Black Plastic Discs

In recent years, vinyl culture has come back big time and recently there has been a whole load of amazing releases landing in shops around the world. Even in China vinyl collecting seems to be getting a lot more popular and I have been meeting a lot of collectors, both local and foreign, who are just as excited as me about the resurgence of the beautiful music format. As an avid vinyl collector and sucker for limited editions, the bank balance has taken a real hit in the last few weeks with a string of releases that are impossible not to buy on sight. Here are just a few of the things we’ve been excited about recently.

 

Flying Lotus – When The Quiet Comes – Collectors Edition

 

Probably one of the most anticipated albums of 2012, Flying Lotus’ 4^th album ‘When The Quiet Comes’ is almost here, with its full release on October 1^st. If the first track to be released from the album, ‘See Thru To U’ feat Erykah Badu, is anything to go by, this album is going to be very special indeed.

A limited ‘Collectors Edition’ is available now for preorder here. 180g vinyl with full colour inner sleeves, download redemption code and credit sheet in rigid gatefold sleeve, wrapped in black buckram embossed paper with tipped on cover image. An absolute must buy in our eyes.

Yesterday a short film by Kahlil Joseph previewing more tracks from the album was released and it sounds stunning. October 1^st can’t come quick enough!

 

Mala – Mala In Cuba – Limited Box Set

Another heavily anticipated album is ‘Mala in Cuba’, an album instrumented by Giles Peterson and Havana Cultura by inviting Mala to travel to Cuba to record with contemporary Cuban artists and reconstruct the music to make it his own. Brownswood label boss Peterson described as the most important record he’s had a hand in since Roni Size’s 1997 landmark New Forms.

The album, released this coming Monday, comes in the form of a 4 x 12” boxset. Having already sold out at source as well as many other online stores on pre-order, be fast if you want to get one of these. It isn’t specified how limited the vinyl set is, but better safe than sorry, order now!

The album is now available to stream in full and is beyond what we expected it to sound like, and we expected a lot!

 

The Bug – Acid Ragga

Those of you who were lucky enough to attend our event with The Bug and Daddy Freddy earlier in the year will know that Kevin Martin is firing on all cylinders at the moment and his latest venture, a new 7” sub-label on Ninja Tune entitled Acid Ragga is some of the most exciting, nastiest, dancehall destroying music to appear in years. The first release came out a few weeks back, kicking off the series with the incredible ‘Can’t Take It No More’ with Daddy Freddy and backed with an Inga Copeland vocal on the same riddim called ‘Rise Up’.

The releases, as well as sounding great, look the business too. Pressed on florescent yellow vinyl, he first release features the work of Sub-Culture favourite Zeke Clough (Skull Disco), and the 2^nd release ‘Ganja Baby’ is designed by King Midas Sounds’ Kiki Hitomi (both of these artists have designed Sub-Culture posters in the past). Bad!

 

Death Waltz Recording Company

Limited colour vinyl, horror soundtracks & art prints. These are probably 3 of our favouriite things, and the amazing Death Waltz Recording Company have answered our prayers and combined the 3 with incredible effect. As soon as we found out about this label the very limited subscription was bought without a second thought and so far has not disappointed. The first release on the label was, surprisingly, the first ever vinyl Fabio Frizzi’s soundtrack to Lucio Fulci’s ‘Zombie Flesh Eaters’, possibly one of the best movie soundtracks ever made, and they have followed this up with a string of amazing soundtracks including Escape From New York, Donnie Darko and Let The Right One In.

The latest release, pictured above, is the soundtrack to the zombie classic ‘The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue’ and, for subscribers, comes on beautiful green and black vinyl, along with a huge poster and lithograph of the fresh artwork by Luke Insect. With the soundtracks to Halloween II and III, Prince Of Darkness, They Live and The Devil’s Business scheduled for release in the next few months, plus a partnership with Hammer Films, the second subscription is a no brainer!

 

Silent Servant – Negative Fascination

This release came online just yesterday and, although we don’t usually buy many techno releases, this one was bought on sight. After Sandwell District disbanded at the beginning of the year, we’ve been waiting with bated breath for Juan Mendez, aka Silent Servant, to release his debut album, and if the sound clips are anything to go by it does not disappoint. An edition of only 900, it looks like the initial limited white vinyl has already sold out, and I’d think quick if you want to get a copy of the regular version as this wont stick around for long. Go here, quick!

 

This Saturday’s Line-Up

You know the drill. Sub-Culture this Saturday @ The Shelter. Doors open at 9pm. No admittance from 10pm – 11pm. Here is Saturday’s full line up:

 

 

9pm – 10pm: B6

As a special surprise to set the tone and quality for the evening, we are honored to have non other than Shanghai’s B6 join us for a special early evening semi-live ambient set before our lock down. B6 is one of China’s most celebrated electronic musicians, and this very rare appearance is the perfect way to open up a night of serious music.

***** Doors to The Shelter will be locked at 10pm. There will be no admittance from 10pm until 11pm. If you wish to leave The Shelter during this time you will not be allowed to re-enter until 11pm***

 

10pm – 11pm: King Midas Sound DJ Set

As you probably know, The Bug and Daddy Freddy are our guests for this month’s Sub-Culture. The Bug is one of the many pseudonyms of Kevin Martin, the multi talented frequency-fiend from the UK. As well as ‘The Bug’, Kevin’s other current project is King Midas Sound, a group consisting of Kiki Hitomi (Dokebi Q), poet Roger Robinson and himself. Signed to Kode 9’s Hyperdub, Ming Midas Sound released one of 2009’s best albums – ‘Waiting For You’, and their incredible 2011 remix project ‘Without You’, which included reworks by Flying Lotus, Mala, Kode9 and Kuedo to name but a few.  Much deeper than ‘The Bug’, beautifully heavy and hauntingly cerebral, the KMS sound has morphed and progressed over the last few years and is a serious force to be reckoned with. With Kevin already in town, we thought we would bring a little something extra to the table to make this, already immense event, just that bit more special. For the first time ever, Kevin will be playing a DJ set under the King Midas Sound banner.  It is something that he is very excited about as we were the first people to ever suggest this (they usually play live as a group) and so he is planning to make this debut something to remember. Dark drones, warped pop, ambient sound scapes and more, this is an exclusive chance to hear where the King Midas Sound came from, and where its heading.

***** Doors to The Shelter reopen at 11pm *****

11pm – 12pm: dji + George Wyndham + Nick Muzyczka

Quebec’s dji is one of the original members of Uprooted Sunshine/ Sub-Culture and has been djing in Shanghai for over 6 years. Known for his deep, sub heavy dub music, he always warms up the dance in the best way possible. Joining dji for this special anniversary set will be Uprooted’s newest member George Wyndham, on live harmonica, and Nick Muzyczka on Melodica. Dji and George stunned the crowd at Uprooted’s recent appearance in Manila, and with the addition of the very talented Nick on Melodica the trio have been killing it early hours at every Sub-Culture and Uprooted Sunshine night for the last few months. Get ready for some heavy dubbed out vibes.

 12pm – 1am: Steven Lorenz + ChaCha + Didje

Steven Lorenz is the newest addition to the Sub-Culture crew and over the last 2 years has honed his style and taste and has become an integral part of the Sub-Culture line up. Originally more into the straight up dance-floor style of Dubstep, recently he has got much deeper into the sound and his recent sets have been deep, dark and heavy, just how we like it! Think producers such as Pinch, Kryptic Minds, Vivek, Biome, etc and you get an idea of his sound. With his own productions with the Intransik Beats crew getting releases on multiple labels around the world, Steven’s sets always deliver.

Joining Steven will be the beautiful voice of ChaCha, and the many voices of Didje. ChaCha and Didje did an amazing set together with Steven a few months back and so we thought we would put the three of them together again for this special event. The perfect warm up for the audio assault coming up next…

1am – 2.30am: The Bug + Daddy Freddy

This is it. Brace yourselves for a true soundsystem experience like you’ve never seen (or felt) before. Ninja Tune recording artist THE BUG along side the legendary Jamaican MC DADDY FREDDY! Heavyweight riddims, booming bass, screeching sirens, gun shots and more, with a true lyrical mad man on the mic. This is a set you wont forget in a long, long time. No need for more explanation, BE THERE!!!

2.30am – late: Drunk Monk + Ubec + guests

Rounding off the night will be Sub-Culture warrior Drunk Monk alongside the mighty Ubec and a few other lyrical guests. If your system is able to continue after some serious Bug concussion, Drunk Monk will be dropping bombs in The Shelter till the early hours!

Locked In – King Midas Sound DJ Set – This Saturday

 

For Sub-Culture’s 4^th anniversary last December, we were very lucky to have Kode9 agree to play a special set of Burial’s music early in the evening, as well as his Kode9 set later in the night. For the Burial set, we opened The Shelter one hour early (at 9pm) and at 10pm we locked the doors of The Shelter, turned off the lights, turned off the mobile phone signal and from 10 – 11pm, those who were lucky enough to get in on time experienced a very special and intimate hour of music. The response to this was great, and we had around 150 people inside the club for the set, and around 50 people outside who had arrived too late and had to wait until 11pm for the doors to reopen (the reason for turning off the phone signal is we didn’t want ourselves or the other people inside the club to get bombarded by phone calls and texts asking to get them in).  It was a full hour of uninterrupted, beautifully dark music with everyone in attendance knowing what they we’re coming to experience.

 

 

We said we would only do this again when an opportunity came to do something equally special. Now that time has come. As you probably know, The Bug and Daddy Freddy are our guests for this month’s Sub-Culture. The Bug is one of the many pseudonyms of Kevin Martin, the multi talented frequency-fiend from the UK. As well as ‘The Bug’, Kevin’s other current project is King Midas Sound, a group consisting of Kiki Hitomi (Dokebi Q), poet Roger Robinson and himself. Signed to Kode 9’s Hyperdub, Ming Midas Sound released one of 2009’s best albums – ‘Waiting For You’, and their incredible 2011 remix project ‘Without You’, which included reworks by Flying Lotus, Mala, Kode9 and Kuedo to name but a few.  Much deeper than ‘The Bug’, beautifully heavy and hauntingly cerebral, the KMS sound has morphed and progressed over the last few years and is a serious force to be reckoned with.

 

 

So, this Saturday night, with Kevin already in town, we thought we would bring a little something extra to the table to make this, already immense event, just that bit more special. For the first time ever, Kevin will be playing a DJ set under the King Midas Sound banner.  It is something that he is very excited about as we were the first people to ever suggest this (they usually play live) and so he is planning to make this debut something to remember. Dark drones, warped pop, ambient sound scapes and more, this is an exclusive chance to hear where the King Midas Sound came from, and where its heading.

 

 

As with our last lock in, doors to The Shelter open at 9pm with a very special warm up act (to be announce soon), and at 10pm the doors will be locked and its lights out, with doors reopening at 11pm. During the set you are welcome to leave The Shelter, but re-admittance will not be allowed until 11pm. This is a very special set and will not be repeated in Shanghai again, do not miss!

The Bug & Daddy Freddy Poster by Anna Gruter

Ok so this weekend its the big one, one of the biggest events we’ve put on in a while – Ninja Tune’s THE BUG along side legendary Jamaican MC DADDY FREDDY! The pair have been on a tour of Asia, tearing up clubs and systems on their way, and this weekend sees the finale in China! We’ve got a whole load of stuff to post leading up to the big event, but first off here are some images direct from Idle Beats of the printing process for this month’s Sub-Culture poster designed by Anna Gruter, and is by far one of favorite posters yet! Was a hard job to follow up last month’s poster by Chairman Ca, but we think she nailed it! Look out for a competition on www.smartshanghai.com later in the week, and as always the screenprints will be available on the night for a special price of 150rmb (normal price is 200rmb)

 

 

Sub-Culture present The Bug & Daddy Freddy

Poster designed by Anna Gruter

Saturday 17th March 2012

Sub-Culture present: The Bug & Daddy Freddy (Ninja Tune/Rephlex – UK)

Line Up: The Bug & Daddy Freddy, Drunk Monk, Steven Lorenz, dji, ChaCha, Didje, Ubec, George Wyndham + special guests

Entrance: TBC

@ The Shelter – 5 YongFu Lu, Shanghai

For the 3rd Sub-Culture of 2012 we are very excited to present Mr Kevin Martin aka The Bug, along side legendary Jamaican MC – Daddy Freddy!

The Bug

For some, The Bug is a relatively new name. A producer who, as of late, has been associated with London’s (and now internationally) vibrant Dub Step scene. However for a lot of others, it’s the current state of mutation for rogue producer Kevin Martin. From Techno Animal with Justin Broadwick of Godflesh and Razor X Production with The Rootsman to Pressure and King Midas Sound with Kiki Hitomi and Roger Robinson, Kevin’s discography spans labels as diverse as Rephlex, Ninja Tune, Virgin, Hyperdub and Grand Royal to name but a few.

The Bug first came to be in 1997, when Kevin collaborated with DJ Vadim on ‘Tapping The Conversation’. From 2001-2004 The Bug teamed up with UK dub veteran The Rootsman for a series of singles under the name Razor X Productions, which would frame the template for the first proper Bug full length, 2003’s ‘Pressure’ featuring classic dancehall M.C Daddy Freddy, New Flesh’s Toastie Taylor, along with The Rootsman, Roger Robinson, Paul St. Hilaire (aka. Tikiman), Wayne Lonesome, and more…

‘London Zoo’, the latest Bug album on Ninja Tune, features vocalists such as Warrior Queen, Flowdan, Tippa Irie and Ricky Ranking. London Zoo is a record that, although will be undoubtedly referenced to the dub-step scene, will also redefine and stand on its own as a celebration of the capitals urban cultural clash, uniquely detonating dancehall, grime, hip-hop, and noise onslaughts.

Having remixed Thom Yorke’s “Harrowdown Hill” to great critical acclaim at the Radiohead main-man’s request, Martin has also just completed a bass-bin shaking rework of Grace Jones at the request of the former model. Both of which are the latest additions to the previous list of illustrious mavericks that have sung the praises of The Bug… from Aphex Twin to Massive Attack, Adrian Sherwood to Andy Weatherall, Kid 606 to Jerry Dammers (The Specials), they have all recognized the freak-beat originality of Kevin Martin’s singular progress in bass culture.

Daddy Freddy

Daddy Freddy was born in Kingston, Jamaica and grew up in the city’s Trenchtown district, just minutes away from Coxsone Dodd’s legendary Studio One. One of his neighbors, legendary vocalist Ranking Joe, took Freddy under his wing and taught him the basic skills of performing. His natural skills on the mic quickly gained recognition from Lt Stichie (Natty Dread) and then with Sugar Minott, whose Soundsystem that he performed with quickly founded Freddy’s reputation in Jamaica. His first album, Body Lasher, was released in 1986 and had six top ten hits in Jamaica, including a number one with ‘Joker Lover’ alongside Pinchers.

After a successful tour of the US, Freddy moved to England in 1987 and began collaborating with Asher D, releasing the much sampled ‘Raggamuffin Hip-Hop’, as well as influencing and supporting UK reggae stars such as Top Cat, Tenor Fly and Prento Youth. Dr Dre, Cypress Hill and even Norman Cook have all requested collaberations with Freddy, whilst The Prodigy, Salt N Pepa and KRS One all sampled his unique voice. His fame rose even higher when, in 1989, he broke the world record for ‘Worlds Fastest Rapper’, a record that he smashed 4 times, taking it from 346 to 598 syllables per minute. Over the years, Freddy has worked with many of the very best in the industry, including Sly and Robbie, Michael Prophet, Rootsman, Mungo’s HiFi, Rebel MC and many more.

The Bug and Daddy Freddy are a deadly combination! Their track, Run The Place Red, which featured on The Bug’s ‘Pressure’ album was remixed by none other than Aphex Twin, and with their new collaboration ‘Armagideon’ on The Bug’s new ‘Swarm Riddim’ due for immanent release on Ninja Tune, brace yourself for a serious experience in sound system concussion! Warning – It will be loud, it will be heavy, it will get nasty!

Next Sub-Culture – Saturday 17th March

 

Big thanks to everyone who came out to Doc Daneeka last weekend, huge vibes!! The next Sub-Culture session will be on Saturday 17th March where we will be joined by Kevin Martin AKA The Bug, alongside legendary Jamaican MC Daddy Freddy!!