Hugh Griffiths
Muriel / So Much Love

"It’s a bedrock of deep and heavy rhythms recorded around Jamaica =just before the demise of Perry’s famed Black Ark Studio. Black Ark Vol. 2 is the follow up album to the acclaimed Black Ark In Dub that unsurprisingly for an Upsetter release, took a different path.More vocal oriented, the album features extended dubwise cuts of (former wife and co-producer) Carol Cole’s ‘Ethiopia’, The Originals ‘Got To Be Irie’, Junior Byles ‘Mumbling & Grumbling and The Inamans remake of the Bee Gees hit ‘How Deep Is your Love’, along with an alternate take of the Silvertones roots classic ‘Give Thanks’ with flute overdub and a couple of solid covers from Third World lead vocalist Bunny Rugs. Originally released in 1981 the hard to find Black Ark Vol. 2 remains a frozen sonic timepiece, captured at the beginning of the end of one era and poised at the start of another."

Paul Miller, better known by his stage name DJ Spooky is a music producer, arranger, DJ, author and performance artist. His unique brand of experimental hip-hop, dubbed ’illbient’ has resulted in collaborations with a diverse range of artists including Ryuichi Sakamoto, Kronos Quartet, Lee “Scratch” Perry and Killa Priest. With remix projects for Trojan Records, Manifold Records and Six Degrees among others to his credit, Miller created Phantom Dancehall for his exploration of the Greensleeves/ VP Records reggae catalogue.The musical tapestry is built on samples from familiar (and not so familiar) reggae tracks over electronic beats and melodies produced by Miller and protégé Stephen Levitin (stage name Apple Juice Kid). Selected tracks include the keyboard work of Alex Thompson aka Fourth Shift.Guest vocals from Walshy Fire (Major Lazer) and dancehall new comer Sanjay added to vocal samples of Busy Signal, Lady Saw and Garnett Silk give the project an eclectic, modern dancehall flavor.

Classic Hugh Mundell, originally released in 1982 and produced by King Jammy, and featuring Augustus Pablo and Lasky Castel. This album has not been available for years. Includes, ‘Walk With Jah‘, ‘King Of Israel‘, ‘Million Miles‘ and of course, the title track, ‘Jah Fire‘.

Limited Gatefold issue with great sleeve notes from Dr. Buster Dynamite of this lesser known 1976 LP produced by Alvin Ranglin w/ two additional tracksAlvin Ranglin's memories about his productions with U-Roy"At the time I started working with U-Roy on the LP Dread In A Africa in 1975, I already recorded a few good songs two-three years before with him. But sometime after this project with U-Roy my Record Village shop at 5 Hope Road -on Half Way Tree- got broken into, and these thieves set the place on fire. At the back of the shop, I had a storeroom in which I kept many of my tapes. So some tapes were destroyed with songs from artists like Eric Morris and also some of the U-Roy project. I rented that place from a Chinese lady and she wasn't insured so I lost a lot of money there! At that time this all happened I was in England for business. So it was very stressful to me as you can imagine. Anyhow, I decided a year later on to release the five songs which I still had on tape with some instrumentals from the backing band Skin, Flesh and Bones, as a kind of a showcase album. I don't know what at Dynamic Sounds where the album master was cut by Carlton Lee. Something went wrong as the stamper didn't came out 100% how it should have been. Anyhow, I pressed a very small number of the album, around 12 copies or so, and put them in blank jackets as I didn't made a printed jacket yet. As I rented a shop to TonyRobinson on Slipe Road it make sense a few of the U-Roy albums are carrying his sticker. It got a good reception on the test pressing so I just disbanded it as I thought it was better to concentrate on recordings I did with Gregory Isaacs and Maytones, which were big sellers at that time. U-Roy was of course going strong with Tony Robinson as his producer in 1976, so I'm glad after so many years passing by this album is finally getting a proper release on the Jamaican Art label.

Koffee announces the release of her debut album ‘Gifted’ on Columbia Records. Having garnered attention with her 2019 global anthem ‘Toast’ and subsequent EP ‘Rapture’, it’s hard to believe that Koffee is yet to release a full-length album - in the short time she’s been making music she’s become a pillar of the reggae and dancehall music community, radiating her message of hope and positivity from her home in Spanish Town, Jamaica to audiences around the world. Prioritising authenticity, she’s created an album that transcends it’s influences, creating an innovative and fresh body of work that is ready to push the genre forward.