Universal reissues fine reggae albums on vinyl.

posted on July 20th, 2013 by in Jamaican Music

On upcoming Monday, June 22, Universal will release a pile of fine reggae vinyl reissues.

Amongst others, Junior Murvin’s »Police and Thieves«, The Heptones’ »Party Time«, Max Romeo’s »War Inna Bablyon« and The Upsetters’ »Super Ape« albums will be made available to record lovers again. Find the full list and place your orders on Amazon.

Also, Universal announced the launch of The Vinyl Project – a crowdfunding site which they are going to use to work out which other »rare and deleted« albums it ought to reissue on vinyl. (via Fact)


Ward 21 X Pionear: Setting up a partnership.

posted on July 16th, 2013 by in SEEN Interviews

On July 1, Ward 21 Music and Germaica Digital announced that Leander “Pionear” Topp will from now on serve as the world wide manager for Jamaican Dancehall group Ward 21.

Being a big fan of Ward 21 for a long time and being friends with Lanni from the years I spent in his hometown Leipzig, I did a little Q&A with him on his partnership with the Mad Family:

Please tell me a little bit about what happened at King Jammy’s 15 years ago, when you first met Ward 21 and started working together.

When I was living in Kingston between 1998 – 2000 I was introduced to the Kingston studio scene by my mentor the great Dean Fraser. The first “big man” Dean introduced me to was King Jammys. Back then I was producing a Riddim called “Final Judgement” and made Jammys listening it. He liked it and said that it needs some re-work and went with me from the office to the studio where this crew of krazy people was listening to some music that really hit me hard not only because it was played at an unbelieveable volume but also because it sounded different from what I ever heard coming out of Kingston before. It was this minimalistic Hip Hop flavoured feel and this “in your face” mix of the drums and the bass which immediately hammered the word “Future” into my brain.

Since it was also always my personal goal as a producer to do things that were never done before and to explore new grounds – and so this first meeting was one of my most important experiences during my Kingston time. Later all of us worked out the mentioned Riddim and it became the first Riddim ever produced by a German to be released on a major Jamaican label.

What have been your all-time favourite three Ward 21 tunes since then and why?

Read the rest of "Ward 21 X Pionear: Setting up a partnership." →


10 Deep X Boogie: Kingston Capsule Collection.

posted on July 9th, 2013 by in Fashion

10 Deep X Boogie: High Rollers

10 Deep just released a capsule collection featuring tees with some gun-heavy pictures street photographer Boogie took during an in-and-out visit of Kingston two years ago. (via Kingstonstyle)

I generally respect Boogie’s work a lot but I have to admit that I am neither a fan of what he did in Jamaica nor of the tie-dyed shirts 10 Deep put the stuff on.

Make up your minds yourselves.


Dre Skull lecture at Red Bull Music Academy 2013.

posted on July 8th, 2013 by in Video

During Red Bull’s Music Academy earlier this year, former editor in-chief of JUICE magazine, Davide Bortot, sat down with New York-based hip hop, dancehall and soca don Dre Skull to find out how he became one of Jamaica’s most in-demand beatmakers and how it came about that

after lacing beats for heavy hitters such as Beenie Man, Popcaan and Pusha T, the mighty Major Lazer asked him to co-produce Snoop Dogg’s reggae-fied reincarnation as Snoop Lion.


SEEN recommends: NICE Dancehall Special @ Crux.

posted on July 1st, 2013 by in Event

NICE Dancehall Special

The Crux, our favourite club in town, will hold a NICE Dancehall Special on upcoming Friday, July 5.

On the bill are DJ San Gabriel (Berlin), MoM Soundbwoys (Munich), Basszehner Soundsystem (Munich) and the resident NICE Soundsystem (Munich). Doors open at 11pm.

RSVP on Facebook and check Basszehner’s dancehall playlist over at Spotify to warm up.