Jan
RED ROBIN 01
Midnight Riders / Speng Bond /
Steve Knight / Tippa Lee
“Outta Road / Dem A Fraud”
RR01
release date: 16.02.2017
12″ vinyl (€12.90), digital
From the remote township of Te Mata, in the rugged hills of New Zealand, comes a new imprint following in the tradition of mid-80s rub-a-dub from an often overlooked corner of dancehall culture.
The brainchild of local farmer and radio personality Red Robin – alongside the deadly production duo Naram and Art – the first 12” features two heavy-like-lead riddims with discomix cuts from four unsung heroes of the 80s with conscious, street-level lyrics.
Side A finds legendary singer Winston ‘Midnight Riders’ Powell rise again on a synth-infused piece of classic rub-a-dub. Despite being his first release in decades, he delivers a cutting edge vocal from his Kingston 9 borough about life Outta Road in the Jamaican capital. He then crosses live to special agent Speng Bond for a deejay report on the current state of Britain in Dread Outta Road.
With a more uptempo riddim, the flipside sees Toronto-based 80s star Steve Knight fire some timely shots at corrupt politicians with Dem a Fraud before Los Angeles-based MC Tippa Lee comes correct with a self-affirming deejay cut on Salute the Veteran.
Both sides are served with one-away dub mixes from Naram and added textural touches from disrupt. Mastered and cut by Pole / Scape Mastering for extra heavy low end. Strictly limited pressings.
