Barry Brown Little John
Got To Be Sure / Working Woman

Mikey General and O.B.F Sound System's musical universes collide once again on “Hold Strong”, joining forces for the first time since the release of the emblematic "My Sound A Danger" closing track to the "Wild" album.Feel-good rub-a-dub mood, catchy chorus and a seductive brass section, Mikey’s lyrics reflect the everyday struggle faced by the proletarian, elevating those taking part in the global hustle. The track was built in Nazamba’s back yard in Kingston, JA in winter 2019 and O.B.F is making up for lost time: taking you back to take you forward!“Hold Strong” is available on 7-inch vinyl with its dub version, packed in an original sleeve designed by established Ivorian artist and up-cycler Saliou Gnambode. Hold strong!

Body Beat: Soca-Dub and Electronic Calypso (1979-98) comprises 17 obscure Soca B-side versions, dubs, instrumentals and edits as well as vocal tracks influenced by disco, boogie, house-music, soul and the more conscious lyrics of roots reggae. This compilation traces the soca genre from its explosion in the late 1970s right up to the period just before contemporary soca became established around the end of the 1990s. TIP!! Compiled by Soundway Records label founder Miles Cleret and DJ/collector Jeremy Spellacey, Body Beat, as with many compilations on the label, explores the fringes of this often maligned (by outsiders) genre. Boiled down to the bare bones of the matter though: soca is party music. Soca was originally a re-invention of Calypso music; a genre that in the 1970s was fast becoming usurped around the Caribbean by Jamaican reggae and American soul, funk and later disco. The originator of soca (or sokah as he called it), the calypsonian Lord Shorty, began experimenting and modernising on the formulation of calypso in the early 1970s. His first album featured a strong emphasis on East African rhythms and a punchier recording style that emphasised the beat, and introduced arrangements that often owed as much to American funk and soul as to calypso. So here you go - seventeen slabs of soca crossover, rapso, electronic calypso, and Caribbean ‘soca-soul’ for your enjoyment - and bound to fit well into modern, open-minded DJ sets alongside the resurgence of burger-highlife, digi-reggae, soukous and zouk.

Hostile Environment by Creation Rebel