A unique and brilliant collaboration between the legendary dub/reggae pioneer and German electronic production duo Mouse on Mars (aka Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma). Lee "Scratch" Perry's last ever official album project before his passing in 2019. Recorded in 3 days at Mouse on Mars' Paraverse Studio in Berlin in 2019. Lee, Jan and Andi conducted a revolving cast of musicians and collaborators throughout the complex's different rooms and spaces. 'Spatial, No Problem.' finds the artists breaking new ground - the one thing Lee was sure of was that this shouldn't be just another reggae album. It covers everything from krautrock, ambient, dub, jazz, New Orleans brass and much more. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Another posthumous Perry number (just HOW many albums did he record?!) with German duo Mouse On Mars. Much like Sherwood's On-U and Ernestus' N'Dagga; the sound drifts far away the roots of reggae but still held together by the cosmic force of dub and bass weight. An engrossing, psychedelic and spiritual listen littered with exotic ear worms, tribal percussion and Scratch's distinctive drawl.

TRACK LISTING

1. Rockcurry
2. Hallo Shiva
3. Economic Train
4. Spatialee
5. Fire Dali
6. Yayaya
7. To The Rescue
8. State Of Emergency

Battle Of Armagideon is one of the essential albums by Lee 'Scratch' Perry & The Upsetters. Perry's technique as a mixer and producer will get to you in many ways. “I'm a Madman” is the best-known album track, wherein Perry acknowledged his lunatic persona. The Spin Alternative Record Guide deemed the album Perry's best of the 1980s. Lee 'Scratch' Perry was a pioneer in dub music and worked together with artists such as Bob Marley and the Wailers, The Clash and The Beastie Boys.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Introducing Myself
2. Drum Song
3. Grooving
4. All Things Are Possible
5. Show Me That River
6. Time Marches On (In/Out Mix)

Side B
1. I Am A Madman
2. The Joker
3. Happy Birthday
4. Sexy Lady
5. Time Marches On

Inkswel presents: "Mystikal Majic, four unreleased & never-before-heard mixes of Lee Scratch Perry's last known recording. The Jamaican dub legend teamed up with Aussie beat maker Inkswell for this twisted yet infectious, beat-boogie, dub-flecked, hip-hop styled jam that's completely out there in terms of style and swagger. Featuring club ready mixes from James Curd & Sofatalk.(Inner Tribe) this is a mega versatile record with all four mixes coming up trumps. Check!  

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: One of Perry's final projects was this release with Aussie boogie-man, Inkswell. Now finally seeing the light of day, it comes bolstered with a slick house remix from James Curd.

TRACK LISTING

A1 - Mystikal Majic Feat. Elf Tranzporter (James Curd Remix)
A2 - Mystikal Majic Feat. Elf Tranzporter (Sofatalk Remix)
B1 - Mystikal Majic Feat. Elf Tranzporter (Extended Original Mix)
B2 - Mystikal Majic Feat. Elf Tranzporter (Unreleased Demo)

“One of the most compelling and complex releases of Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s post-Black Ark canon, Mercy is the fruit of a long and complex working process that has yielded exceptional results. Spearheaded by the maverick artist and musical outlier Peter Harris with Fritz Catlin, the drumming co-founder of industrial funk dub act, 23 Skidoo, Mercy’s experimental sonic occupies its own space.” David Katz (People Funny Boy: The Genius of Lee “Scratch” Perry).

“I always saw Lee as a performance artist rather than a musician in the traditional sense, so this conceptual backing feels like a more accurate setting for his stream of conscious performance art,” Peter Harris explained. “There is an attention to Lee’s history here too, something that elevates the musical collage with the echoes informed by albums like Super Ape where earlier tracks were recorded over again. In ‘Big Fish,’ the lyrics pay homage to Bob Marley’s ‘Small Axe’ and the tune references Perry’s version of ‘Sugar Sugar,’ which he recorded with the Silvertones.

Although the structure might seem chaotic, the songs were crafted over a long period of time and the approach was the same as making a painting, where foundations are worked on then painted over and over until it is full wrested.” Nathan Saoudi (founder Dash The Henge/Fat White Family) boils it down. “It’s kind of quintessential outsider music - I can’t explain what they are doing, but they have a why, and that’s enough. That’s why I needed to get involved.”

TRACK LISTING

1 Whale:Fisherman
2 This Is Hell
3 Tiny Victory
4 Promised Land
5 Big Fish
6 Devilish
7 Clutch
8 Reggae Poison 

The End Of An American Dream is the 2007 album by Lee "Scratch" Perry (born Rainford Hugh Perry), who was a Jamaican record producer, composer and singer noted for his innovative studio techniques and production style. Perry was a pioneer in the 1970s development of dub music with his early adoption of remixing and the use of studio effects to create new instrumental or vocal versions of existing tracks. From his Black Ark Studio in Kingston Jamaica, he worked with and produced a wide variety of artists, including Bob Marley and the Wailers, Junior Murvin, Susan Cadogan, The Congos, and Max Romeo.

Later, he moved to Switzerland and reinvented himself as a performance and visual artist but continued to produce innovative music – collaborations include The Beastie Boys, The Clash, Keith Richards, George Clinton, and Adrian Sherwood. The End Of An American Dream Scratch is the first in a series of three albums he made with English musician and producer Steve Marshall a.k.a. John Saxon and will be available for the very first time on vinyl.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Disarm
2. Are You Ready?
3. The End Of An American Dream
4. One God Rain

Side B
1. So Be It
2. I Will Be There
3. I Am The God Of Fire
4. The Lord’s Prayer
5. I Am New Yorker

Side C
1. Teddy Bear
2. Hallo Jamaica
3. Shazam

Side D
1. Memories
2. Vooba Skooba
3. Cats Bats Rats
4. Disco Cats

We speak about the architect of dub in the present tense because the mystery and magic of his energy continues to surround us. It lives through an unbreakable legacy that has revolutionised music; a legacy originating from one of the most significant music creators of the last 100 years.

Without doubt, Lee 'Scratch' Perry is an orphic channeller, a superhero, a Black Ark Magician; he's an oracle and a cosmic channeller projecting a fountain of disconnected oracular statements and streams of consciousness. He bedazzles and discombobulates; cackling at his own riddles; speaking from another realm. It reveals his inner anarchist in duality with an eccentricity laced with boundless humour. 'Spaceship To Mars', released via Creation Youth Records, epitomises the spirit of Lee 'Scratch' Perry and how it lives through those of us who are obsessives of this mystery of a man - and who's discography continues to be contested to this day. He is said to have made something in the region of 2,000 albums. This album though, is one he started with Youth in the third dimension - and oversaw to completion from an unquantifiable one. Each artist featured is as fervent about Scratch and his works as the next. The original backing tracks infused with his incantations are sprinkled with the vocals of these lyricists; creating a sublime tapestry harking back to 70s Scratch. The psychic rapport is evident. Youth calls it 'Voodoo magic meets raiders of the lost ark.' It sums up the cosmic coming together of an album that's been a good seven years in the making. With the energy of his voice, he turns a grainy black and white world into colour. And the artists on this album - Carroll Thompson, Blue Pearl, Zoe Devlin, RDF, Boy George, Hollie Cook - evidently feel this as lyricists and song writers in their own right who have synchronised so effortlessly with the sounds of Scratch. The day we met him in 2017 after he played Guilford's Boiler Room venue, is the day we realised that anything is possible. The stairs going up to the backstage area were rammed with people trying to get a look in. We had to fight to get through then asked to wait. His tiny form was larger than life as he walked into the private room with open arms and a beaming smile. Nobody knew what would happen next or where the conversation would go. Youth remained composed, steering the conversation with fluidity. Taking the lead from Scratch, we found ourselves traversing a spontaneous discussion about sex and spirituality, art and astrology. Mid-conversation, Scratch pulls three cards from an Egyptian tarot pack, seemingly, from thin air: Ma'at - the Goddess of Truth, Osiris - God of the Afterlife and Isis - Goddess of Healing and Magic. Powerful cards with profound meanings that resonate with our reality now as much as they did back then. An urban shaman, his ritualised rejection of consumerist state-controlled power; witnessed when he burnt down the Black Ark Studio. A new incarnation of it is in the works, thanks to his love, Mirielle - a studio that will see younger generations evolve new sounds into the future - sounds through which Scratch will continue to live. He once wrote a letter to the Japanese Minister of Justice on the behalf of Paul McCartney explaining the benefits of Collie Weed. And why not? Midway through his conversation with Youth, he asks for a hug and we get into conversations about birthdays, families and star signs - revealing a humorous, gentle and funny soul. On stage, he plays with the elements by making circles. 'Fire and water,' he confirms; then begins to scratch his head of bright red hair. 'Here, look my hair. My hair's funny."'There is meaning to be found. 'I'm a fish trying to look like a human being,' he tells us. And he has advice for new generations of musicians. On these sleeve notes, we will leave you with this: 'You should wake up early and look into the sun, but not too long, 'cos the sun a ball of fire and it burn out your eye. But love the sun because without the sun you'll be too cold. You'll be freeze if you don't have any heat. And don't eat no more meat and eat no more beef and stop eat fish. And then you become immortal.' Words by Anu Sharma

TRACK LISTING

Butterfly Sky
Love Is War
Love Sunshine Peace
The Lizard
Dr Love
Iron Shirt
Spaceship To Mars
Bulldozer Dub
In The Sunshine
Butterfly Sky (Dub Mix)
Love Is War (Dub Mix)
Love Sunshine Peace (Dub Mix)
The Lizard (Dub Mix)
Dr Love Revelation Dub
Iron Shirt (Dub Mix)
Spaceship To Mars (Dub Mix)
Bulldozer (Dubsetter Mix)
Lessons In Dub

Revelation is the 2010 album by dub pioneer Lee “Scratch” Perry (born Rainford Hugh Perry). From his Jamaican based Black Ark Studio, he created some pivotal works by producing new instrumental or vocal versions of existing tracks. Later, he moved to Switzerland, where he reinvented himself as a performance and visual artist and collaborated with artists such as The Beastie Boys, The Clash, and Adrian Sherwood among others. For his album Revelation, he collaborated with Keith Richards and George Clinton. The album is the last in a series of three albums he made with English musician and producer Steve Marshall a.k.a. John Saxon. The album is accompanied by the full-length film The Revelation of Lee “Scratch” Perry, which looks behind the scenes of the recording sessions and features an in-depth interview with the great man.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Revelation Revolution And Evolution
2. Used To Drive A Tractor In Negril
3. Money Come And Money Go

Side B
1. Fire Power
2. Run For Cover
3. Books Of Moses

Side C
1. Let There Be Light
2. Holy Angels
3. Weatherman

Side D
1. Scary Politicians
2. An Eye For An Eye
3. Freaky Michael
4. Psalm

A dub companion to the critically-acclaimed "Rainford" album that sees the Upsetter and co-producer Adrian Sherwood radically re-version the original tapes with a host of guest musicians including Brian Eno and Vin Gordon.

If "Rainford" is 2019’s "Roast Fish, Collie Weed & Corn Bread" then "Heavy Rain" is it’s "Super Ape".

As well as highlighting the deft musicianship of the original backing band on the "Rainford" sessions (which include core On-U luminaries from Creation Rebel, Tackhead and Dub Syndicate) these re-works also invite some further players into the cosmic mix. Brian Eno makes an unexpected right channel entry into “Here Come The Warm Dreads”, a heavily processed sound system overhaul of Rainford highlight “Makumba Rock”, cheekily re-titled as a nod to Eno’s own debut solo album. This completes a circle started in 1981 with African Head Charge’s My Life In A Hole In The Ground similarly referencing the contemporary collaboration between Eno and David Byrne, and their “vision of a psychedelic Africa”.

Elsewhere, legendary trombonist Vin Gordon (one of the hornsmen on Bob Marley & The Wailers Exodus amongst many other classic sides) lends his distinctively woozy blowing to tracks such as “Rattling Bones And Crowns” (a late night flipside to “Kill Them Dreams Money Worshippers”) and “Crickets In Moonlight” (“Cricket In The Moon” refracted through some beautifully louche late summer heat haze lens). On the closest the album has to a title track, “Heavy Rainford” strips back the narrative from “Autobiography Of The Upsetter” to ride the rhythm with all sorts of mixing desk tricks, anchored by the killer “I Am The Upsetter” hook from LSK.

It’s important to note that it’s not all Rainford re-works though: “Dreams Come True” and “Above And Beyond” are Scratch and Sherwood originals, heard here for the first time and equally strong material for this purple patch in the career of an unstoppable Jamaican maverick and true musical pioneer.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Intro - Music Shall Echo
A2. Here Come The Warm Dreads
A3. Rattling Bones And Crowns
A4. Mindworker
A5. Enlightened
A6. Hooligan Hank

B1. Crickets In Moonlight
B2. Space Craft
B3. Dreams Come True
B4. Above And Beyond
B5. Heavy Rainford
B6. Outro - Wisdom

Delaware Valley's psychedelic funkateers Solid Bronze are releasing their debut album The Fruit Basket in the summer of 2019. The first single "The Invisible Man" is being released as a limited edition 7" vinyl including a Lee "Scratch" Perry remix before the album drops. The album was recorded at a relaxed pace by Mickey Melchiondo (Ween, Dean Ween Group, Moistboyz) at his studio in Lambertville, NJ with, produced by Dean Ween along with singer/songwriter Chris Harford.

Solid Bronze's founding members are Ian Everett and George Miller, who composed these songs as bass and drums duo, using naked rhythm as the focus and cornerstone in the recording process. Miller provided all the drums and percussion and Everett was responsible for bass, guitar and lead vocals. "The Invisible Man" single features Music Hall of Fame guitarist Michael "Kidd Funkadelic" Hampton (Parliament, Funkadelic), and Atlanta-based hip hop artist CLEW on vocals.

TRACK LISTING

A-Side "The Invisible Man"
B-Side "Lee "Scratch Perry" Remix The Invisible Man"

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2014 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

4 Deep roots dub cuts of the first track from Lee Scratch Perry’s new album ‘’Back on the Controls’’

‘Rastafari on wall street’ features a heavy weight sound system style cuts of a deep roots rhythm from ‘’Back on the controls’’ A title track with Lee Perrys political and conscious lyrics about rastafari and a takeover of the Wall Street system, followed by a heavy Dub version mixed by Daniel Boyle, the co-producer of ‘’Back on the controls’’ and Lee Perry on the Dubbing and effects. This is a sublime and vintage style Dub cut that uses rare and vintage equipment to create the mix.

Side two sees veteran reggae vocalist Danny Red echoing Lee’s conscious message with a solid vocal cut called ‘’I’m Willing’’ A sound system scorcher that has been tested to full effect on ‘Young Warriors’ – (the son of Jah Shaka) sound system. To back this version up, the 4th and final cut on the 12” Features a haunting Flute cut dubbed again by Daniel and Lee in full Analogue style.