Category Archives: ARTISTS

Getting attached to Reggae and Dancehall in the late 1990s, Jane Bee soon made her first experience with acting as an MC, though singing/chatting has not been her main focus by that time. As a record collector and selector, she initially concentrated on running her own record shop called Saba Records in Leipzig (Saxony, East Germany) from 2004 until 2009 and was further engaged in promoting a radio show for about three years. Later, Jane Bee also worked as a local promoter and agent for renowned artists like Lord Sassafrass, Black Scorpio, Echo Minott, Peter Metro and Squiddly Ranking.

Despite focusing on these various businesses, she has always sticked to her personal aim of performing as a Selectress and MC. Today, she is a member of Outernational Sounds and is linked to the Jahtari Crew and the PlugDub. Moreover, Jane Bee is part of the so-called “Horseman Camp” around the veteran DJ SassaFrass. Her turf is early Roots music and Dancehall, Rub-a-Dub and Digital Reggae.

Since 2012, Jane Bee has been more seriously following her ambition as an MC and song writer. In August 2012, she first got the chance to deejay at one of the mighty PlugDub sessions in Leipzig when Doc Dressla from Jahtari passed the mic to her during their set. Jane Bee since had guest appearances at PlugDub and Jahtari shows.

She had record sessions together with Disrupt, even in cooperation with Naram for his debut album “March Of The Gremlins“. This Double-LP will feature Jane Bee’s tune “Conquer Me“, her first official record release. She just released a 12-track demo tape on limited edition cassette.

Jane Bee is now working as an artist agent for Kommodore, a booking agency that is connected to Jahtari and artists which have releases on the label as well as to other international artists and sounds. She is further promoting Lord Sassafras, Asher Senator, Peter King and Sir Coxsone Sound UK.

Speng Bond is a true UK sound system veteran of the first hour and has been playing roots music from 1974 with his first sound system, “Black Ambassador”.

He later worked with many different crews like Quaker City, even had a single out with UB40 (!) as James Bond and toured Europe with Steel Pulse as selector for Jungle Man from Birmingham, who were big in the 80’s.

Speng now runs his own sound system called Blessedluvmuzik out of Reading / UK, and can play at all kinds of functions, weddings, parties, and outdoor events. “I enjoy playing roots muzik the most, I love the heavy drum and bass.”

“Licence fi toast!”

Straight from the vaults of his solar-powered studio comes Melbourne-based producer Monkey Marc, writing sonically rugged, politically charged beats by day, and playing them on his solar rig, DIY Hi Fi Sound System, by night.

His production ranges from instrumental hip hop to dub-infused bass music and reggae, influenced by an eclectic mix of world music and boom bap style hip hop beats.

As well as being known as the mastermind behind political hip hop punks Combat Wombat, he has released a debut solo album As the Market Crashed (Omelette Records 2009), follow-up EP Monkey Marc vs The Planet Smashers (Jahtari 2013), and dystopian bass manifesto Bullets Over Babylon (Renegade Masters 2015) featuring UK powerhouse Soom T.

Monkey Marc’s passion for music and social change has also taken him far across the Australian outback. For over 15 years, he has run music workshops with indigenous youth and elders in more than 30 communities around Australia, using hip hop, reggae and rock music and music videos as an outlet for creativity in these remote communities.

Monkey Marc has produced for and mentored indigenous bands including hip hop groups Desert Sevenz and E-Town Boyz. He has recorded in makeshift studios set up in old toilet blocks, abandoned youth centres, lounge rooms of motels and even on remote beaches with crocodiles. Recent releases include compilations by Barkly Desert Culture and Red Sand Culture. Monkey currently spends up to six months of the year running workshops in remote Aboriginal communities.

Kiki Hitomi is the singer/songwriter from bass explorers King Midas Sound (Ninja Tune), Black Chow and was a founding member of the Japanese Dubstep noise duo Dokkebi Q. Her solo debut album “Karma No Kusari” appeared on Jahtari in 2016 and is roaming the galxies ever since.

Apart from her own solo project Kiki is part of WAQWAQ KINGDOM and also released a tape with Noinonoinonoino on Caoutchou Records.

article and interview in FACT

reviews for “Karma No Kusari”

GORILLA VS. BEAR

BOOMKAT

BLEEP

M-MAGAZINE (PRS) FEATURE

Roger Robinson is a Trinidadian writer, dub poet and musician who has lived in London for 25 years. He has performed worldwide with King Midas Sound and Jahtari and is an experienced workshop leader and lecturer on poetry.

His book A Portable Paradise won the prestigious T. S. Eliot Prize 2019. He is the second writer of Caribbean heritage to win the prize, the highest value award in UK poetry.

A Portable Paradise was only the second book of poetry to win the Ondaatje Prize in May 2020.

His solo music album Illclectica was released in 2004 on Altered Vibes and was named by Mojo Magazine as number eight in the top ten electronic albums for that year. Robinson is a founding member of the band King Midas Sound relasing on Hyperdub Records and Ninja Tunes.

Since 2015 Roger released the highly acclaimed dub poetry epics “Dis Side Ah Town” and “Dog Heart City” alongside disrupt on Jahtari.

His one-man shows are: The Shadow Boxer, Letter from My Father’s Brother, and Prohibition. He was chosen by Decibel as one of 50 writers who have influenced the black-British writing canon. His workshops have been a part of a shortlist for the Gulbenkian Prize for Museums and Galleries and were also a part of the Webby Award winning Barbican’s Can I Have A Word. He has toured internationally with the British Council and is a co-founder of both Spoke Lab and the international writing collective Malika’s Kitchen.