Back catalogue: Dancehall/Ragga

Review: The figurative "battle weapon" is a kind of warring sonic heuristic; a dirty, up-your-sleeve musical "tool" made expressly for the MVP DJ to use in times of soundclash-y trouble. The Battle Weapons label know this all too well, and here they welcome new trainee assailant DJ Maars to demo his skills in the colosseum, bridging a fine line of recognisability and productive sample-flippage. 'A Nah Gun Nah Heat' brews Snoop Dogg's 'Drop It Like It's Hot' and Doug E. Fresh's 'La-Di-Da-Di' to delicious acapella effect, whilst 'Feel Like Standing' smashes Ludacris and Marcia Griffiths in an almost fated blend. Why didn't anyone else think of these before?

Review: An eagerly awaited repress of DJ Shepdog's 2006 mashup of Damian Marley's 'Welcome To Jamrock' with Dead Prez's 'It's Bigger Than Hip Hop', effortlessly juxtaposing one of contemporary dancehall's most iconic vocals with undeniably one of the fattest basslines ever laid. This iconic pairing is flanked by ultra fun cut 'Sleng Hop' uniting the original Dead Prez acapella with another of the world's most famous basslines- Prince Jammy's Casiotone MT-40 'rock & roll' rhythm... You do the math!

Review: The proverbial 'Soundboy Killa' is an enduring trope in soundsystem culture at large, referring to the apparently inherent enmity and villainy of the turntablist. Said to have originated in the days of system clashes, the assassin in question presumably refers to the opposing MC, whose barraging verbiage may pack enough semiotic punch to K.O. the opposition through mere utterances alone. Here Natty Campbell and the Freestylers pay tribute to the theme as progeny of the 90s big beat scene; having come up in the age of Fatboy Slim and Chemical Brothers, the supergroup first faced off in a whirl of tricky dub and armour-plated cold cuttage, dispatching two honorary tracks in the style of each artists' respective greatest scene-hitters: Dub Pistols' 'Cyclone' and Freestylers' 'Roughneck'. Now 'Soundboy Killa' and 'Jump On It' in turn hear a remix from Allergies and Guadi & Don Letts, the latter of which is especially experimental in its use of a peaky, 2-step shuffle.

Review: Polish dub home-brewers Moonshine Recordings have commissioned an exceptional new release here from Bukkha, Dubbing Sun and Burro Banton; 'A1 Sound' really is more than worthy of its pronounced place at the top of the list, thanks to its unique fusion of heavyweight steppers dub production and a hardcore, doubletime beat worthy of any warehouse rave. The track bares an unusual push-pull, and it seamlessly introduces the A3 jungle mix too, whose tempo and pace matches the first two versions' dragged weightiness. But here it's all three artists' productive synergies that shine, the original mix flaunting a restlessly fickle fencing between hardcore techno, brusque rap-jaying and nu system dub, never totally settling on either sound.

Review: If you like your reggae true to the original sound then this one is likely already long on your want list. It's a stone-cold classic from Dillinger that was one of the great DJ albums for Studio One back in the mid-1970s. It is packed with classic rhythms that were all produced with the expert guidance of Clement Dodd. Ready Natty Dreadie features non-stop highlights such as 'Pretty Looks' and 'Ten to One', the weighty low end of 'Full Up' and the magical top lines of 'Creation Rebel'. A crucial reissue.