The Groove Thief

Jstar is releasing a cleverly-titled compilation of his bass-laden remixes and dubs later this month on vinyl. Already streamable, these are some heavy tunes covering a wide spectrum of low-end theories. Remixes: from the dubbed-out hip-hop of Dj Vadim’s “Watch That Sound” (feat. Emo) to the horn-laden reggae-hop of “Ya Ya” from The Empty Heads feat. MC Sirreal to the mellow smoker vibes of “Ten Feet Tall” by Mr Dero / Farina Miss. Jstar takes Madness into late-night dubby-electro, Dub Terminator feat. Ras Stone into bad man territory on “Bad Mind,” and - the definite standout - Capitol 1212 feat. “Oh me, oh my this is Tenor Fly” into the land of mystical grooves, complete with an epic vocal-led break. The instrumentals aren’t exactly slouching, The Unlimiters’ “Loophole” ventures into psychedelia yet mantains a dub aesthetic, ”Fish Finger Tentacle Dub” builds up to some glitchy grooves while “Regulate Rock (Jstar Dub)” ends the album on a super funky note that feels restrained at four-and-a-half minutes. Jstar is at a crucial crossroads of dub, reggae, and bass, where a myriad of influences can be blended together to still produce a cohesive track, and here, a surprisingly cohesive album:

NagualX pushes dub forward into the realm of jazz, while keeping a strong focus on heavy riddims and basslines. With several strong tracks, including the recently released and fittingly-titled “Be Strong,” alongside a live party dub and two “Illegal Dubplates” mixes, there is a lot of fresh interesting music available from this artist. Hailing from France, NagualX captures the vibrancy of the country’s strong dub/reggae movement but wisely avoids predictable trappings of the genre and instead has forged a very unique sound, perhaps most comparable to some of the jazzier cuts from Attack Released. Well worth the listen:

2000 Tons of TNT re-imagine the vintage on Reggae Mysteria. Funky upbeat instruments like the excellent title track and the following “Cougar Communion” are sharp and well-polished, the latter featuring some wicked keys. While certainly retro-inspired, this is an updated and varied take on the past as the garage-rock of “Shot In The Dark,” the slightly-Eastern funk of “Tiger Uppercut,” and the well-passed melody on “Rabo De Toro” all show. This is dirty garage rock with ample funk and early reggae influences, but great cuts like “Electric Pyramid” don’t deserve to be pinned down by genres. “Theme For Ambu” features some nice heavy drumming and another wicked keyboard solo, before “I’m Feeling Lonely” closes with its skanking guitar. This is a unique mix of musical styles, coming out of San Diego, CA, that is pushing the past forward in all the right ways. Hopefully their follow-up, expected in 2013, will continue the inspiring trend:

01/01/13 UPDATE: Here’s two new tracks (currently available for free) as a new album preview:

This Friday night 07/12 Germany’s iLLBiLLY HiTEC roll into Hong Kong with MC Longfingah to drop their digital reggaetronics upon XXX. Also on the bill are Blood Dunza, Christian Di Phat Selekta, and yours truly The Groove Thief. I’ll be starting the night off from 10:30 to midnight with funky dub building up to digital reggae. A True Skool x Heavy Hongkong collaboration, this is going to be a fun night of BYOB house-party reggae vibes. Come early, stay late, and drinks are closer now that 7-11s been supplanted as the nearest convenience store…

Check out my review of iLLBiLLY HiTEC from earlier this year, and here’s a new video to get you warmed up:

Full-power Flappage is about to invade Hong Kong, so it seems foolish to ignore this monumental musical event! You might think the city would have other regular musical festivals, but that is sadly not the case as profit is routinely prioritized over anything else in this supposedly international city. Sure, HK always has a lot of shows going on, but it’s “see and be seen” over musical quality all too often. At least Clockenflap, the hopefully now annual music fest, is supporting true musical diversity (especially if we ignore the lack of reggae music…). Nonetheless, there’s a lot of great bands and DJs that will be braving the inclement weather this weekend!

Time Out Hong Kong has some solid write-ups, including a feature, their Top 10 acts, local bands not to be missed, an interview with Team Clockenflap, and a helpful map.

The Groove Thief’s official recommendations include:

Saturday:

Azealia Banks, Noughts and Exes, Uptown Rockers, !!!, DJ Enso XXX and Dan F

Sunday:

De La Soul, Brandt Brauer Frick, Magnetic Soul vs Heavy, Bassmen 3, Kid Fresh, Yao and Tiga

Now if only these acts were scheduled so they could all actually be seen…

The Groove Thief - 0:20 Massive Mix

Here’s 20 minutes of bangin’ reggae straight from Hong Kong! Huge tracks from Krak In Dub and Mungo’s Hi Fi bookend an uptempo modern digital mix with featured instrumentals and riddims from Black Chiney, Dub Breakah, FreeRoots & Youngheart, and Riddim Tuffa. A literal anthem appears from High Tone and Pupajim alongside a classically-inspired track from Collie Buddz, a tough vocal from The Beast, and Numa Crew’s alter-ego Gangsta No Play. Made for a mixxtape battle, this is loaded with choice tracks.

Available on both Mixcloud & Soundcloud as well as DIRECT DOWNLOAD.