Hip-Hop Novedades

(A) A1. Open The Gate Bobby Boy
(B) B1. Open Version

NoCorner and Stone King proudly presents the first official collaboration between Ossia and Andy Mac. Both are fresh off a series of high-profile releases and projects - Ossia with recent releases on Berceuse Heroique and Blackest Ever Black, and Andy with his new Deep Street label and the 2nd Diving Bird 12 that just came through on Idle Hands.

Featuring three tracks written & recorded between 2015 and 2017, the record sees Andy & Ossia's mutual love for Jamaican and African rhythms, dusty records and a tape-saturated approach to guide a fresh, dubwise production process involving a battered old Roland Sampler and Ossia's infamous half-broken analogue Trident Mixing desk.

A Side Soup Riddim serves itself up as a hybrid slab of dancehall, dub and perhaps even the looser stylings of house - a fresh twist with an eternally-universal emphasis on space, and the movement within it. On the flip, Cado leans even further into negative space, allowing a gorgeous piece of samplism to drive the rhythm all the way to its conclusion in the blink of an eye, with the soft insistence of the percussion playing with the listener's sense of time. This feeling intensifies in the final track, Linguine Loop. A shapeshifting low-frequency hum underpins a hypnotic melodic loop that develops, delays and distorts into a dizzying crescendo of feedback and noise. The final minutes serve as a final reflection on what came before as the melody slowly re-filters into the mix as a ghostly, half-there form of itself, drawing the reductive conclusion to this EP, a triple version excursion of far-away sounds.

Edition of 300, six times (at least) hand-stamped, in kraft sleeve.
Mastered and cut by Lewis at Stardelta.

A welcome return from the elusive soundsystem version kings 'Seekers International' to the NoCorner imprint, and an equally welcome linkup with affiliated afficionados 'Bokeh Versions' who have been championing the SKRS sound of recent.
These cuts are actually dubplate gems left in limbo since around the time of 2014's Rootprinciple cassette for NoCorner, so it's with great pleasure that NC can finally announce the righteous move in all its glory.

Four tracks, mastered to the highest standard and shot back through time, here to present itself with a fresshhh piece of Mysteryforms artwork, with a strong 'hats off' to Wilfred Limonous (the face of late 80's Jamaican Dancehall sleeves).

This is SKRSINTL at their highest-grade standard, with a hazy quartet of dubwise, re-structured and re-imagined in the way that only SKRS can do.

Or, as SKRS put it, very simply and aptly:

SKRS x Bokeh Versions x NoCorner x Mysteryforms x Tape-Echo unification ting seen!'

Edition of 500.
Served in printed sleeve, designed by Mysteryforms,
layout by Studio Tape-Echo.
Mastered and cut by Lewis at Stardelta.

Big one for all Dub and stepper deejays and listeners.

2 Cuts with their instrumentals. Deep and Stepper Dub.

Roots And Stepper... Fat Duppy Deh familly !

We are proud to present our second release by Beat Pharmacy AKA Brendon Moeller AKA Echologist, a singular voice in contemporary electronic, techno, and sound system musics in his various guises. Beat Pharmacy tunes begin life as live hardware jams where reverb, echo and delay rule the day, and rugged textures rub against digital processing.

In Density,' bass, kick and heavily reverbed piano skanks anchor an instantly enveloping soundworld of deepest dubwise ambience. From around hidden corners emerge the hiss of distant pistons and valves, sentient machinery working in complex relationships. Wobbles, wubs and sweeps communicate across cavernous spaces, as strange rhythmic elements sputter and spatter, tangling and massing in double-time to the point of rupture, only to resolve into crystalline moments of suspension into gorgeous, neck-snapping drops. Simply mesmerizing, and heavy in the dance. Everything to Gain' is spun from the same heavy metals, with a sparser feel, processed voice, and a buzzing, repeating alarm figure that sounds like a submarine warning that the dive is getting too deep, too dangerous...

Music that is moving, powerful, evocative and kinetic, slotting beautifully into 140 sets while defying easy categorization or description, always following vision over fashion. This is why we love Beat Pharmacy.

Mastered by Lewis at StarDelta

D-Operation Drop is a 6-man crew from Cesena, Italy with a strong and growing catalog of sound system killers, from orthodox steppers to dubstep abstractions and strange hybrids of the two. Recent releases on Moonshine, Artikal, and Lion Charge have cemented their position, and we are thrilled to invite them into the ZamZam fold with two chunks of 140 weight.

Warrior March' opens with a mesmerizing pad that immediately draws the unsuspecting into a unique soundworld and doesn't let go til the runout groove. A smeared, chopping-block snare, deep subsonic rumblings, swung percussion, massed yet minimal horns make a darkly coiled track, menacing yet full of funk and movement.

Sativa Team' captivates just as deeply with fewer moving parts, loping drums and leaden percussion, churning bassline, chopped and glitched JA-voices and sound tape, and ominous, clipped horns that wobble with tape delay in a strange airless void. Brooding yet cathartic, tripped out but fully physical, with both tunes D-Operation Drop display their total control over a restrained and powerful palette.

Mastered by Lewis at StarDelta

UK Dub pioneers Alpha & Omega (Greensleeves / A&O Records) represent the foundation of UK soundsystem culture and bass music. Formed in the 1980's and with over 30 studio albums to their name, A&O have not only left a lasting legacy but are continuing to do so via collaborations with some of the most established names in reggae, underground artists and newly discovered talent alike. A&O's brand new studio album 'One By One' is a nod to the classic A&O sound yet illustrates A&O's forward thinking and distinctive outlook on reggae music. Another A&O classic, and well worth the wait.

Producer Victor Ticklah' Axelrod is back with another supple Reggae delight. After the success of The Inversion's last collaboration with Bob & Gene, Axelrod once again takes a seat in the Producer's chair, this time with a tune a little deeper in the catalogue. Originally tweezed from the beautiful MO DO tape boondoggle, back in '05 - '06, this single has been a long-time favorite of the Daptone family.

One night in 1971, frustrated by their lack of the success, Bobby Nunn and Gene Coplin sat in the basement of 50 Orange Street and put together a record expressing said frustration. Equipped with only a guitar, bass, and piano - no drums (though you don't even notice) - the two crafted an immaculate slice of Soul, aptly titled It's Not What You Know (It's Who You Know)'. Fast forward 46 years, and now accompanied by the rocksteady rhythms of The Inversions - the vocal stylings and poignant lyrics are reborn, sounding as fresh today as it did when it was crafted down in that magical basement. The VERSION flip is a delay laden masterpiece produced and arranged by Axelrod. A must for fans of Dub and Reggae alike. A truly gorgeous record!

2017 was a serious year for Von D, with releases on a number of great labels including our long-format imprint Khaliphonic, plus Amar, Moonshine, Lion Charge and more. For ZamZam, Von D has delivered 'Over' -- a brooding, burning 140 anthem providing serious heat as we head into the dark winter months.
'Over' features a powerful half-time reggae riddim built from Von D's signature warm, enveloping bass and restrained but powerful drums. Tambourine and guiro add flavor while the snares slap, and Meekman's kete drum rocks throughout, adding a swing and live feeling missing from many contemporary in-the-box sound system tunes. Melodica and synth skank in unison, underpinning a dizzying spread of analog signals & sonics.
With reality lyrics straight from Kingston JA courtesy of Shamarie Kamar Bogle AKA Digital Sham, the tune is brought to a boil with heady verbal vapors on poverty, struggle, corruption, daily stresses caused by the political shitstem, and the inevitable end of the wickedness that is so prevalent in these times.
The dub version spools out the echoes and forwards the kete drum in fine style, displaying brilliant filter-sweep moves and reverbs so luscious the space they define seems to breathe. 'Chalice Overdubs' also features gorgeous guitar work starting halfway through, adding another melodic, rhythmic and textural element for much more than a simple version.

One digital reggae Top Class sound and its digital dub instrumental on the flip.

2 track Single from Brimstone released by Fam's/Dub Store Records

2 track Single from Family Man & The Rebel Arms released by Cobra/Dub Store Records

2 track Single from Sena released by Fam's/Dub Store Records

* Boom 90's sought-after selection from versatile JA/UK vocal veteran Danny Red licking out against bad boys and gangsters alongside Boombastic Crew aka Nick Raphael (Manasseh. Riz Records, Roots Garden) and Gil Gang (Tuff Scout, Riz Records)
* Riddim-wise this is a sound system bullet which has hints of the mid 80's in the style of King Jammy, Jah Tubbys and Unity Sounds.
* This track originally came in the early 1990s on a Riz Records LP `Themes From Riz' which is now a wallet-busting records to secure.