On - U Sound

Probably the biggest thing for me is that I found Adrian Sherwood an interesting figure, but in the end not much of what he did stuck to my brain. Going back to Ministry's Twitch...which sounded amazing at the time...and it just sounds tinny, cheap and silly. I think by the time I started hearing other On-U Sound material, the love affair was truly over.

He had the sweetest voice I've heard in reggae.

in 2003 there was a surge of on-u sound activity

- the excellent chainstore massacre album .. and the new ghetto priest album (superb update of the gary clail style release where all the elements of on-u were compiled to make a solid album)

in the sleevenotes of Chainstore Massacre were all sorts of details of forthcoming releases .. (2 bad card, mutant hi-fi in particular), now as the relaunch via onusound.co.uk seems to have stagnated .. does anyone within ILM know what is going on as word has reached the precious few that care that Ghetto Priest is now fronting ADF ?

or is there no love for On-U anymore, and i stand alone in my grief for the lack of any new sounds ..

just got two african head charge records, and thinking about looking into more on-u stuff. i found a nice rec store in norcal that has some nice ones. any suggestions in the bright cold light of 2009? PLAYERS AND SINGERS? LITTLE ANNIE?

oh god not Little Annie!

I think this is the thread with the most info:

Adrian Sherwood - C/D, S & D?

awesome. good info there!

Singers & Players are my favorite and all three records are great with Staggering Heights probably being my favorite.

i found a nice rec store in norcal that has some nice ones

may i ask which one??

red devil, in san rafael

its a lil spency, but lots of good recs.

you NEED my life in a hole in the ground. heavy heavy post-punk tinged dub

You NEED the first five African Headcharge records actually. They're all great.

trudat

still waiting on an adrian sherwood remixes comp

still waiting on an adrian sherwood remixes comp

me too.
never going to happen though is it, label/clearance chaos.

i got MY LIFE IN A HOLE IN THE GROUND and ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES, except the latter came in the sleeve for OFF THE BEATEN TRACK, so i think ill end up returning that mismatch, and seekin em out online...

Missing Brazilians LP is great.

afc fans might be interested in this new st echo record that samples "stebani's theme"

http://www.juno.co.uk/ppps/products/394057-01.htm

um, ahc that is. not arsenal football club

dreadful news.
style scott, drummer on a lot of on-u material, has been murdered in jamaica.
r.i.p.

david katz provides an amazing rundown on the style scott.

http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/magazine/style-scott-rip

!!! this sucks. RIP. Love so much Roots Radics stuf.

i heard a rumour, and i stress a rumour, that styles wife was murdered the weekend before.

truly dreadful.

crap, I saw that he had died but didn't realize he was murdered. that is awful.

fucking insane isn't it.

and i suspect the story will never be fully revealed.

bottom line : i love love love(d) style scott rhythms

- he totally suited the experimentation of on-u and yet, when there was a need, he provided the best back bone to the best roots grooves

i would buy records if i saw he involvement.

Saw the New Age Steppers LPs have been reissued. I've never heard any of these! I really like Singers & Players and Creation Rebel and some African Head Charge (and the Slits obviously) so no idea how these have eluded me so far, but I'm not in a position to buy all four of the reissues. Is there a generally agreed upon highlight in the discography?

i have not dug into the boxset too much yet, but i believe that the debut album is regarded as the one with most mark stewart involvement and experimental, and then the albums that followed ventured more into the reggae side of things albeit with the usual on-u sonics.

check for yourself on the labels bandcamp page : https://on-usound.bandcamp.com/music

Thanks! I like Mark Stewart but I'm probably more interested in the dub-ier side of things

there was a Tims Listening Party last night for the NAS debut.
Mark Stewart did very little, other than post a picture of neneh cherry, but adrian dropped loads of details.
was a lot more enjoyable than i expected.

I thought about buying that box — the music's great at times, but the vocals are a huge stumbling block for me.

yeah, i totally agree.
i have had a couple of their cds in the archive for years, but it's not often i put them on.
got the boxset out of a sense of duty more than anything.
even now in this digital world, i still have full on pokemon thing re the label re their cd releases.

still waiting on an adrian sherwood remixes comp
me too.
never going to happen though is it, label/clearance chaos.
― mark e,

to answer my own negativity.
this has kind of happened actually.
2 volumes of 'sherwood at the controls'.
of which volume 2 is by far the most interesting

https://sherwoodatthecontrols.bandcamp.com/

there was a Tims Listening Party last night for the NAS debut.

i wish i had known!

i LOVE New Age Steppers and would find it hard to narrow it down to one but i might just be swayed towards the debut, but then you'd miss out on "Some Love" which surely could win over anyone who had issues with the vox?

"Threat To Creation", the split album with Creation Rebel is maybe the one for the vocal averse though i'm not sure that one was reissued.

i'm loving the "Avant Gardening" comp of "Rare dubs, version excursions and unreleased tracks". The dubs of "Some Love" are swoonsome.

argh every time this thread gets bumped I get mad again about missing the boat on the first AHC boxset

argh every time this thread gets bumped I get mad again about missing the boat on the first AHC boxset

and this is my point.
the On-U cd boxsets are really lovely (heavy box, excellent booklets etc), and they clearly sell out.
so, despite the fact i am not a massive fan of NAS, i had to order it.

if I wasn't in Canada, I would absolutely buy these without hesitating. If nothing else, the only available copies of the AHC set I could find just now were selling for 3x to 4x the original price

the best thing on the AHC boxset was an edit by someone from the fan community (who is very involved with the reissues to be fair, but still .. )
proper old school on-u noise xs vs AHC.

https://africanheadcharge.bandcamp.com/track/pursuit-underpulse-motion-dj-edit

actually that set is still available, but I wasn't sure about it since I already own Songs of Praise

I thought about buying that box — the music's great at times, but the vocals are a huge stumbling block for me.

― but also fuck you (unperson), Saturday, March 27, 2021 2:09 PM (four weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

yep, as a first time listener, this is my problem too. Not to disrespect the dead (and I love The Slits), but Ari is terrible on these tracks (including "Some Love," on which she sounds utterly tone deaf). I generally have a high tolerance for singers who can't sing, but I found a few songs, like "Stormy Weather," so unlistenable and unpleasant I had to skip them halfway through. Maybe I need to buy the dub album? Because like unperson says, the music is often pretty great.

hence my point re how NAS is not part of the On-U catalogue i often turn to.
i do love 'Some Love' just cos its a massive tune, and a big part of the On-U story, but i totally get the negativity.
which is a shame as Adrian really put everything into the production for their releases.
not so sure there is an actual dub album.
the recent 'extras' album still has vocals.
it's not a dub album per se, just has the odd dub version ..

there are 2 really good versions of Some Love on the recent comp, one without Ari but with some added DJ action and one with a touch of very dubbed ari.

i love Stormy Weather too :-)

i love Ari in or out of tune but think she stays in tune on My Love and Fade Away, both of which are also very close to my heart.

what's yr thoughts on Mark Stewart?

what's yr thoughts on Mark Stewart?

me ?
to be honest, i went through a phase just buying his releases out of duty, whereas now, i absolutely love his vocal stylings.
was lucky to see him with the mafia a few years back in bristol, and it was insanely loud/heavy, but what struck me the most is that he can really sing.
without all the excess, his voice is really lovely.
that said, i would never ever want to get on the wrong side of him.
someone in the audience shouted something and the ice cold death stare that mark gave the bloke still sends shivers down my spine.

actually, was curious what paul thought as i know a lot of people find his voice difficult to deal with. my partner cannot handle it whenever i play any of his stuff. i figured Stranger Than Love might win her over but she thought that was one of the worst.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RTCEvILZEE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUfHsBLuhHo

bristol gig : april 22nd - tackhead + mark stewart/mafia + african headcharge + adrian.
if it actually happens (i have my doubts), then this could be the best gig of my life.

duhh .. april 29th of 2022.

Do you know the The Justice League Of Zion album? I just discovered it recently (it's called Discoverers btw). No Sherwood but otherwise a lot of On-U affiliates. I've been a bit obsessed with this beauty, it doesn't say who the vocalist is but the group Akabu are on backing vocals on other tracks so I guess it's one of them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WSGXRzwx2I

not one i have ever seen out in the wild, so, no don't have it.
i seem to recall that the cd is a bit of a rare one.

prince far i comp. digital and also on tape with tote bag and fanzine. every track on this is gold.

https://bleep.com/release/257636-prince-far-i-cry-tuff-chants-on-u

New Creation Rebel album coming out in October!

https://creationrebel.bandcamp.com/album/hostile-environment

Two tracks featuring leftover vocals by Prince Far I, one of which also features Daddy Freddy. Otherwise it's deep psychedelic dub instrumentals like they used to do. I love the old Creation Rebel albums so much that this is immediately one of the most exciting albums of the year for me.

I wrote about the new Creation Rebel album (and their whole awesome catalog) in this week's newsletter. It rules.

What's the deal with the name? Is there a pun i'm not getting? "On - U Sound?"

cheers for adding to the build up unperson.
really looking forward to this.

adrian has been on an amazing roll of late : LSP, Horace Andy, AHC etc ..

would have loved to been at the 3d surround sound gig he did recently.
the track he released to coincide with the gig sounds fantastic even in basic stereo.
would love a whole mixtape/album in that kind of style.

‘More delay! More reverb!’ UK dub legends Creation Rebel return after 40 years

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/oct/03/uk-dub-legends-creation-rebel-return-after-40-years-hostile-environment

It's here at last — a 6CD Creation Rebel box set encompassing Dub From Creation, Close Encounters of the Third World, Rebel Vibrations, Starship Africa, Psychotic Jonkanoo and Hostile Environment, plus bonus tracks. Out March 29.

Sweeeeeet

i've never managed to locate a Close Encounters of the Third World so delighted to find this out.

Another box set coming in February 2025 — Dub Syndicate, Out Here On The Perimeter: 1989-1996.

https://dubsyndicate.bandcamp.com/album/out-here-on-the-perimeter-1989-1996

Contains the albums Strike The Balance, Stoned Immaculate (the first thing of theirs I ever heard), Echomania and Ital Breakfast, plus a new bonus disc of rare tracks. I've already ordered my copy.

I finally found a used copy of the first Dub Syndicate box. That thing is pretty hard to come by.

I love the On-U box sets, New Age Steppers is my fave.