Back catalogue: Dancehall/Ragga

Review: The ninth album from Barry Ashworth's Dub Pistols crew sees them teaming up with an amazing array of guests, ranging from Lindy Layton of Beats International fame, to rave heroes Ragga Twins and breakbeaters Freesylers, complete with UK reggae MC Top Cat in tow. The sound is the usual genre-bending combination of reggae and dub fused with punk, two tone ska, jungle, breaks and a whole lot more. No huge surprise the, but there's no denying it sounds as fresh as ever here, if not fresher.

Review: Active since the early 1980s, Robert Ffrench is a curio in the reggae scene, with a penchant for extra drum machines and a distinctly wacky sound. Emblematic of Ffrench's approach to music-making is the album 'Wondering', which here comes reissued via 333. Entirely themed around the tumult of Ffrench's relationships while living in 1980s Jamaica, hilarities like 'I Can't Finance You' and 'Heart Breaker' reflect the artist's intense thoughts on the various women in his life. It's all helped along, best of all, by his remarkable synthwork, making this an essential listen.

Review: Originally released digitally in September 2022, Kreed's debut album A Brief History enjoys a much deserved vinyl boost. A veritable soundsystem odyssey featuring vocals and links with a remarkable cast of vocalists from Rider Shafique to Killa P, Jman, Gardna, Charli Brix, Catching Cairo, here the Bristol producer goes all-in with the dot-joining and genre fusing. The end result sits somewhere between dub, soul, bashment, hip-hop, garage and dubstep. Warm, hypnotic and loaded with twists and turns, highlights include the garage-style shuffles and flexes of 'Weeper's Lament' and the digi-dub bubbler 'Ashes'. Vibe overload. The rest is history.

Review: Steely and Clevie were amongst some of the most supreme rhythm makers in all of Jamaica in the 1980s and on into the 1990s. They worked together at King Jammy's in the aftermath of Sleng Teng with Steely doing the synth work and Clevie making the magic on his drum machines. They wrote a wide array of essential rhythms for the day's best emerging dancehall tautens and At The Top is a collection of crucial digital dub workouts "that strips bare the computerised wizardry at the duo's core." These are essential dubs for fans old and new of dancehall.

Review: Milan's Simone Trabucchi, whom we know by the name of Dracula Lewis thanks to a rich catalogue of related material, launches his new STILL moniker on Berlin's unfailingly explorative PAN label. The result, however, is something we haven't been exposed to before and, for Italian electronic music, it marks a fascinating new journey into the 'outernational' realm. Each one of these 9 sonic experiments is made up of peculiar ethnic blends that span from Rastafarian culture to Pan-Asian influences; most of them are tagged as 'riddims', attempting to form new and visceral forms of futuristic sound-system culture for the next century. We're not kidding when we say that this is the first time in a while that we've heard something genuinely different, genre-blending and in a sense, utterly mystifying. Dancehall is in all of these tunes' DNA, but the execution is peppered with all sorts of sci-fi-leaning tricks and electronics, making it the perfect sort of material for fans of both dance music cultures. Don't sleep on this one. It's another nutty episode of PAN.

Review: Scotch Bonnet's periodic Puffers Choice compilations are always worth picking up, featuring as they do a mixture of label highlights from Mungo's HiFi and their closest collaborators, and tracks from like-minded producers and vocalists scattered around the UK and far beyond. Predictably, this third volume - the first in two years - is every bit as essential as its predecessors. It boasts a mixture of digi-dub, revivalist roots, dancehall and lover's rock, with highlights including Viktoriuous's hook-up with Earl Cunningham, 'Hotstepper', the raw weight of Parly B's killer crew cut 'Lyrics Spree' (featuring Daddy Freddy and Tippa Irie, amongst others), the future dancehall of Shokryme and RTKaL's 'BBS', and the soulful, warped bass-sporting heavy dub pressure of Skari's 'Black' (featuring INT Dub).

Review: Summer is coming and so we all need some Ganja Anthems in our lives. Enter this fine collection of such smoking sounds from Erie Ites. The dub vibes are heavy, the lyrics are all in homage to the sweet green stuff and the energy is perfectly horizontal. All the big names are present and correct with the likes of Linval Thompson's 'Ganja Man' a real gem with earthy roots and big horns, while Gregory Isaacs & Trinity explore a more dancehall influenced style with 'Irie Collie' and Suga Roy & Conrad Crystal closing down with the sunny, fat booted wiggle of 'Good Sensi'.

Review: Burning Sounds pay tribute to some of reggae's most crucial DJs with this new album The Magnificent 7. It is packed with artists inspired by the fundamental elements of Rastafarianism and they all speak loudly of the virtues of "living upright in those dread times." Jah Walton - later known as Joseph Cotton - kicks off with the positive vibrations of 'The Seed You Sow' before Big Youth gets deeper and darker. A brace of I-Roy jams roll on fat bass lines and King Sighta also appears twice with his natty vocals and percussive rhythms amongst a bunch of other superb sounds from the likes of Natty Love and Sister Sheron.