's my (hopefully) eagerly-awaited, messy and woefully incomplete Best of Ska/Reggae 7" Singles of 2011 list! I'm sure I've missed some excellent releases this past year due to my limited disposable income, highly-subjective personal tastes, lapses in judgement, or outright cluelessness. But this considerable list contains both new and reissued recordings, all of which are absolutely worth your hard-earned cash--and guaranteed to bring you joy and satisfaction over repeated listens.

Entries that include a hotlink will connect you to The Duff Guide to Ska review of that particular release; otherwise, I've tried to provide a few sentences to give you an idea of why I like that single so much.

Seems like a lot of quality ska 7" vinyl was released in 2011. Sure hope that this trend continues into 2012...

- The Aggrolites: "Dreaming on Erie" b/w "Eye of Obarbas" and "Trial and Error" b/w "Enemy Dub" (Young Cub Records)

- Big D & the Kids Table "Not Our Fault" and "Lash Out" b/w Brunt of It "Nah Nah Nah Nah" and "Art School Dropout" (Ska is Dead 7" of the Month Club)

- Black Market Sound System: "Heavy Lies the Crown" b/w "Reggae Night" and "Movin' On" (May Cause Dizziness Records)

- Blue Riddim Band & Big Youth: "Nancy Reagan" b/w "Nancy Reagan Remix 2011 - Voice of the People" (Rougher Records)

- Ken Boothe and Tasty Grooves: "A Change Must Come" b/w "Better Than Nothing" (Liquidator) - This haunting rocksteady cut is the most overtly (and welcome) political single of the year with Ken Boothe decrying what is essentially racial profiling of suspected immigrants (both legal and non-documented) who are then swept up and detained in C.I.E.s (Immigrant Detention Centres that are not considered jails, but function as such) whilst their immigration status is determined. In most countries throughout Europe, the C.I.E.s function in a legally gray area with no guaranteed legal rights for detainees, leaving people jailed for months and subject to abuse--even torture--before they are released or deported. This cut reminds us that people are people, no matter where you come from or the color of your skin--and demands that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.

- Los Bullets: "Crystal Ball" b/w "Gunshot" (Steady Beat Recordings)

- Hollie Cook: "That Very Night" b/w "Milk and Honey" (Mr. Bongo)

- Hollie Cook: "Body Beat" b/w "Sugar Water (Look at My Face)" (Mr. Bongo)

- Hollie Cook: "Walking in the Sand" b/w "Shadow Kissing" (Mr. Bongo)

- The Crombies: "Blood and Fire" b/w "Mad at the World" (Jump Up Records)

- Deal's Gone Bad "Far from Home" b/w "These Arms of Mine" (self-released)

- Nora Dean "Mama" b/w The Soul Syndicate "Natty Hong Kong" (Trojan Records/Harry J)

- The Delirians: "Move Around" b/w "Overdub" (Steady Beat Recordings)

- The Emotions "You are the One" b/w Phil Pratt & the All Stars "Girls Like Dirt" (Trojan Records/Big Shot)

- The Ethiopians: "I'm Shocking" b/w "Sign the Cheque" (Trojan Records/Smash) - In a case of unfortunate timing, this single was issued not long after Leonard Dillon's death (it had been in the works long before his passing), but these two rare rocksteady gems (recorded after their debut Engine 54) are wonderful reminders of his extraordinary gifts.

- The Forthrights: "Camp Birdman" (Panic State Records)

- Jamaica 69: "Nostalgia del Ayer" b/w Una Lagrima por Ti" (Steady Beat Recordings)

- The Jokers "Brixton" b/w Lloyd Charmers "The Premises" (Trojan Records/Explosion)

- King Hammond: "Mr. DJ" and "Bongo Ska Fever" b/w "The Loop" and "Dub Movement 1" (N.1. Records) - An incredible EP of booty-shaking ska and skinhead reggae, which also doubles as a mini-sampler of KH's three recent stellar albums (The King and I, Jacuzzi, and Showbiz). The King is at the top of his game!

- Lighta Secret: "Elinor All Night Long" b/w "Gaz Dangerous" (Gaz's Rockin' Records)

- Carl Moore "My Forefathers Died in the Sand" b/w The Sunshot All Stars "Strange Mood" (Pressure Sounds/Sunshot) - A plaintive track about African repatriation over the classic John Holt "Strange Things" riddim. Profound and powerful.

- Mustard Plug "Aye Aye Aye" b/w The Beatdown "Piece of Mind" (Ska is Dead 7" of the Month Club)

- Ocean 11: "Miss Understanding" b/w "Spring in Rome" (Moondust Records) - From one of the top--yet somehow elusive (they never played out much beyond SoCal)--traditional ska bands of the 1990s comes the first vinyl appearance of "Miss Understanding," which was originally released on the Girls Go Ska comp from Simmerdown, as well as an unreleased duet with Malik Moore of Los Bullets. I was lucky enough to pick up this single when Queen P played Brooklyn with The Shifters earlier this fall... (Many more terrific releases are soon coming from Moondust--but it looks like they'll be on next year's list!)

- The Pioneers "Easy Come, Easy Go" b/w Derrick Morgan & Desmond Dekker "Mercy Mercy" (Trojan Records/Dr. Bird)

- Prince Fatty and Mutant Hi-Fi: "Transistor Cowboy" b/w "Son of a Thousand Fathers" (Mr. Bongo) - From the fantastic Return of the Gringo album filled with spaghetti-Western inspired reggae--part homage to all the "Dollar" sides from Lee "Scratch" Perry and the Upsetters ("Return of Django"), Lloyd Charmers and The Hippy Boys, Derrick Harriot and The Crystalites, Harry J, Clancy Eccles, Joe Gibbs et all, as well as a brilliant contribution to this somewhat obscure musical sub-genre.

- Red Soul Community "One More Time" b/w Green Room Rockers "I'd Rather Go Blind" (Jump Up Records/Golden Singles Records)

- The Selecter: "Big in the Body, Small in the Mind" b/w "Back to Black" (Vocaphone Music)

- Sonic Boom Six "Play On" b/w The Nix 86 "Peter Pan Syndrome" (Ska is Dead 7" of the Month Club)

- Various Artists: "Doin' the Popcorn Ska: Golden Oldies, Volume 1" (Discotheque Records)

- Vic Ruggiero & Maddie Ruthless "Policeman" b/w The Forthrights "Carla" (Ska is Dead 7" of the Month Club)

- Earl Zero: "None Shall Escape the Judgement" b/w "Judgement Version" (Channel Tubes)

And the brilliant single that never was (Mad Decent was supposed to release a 7" of this over the summer, but for whatever reason it never came to pass): The Beastie Boys featuring Santigold: "Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win."

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Soon come: The Duff Guide to Ska "Best Ska/Reggae Albums of 2011"!

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New Video: Santogold and the Beastie Boys "Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win"

This is so fantastic on so many levels--think Santogold and the Beastie Boys meet Todd Haynes' "Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story"... Spike Jones does it again! Simply awesome.

Happy Father's Day from the Beastie Boys and Santogold!

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Major Lazer has remixed the extraordinary Santogold/Beastie Boys collaboration "Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win" (listen to it below), which will also be released as a vinyl single (through Mad Decent) on July 19, 2011.

Santogold and the Beastie Boys: "Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win"

Editor's note: For some undisclosed reason, Blogger had some major issues behind the scenes and some posts from earlier this week were removed or lost. So, I'm re-posting this bit today...

Just have to call to attention my current obsession with the incredibly hypnotic new Santogold/Beastie Boys reggae collaboration "Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win"--off their Hot Sauce Committee Part Two. (They really should consider releasing this as a vinyl single--it more than deserves the high profile treatment.) Gotta love the Lee "Scratch" Perry-referencing dubby sax blast that heralds the start of the track (the Beasties are big Perry fans----I have an old copy of their "Grand Royal Magazine" that contains an extensive article covering Perry's extraordinary career and rating many of the releases from his mega-deep back catalogue). And Santogold (AKA Santi White) has one hell of a sultry alto voice that's perfectly designed for reggae and blows me away.

"Don't Play No Game..." also has one of the best rhymes for our times: "You work hard to climb the list/20 years of schooling and they put you on the day shift."

Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win (featuring Santigold) by Beastie Boys

Here's hoping that the Beasties and Santogold team up for more version excursions...would it be too much to ask for an album's worth?

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Not sure how many ska fans out there are aware of Santogold's amazing work with producer Diplo on Top Ranking Santo Gold a Diplo Dub, which came out a few years ago. But this crazy mash-up mix tape of sorts has a lot to like on it (ska, skinhead reggae, roots reggae, and dancehall, amongst other genres), including a stunning cover of The Clash's "Guns of Brixton" (retitled here as "Guns of Brooklyn").