Friday, April 08, 2011

On U


I saw this album on CD in a shop recently, but it had no date on the cover, so wasn't able to tell if it was new or a reissue. Happy to report that I've discovered it's a brand new album from amazing dub outfit African Head Charge, once again teaming up with legendary producer  Adrian Sherwood, the man behind On-U -Sound'. Audio previews below.

It is a UK label with an incredible back catalog of great reggae and dub, going back to the 1980s and 1990s. Think Bim Sherman, Dub Syndicate, Tackhead, New Age Steppers, Gary Clail, Little Annie... so many.... This year is the label's 30th anniversary too.

African Head Charge are responsible for one of my favourite albums ever, In Pursuit of Shashamane Land, from 1993. The new album is called Voodoo of the Godsent... here's the info from On U's website....

"The first release to mark On-U Sound’s 30th anniversary sees African Head Charge return with a brand new album, Voodoo Of The Godsent, out on March 28th.

Formed in the early 80’s by On-U head honcho Adrian Sherwood and percussionist Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah, African Head Charge have established a unique reputation over the years for producing exceptionally beautiful and deeply strange music.

This is their first release since 2005’s Visions of a Psychedelic Africa and sees Bonjo once again joining forces with long time On-U stable-mates Skip McDonald, Crocodile and the Crispy Horns together with contributions from legendary bassist George Oban, Dancehall pioneer Jazzwad and electronic wizard Adamski. All the elements of a classic Head Charge album; a triumphant mix of dub, psychedelia, trance, afro and tribal rhythms that have given them their own unique place in contemporary music.

Voodoo of the Godsent will be followed in April by the re-release of 3 seminal On-U Sound albums: Creation Rebel’s “Starship Africa”, African Head Charge’s “Off the Beaten Track” and The New Age Steppers’ eponymous first album that was the first ever LP release on the On-U Sound label..."




3 comments:

Bob Daktari said...

oh yeah!

Anonymous said...

Hi Peter, just been to tackhead/mark stewart and the mafia gig on Saturday which was fantastic. It is indeed the 30th anniversary, and although on u seem to be a bit disorganised at times (understandable!) I believe a large portion of the back catalogue is intended to be re released, as well as hopefully performances by african headcharge and dub syndicate.

Peter McLennan said...

hey Anon, thanks for the info. Gidday, Bob (waves)