Fanzine Review: 'Reggae Hit the Town' by Jenni Stalmach




This one away, 30 colour page zine is a valient, if somewhat patchy attempt to map the history of reggae in Huddersfield, one of those oft forgotten mid-size towns that played no small role in the process of making reggae music the popular form that it is today in the UK (see also Southend and Bradford for potential alterative histories). It's not ALL about the London, See?

It does this by firstly discussing the venues where reggae could be heard in the 1970s and 80s (namely the now destroyed West Indian Social Club on Venn Street and Huddersfield Poly), before switching tack and briefly interviewing a number of people involved in the revive/dubstep scene in the present day (Axis Sound System; the people behind the Chicken Scratch and Powah nights).


The early material is a nice, though very brief overview over well trodden grounds, with a local twist- yep, Steel Pulse, Matumbi and Aswad all played the town, whilst Eek-a-Mouse shows his face; a sense of place is fleetingly touched upon, where 'commercial reggae' is the norm, but roots and culture could be found if one persevered.

Whilst in his interview, Dr Huxtable (Axis Sound System) mentions half a dozen, mostly long forgotten, sounds that have run in the town over the past 30 years, alongside some interesting additional miscellania.


The problem with this approach is that it begins to feel like an opportunity missed. It is well documented that sounds such as Shaka were playing in towns like Hudds in the 70s and 80s, but of this there is no mention and the interviews tend to focus on the issues surrounding white people playing reggae and incredibly cliched charts, rather than the role the music played (and plays) in the formation of community and identity in a cold, wet, northern mill town.

In Woofah 1, Mark Iration commented that Huddersfield was an important place in his development as a selector, but the period when sounds like Iration Steppas were playing in the town regularly (the 1980s and 1990s) don't really get a mention. These are the stories I would have really liked to be told. Given that figures such as Earth Rockers soundsystem and Dan Man are name checked, but not interviewed is an opportunity missed.

However, saying that, Reggae Hit The Town remains a nice primer on its subject and a potential starting point for more research into a much neglected area of UK bass music, for which the author should to be praised. Not to mention the joy of reading a paper copy of someone's labour of love.

Reggae Hit The Town costs £2.00, From Wall of Sound records in Huddersfield, or from their virtual shop.


Jenni Stalmach's Blog

expletive undeleted on Leeds in the late 80/early 90s

Essential reading:

http://smith3000.wordpress.com/2009/04/26/hip-replacement-charly-by-the-prodigy-xl-recordings/#more-1078

A couple of pictures

You can attempt to avoid all musics by an escape into the countryside, but sometimes, reminders remain:





A pretty picture:

A Man Reviews Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

Mr Lee's TV series is far from perfect (drop the sketches for one thing) and not a patch on his live stand up, but in a world where the two from the mildly diverting Gavin and Stacey get to make whatever they want, for ever and ever, that it exists at all is something of a miracle.

Tom disagrees:

My m8 uses this website and WTF!!!! Moyles iz well betta than this shitheaded okford idiot!!1!!!!!!!! Him and comdy dave shit all over his rubbish show!!!!! Cnt beileve i pay my taxes for this shit the BBc shold make good programs like balls of steel and jackass!! infact get moyles to do a program where he takes the piss out of this wanker!!!!!!! and OMG not knowin what a rapper iz!! wt sort of grandad iz he!>!>?!??!? so yeah dnt watch this shit watch horne and corden instead a decent program frm the BBC for once not the usaal tax wasting shit like this!!!

Tom, w, March 2009

More Peace and Love and Unity

Interesting because it makes BBC news...

"Reggae singer Luciano has been charged with harbouring a fugitive who shot and wounded three police officers, Jamaican police have said."

Peace and Love and Unity

A number of strange and depressing incidents have occured involving members of the Jamaican musical community recently.

First Luciano gets attacked with a lead pipe in an argument about money.

Then Risto Benji gets charges with robbery.

Now, Ninja Man has been charged with murder.

Finding your own relevant You Tube links to embed won't be difficult.

But it probably won't be appropriate either.


(links via Chocolate Soldier at B&F)

The End of Selectadisc

The closure of one of the best record shops outside of London gets national recognition (after some local coverage).



I lived in Nottingham from 1995 until about 2000. The main reason for moving there was for the music- there was an excellent DIY/Hardcore (punk) music community, members of which I'd got to know through chance (living next door to in Newcastle, for example) and by putting on shows in Oxford. In addition Notts had a wicked array of record shops- from Way Ahead to Rob's Records to the reggae shack (the name of which eludes me) just off Alfreton Road- all tastes were catered for.

Over the years the number of shops dwindled, whilst others sprung up for short periods (JP Morrow's Cage Records upstairs in Non-Stop being one. John Paul used to keep a pillow behind the counter it was so quiet) but Selectadisc remained a constant, as fixed and as permanent as the lions overlooking Old Market Square.

Sure, the staff in the 12" shop could be twats, but everyone in the album shop up the hill were fine and dandy and it was the centre of Nottingham's musical activity, a hub in those pre-Internet days.

Few other cities have anything like Selectadisc (that is, a genuine non-genre specialist independent record shop): Leeds' Jumbo Records is good, carrying a range of stock, but its not (can't be, due to space) as deep as Selectadisc; Manchester's Picadilly is on a par (and there are the other shops on Oldham street to trawl through); Birmingham's shops on the other hand, were almost universally shit when I lived there- I used to have to make trips to buy stuff in Nottingham to get my fix.

So that it is closing is a sad day not just for Notts, but for record/ music buyers in general- if they can't stay open, I doubt there's much long term hope for many of those that remain (shops mentioned above excepted, fingers crossed). Maybe genre specific shops will be fine- Tribe (UK Bass musics) seems to do OK, for example, but in such establishments you rarely come across the unexpected or broaden your listening palette. Rather you dig deeper and refine that which you already know.

Which isn't always a good thing.

Just ask my non-reggae obsessed better half

Dissensus Tape Swap

As part of the most recent round of the Dissensus tape swap, I've done my review.

Obligatory Snow Pictures

Work has been closed on both monday and tuesday (and there's little point in me being here today, frankly), so like the rest of the nation I thought I'd bung some pictures up (poor quality, from phone).

Yesterday was crisp, cold and sunny, so a long walk was had. Very few people on top of the moor, plenty of people sledging at the bottom.



It was a good feeling trudging through 6 inch deep virgin snow for a couple of miles, before coming across other people's tracks again.



I saw a man wearing snow shoes.

It was so windy, snow had frozen to whatever vegetation was left open to the elements in an orderly fashion:



There were lots of grouse about, the snow leaving them feeling exposed what with their brown plumage and all. Like humans,they used it as an excuse to noisily attack each other. I couldn't take an actual photo of the birds in action, so here's a foot/wing print:



Those benches might be familiar if you used to read the old blog:



Stopping for a hot drink at White Wells was tempting. But not tempting enough for an intrepid explorer like me. I saved myself for Tescos.



BBC Look North weatherman Paul Hudson must be shaking in his boots at the threat this post poses to his daily weather photos section

Steinski: A Talk on the History of Hip Hop, 8th January 2009

Having negotiated Bradford’s traffic light ridden ring road(s), all of them going against me, I finally managed to get to the ‘Action Zone’ in the National Media Museum. This tantalisingly titled area is reminiscent of a 30 person seminar room. Mainly because it is a 30 person seminar room.

Slipping quietly into a seat, I immediately clocked Steinski (or ‘Steve’, as those in attendance now like to call him) standing at the front, an avuncular figure cutting a dash in an orange polo shirt, combats and hybrid trainers/hiking boots:



Alongside a hand written message on a flip chart:



This sign somehow set the tone for the following two hours; Steve is not only an interesting man, passionate about music and its effect on people, he is also dryly hilarious.

The talk was organised as part of the Timecode Seminar Series, run by the Communications, Cultural and Media Studies research group at Bradford University, which aim to “explore the relationship between media, technology, culture and society” and last year had Dick Mills from the Radiophonic Workshop. Which I missed.


Anyway, Steve ran through a personal history- with many an aside- from discovering spoken word and musical recordings in a library aged nine; to attending college and dropping out; to living in the middle of nowhere; to moving back to New York and getting a job in advertising, which led to a deep understanding of the power of communication and how to transmit messages- skills he was to use with devastating effect in the early 1980s and beyond.

He also told of how he became a deejay of sorts (he worked at a food co-op that had the odd party and no-one wanted to be responsible for the music); tales of record buying; how he heard hip hop for the first time (via a radio station guest spot by Blondie that he happened to tape. Deborah Harry and Chris Stein (no relation, ifaik) had been to a party the night before and had so enjoyed the music they borrowed the deejay’s records to play on the show. Steve still seems a touch rankled that no information had been provided over the air other than “wasn’t that great” etc); how he found out this music was called hip hop (via The Family); on attending the Roxy; discovering what ‘breaks’ were (in a record store on Time Square, involving a kid in a ankle length fur coat and a gun requesting ‘the box’ containing 7"s which was kept under the counter).

Before moving on to discuss the entering of a Tommy Boy remix competition with the help of Douglas DiFranco, creating ‘Lesson 1’ and its consequences (walking out of a store after buying a drink and hearing the start of ‘Lesson 2’ come on the radio of a boombox owned by two young kids across the street, who immediately started singing along and dancing) up to the present.

He also spoke of his working methods, views on copyright, his favourite reggae record when playing out:




And more. Much more.





http://www.steinski.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Dee_and_Steinski

Martin BTI on Woofah 3

Read here

You may wish to listen to this (and associated following clips- about 5 in total) after reading. An upsetting lack of swearing though: