SKRSINTL meets MX7 inna DANCEHALL SHOWDOWN!

Shimmering hologram oases belie the bone-dry heat inna this ya ghost-bloodcl@$t-town; When tumbleweed beliefs pose as the only sign of life, it's time to step into Death's saloon; Bust down the dusty double-swinging doors even the Preacher-man dares not enter!

The Bartender has run out of liquor and listening;  Sullied Doves have danced their last number; Lawmen, levelled and long-gone, litter the dance floor;  Bodied outlaws doubled and draped over the bar. When the only exit is a horse-drawn hearse;  Face to face with Death, who will shoot first!?!

Step into this rattlesnake-ridden realm!  Dancehall Showdown is a crazy non-place world where 60’s Spaghetti Westerns, 70’s Library Synth Records and 90’s Golden Era Dancehall come together for a death-defying communion inna Yard!   The old posse of SKRS and MX7 ride once again under the banner of their co-run label, ICS Library Records, off into the fringes of sound-based reality.

SKRS' OG Papa Coolbreeze reinforces their select palette, "This album is our reiteration of influences ranging from Spaghetti Western era Upsetters to Raymond Scott's Manhattan Research Inc. to early Horsepower Productions.  Now the soundtrack we paint, however, is something entirely unique on its own".  Simply put: there's NOTHING like it out there!

Full disclosure: this LP has been shelved for well over 3 years now with the sudden disappearance of Oklahoma's now-mythical Digitalis Recordings, who were set to release it hot on the heels of their 2012 SKRS debut LP, TheCallFromBelow.  Since then, we've laboured to break more ground and lay several more keystones in the growing SKRS/ICS groundation-foundation in order to withstand its intensifying expanse and weight.  Now that the ground has been prepared, we've decided to take Dancehall Showdown back into our own hands and give it the proper love and nurturing we had always intended for it.  With Honest Jons taking up exclusive distribution duties, everything is in place. Peace to the Universe who conspires to manifest our reality.

Exclusive Distribution by Honest Jon's London

xxx

MYSTERYFORMS Showdown REEL

MYSTERYFORMS takes us into Death's Saloon inna dis ya action-packed xxxtravaganza for the forthcoming flagship ICS Library Records album release:

 "SKRSINTL meets MX7 inna Dancehall Showdown!" 

☠️ When the only exit is a horse-drawn hearse;  

Face to face with Death, who will shoot first!?! ☠️

You've been warned!

xxx

SKRSINTL presents the RaggaPreservationSociety EP

SKRSINTL and friends earnestly re-establish their Far East roots inna dis ya Tokyo-matical link up with the boundary-pushing Diskotopia label; they now direct their searchlights straight into the heart of Ragga Jungle...Oh my word!

But wait!  Be very clear, this is no 1990's bandwagon-jumping retro-throwback-nostalgia type ting! Not an oldskool rave romanticism ting; not a new school revivalist ting; this is raw Raggamuffin bizniz from a parallel dimension seen!

SKRS OG Papa Cool Breeze states, "These recordings were made at the unlikely convergence of London pirate radio transmissions, Filipino-Canadian mobile DJ crew gatherings and New-age music meditation communes.  The sound palette may be familiar but the context and design are on some other sh*t.  Previously known only in their own circles, peer-to-peer networks and Usenet newsgroups, we are now presenting them to a wider listening massive."

Respected ethnomusicologist, Sipreano (Grammy-nominated producer/archivist behind Light in the Attic's Native North America and Jamaica to Toronto compilations) reports, "We formed this project to archive and showcase works that widen our scope of understanding of this Ragga diaspora".

Rather than a sterile preservation of established templates, the RaggaPreservationSociety aims at preservation-by-expansion; championing instead Ragga Jungle's intrinsic Spirit of ghetto-futurism and back-a-yard innovation; simultaneously cultivating the roots while fostering new fruits.  

This release marks only the first in a series - so watch this space!

xxx

Seekersinternational - NoCompetition (ft. K!dlat)

Diskotopia Tokyo's resident video artist, Matt Lyne, re-assembles a motley visual cast and crew to portray the topsy-turvy, inside-out world that is "SKRSINTL presents the RaggaPreservationSociety EP".  Out anytime now on the forementioned eclectic label, this EP celebrates the united colours of all things Jungle and reinstates the truth that, in Oneness, there is NoCompetition!

Out 4th November 2016 on Diskotopia

xxx

TellURudebwoy BETA-MAXED

MYSTERYFORMS & WzrdryAV re-survey the jungle landscape and map out new and remote pirate radio tower block transmitters, never before discovered and eluding DTI raids for decades, enabling these stations to continue broadcasting and cultivating ever-new sounds from the underground to a world-wide listening audience.

Exclusive aerial views and secured ground-level footage offer us an ultra-rare glimpse of these monuments of forward broadcasting and the men and women who tirelessly labour to keep the spirit and (covert) operation alive. Exact polar coordinates shall be omitted for obvious reasons.

The title track, TellURudebwoy, off the forthcoming SKRSINTL presents the RaggaPreservationSociety EP on Diskotopia Records, is exemplary in showcasing the evolving sounds and mindsets of the communities that persist and subsist on this constant dose of elevating frequencies.  Tune in and stay locked.

xxx

Jabu x SKRS - Oran VIP b/w BwoyTest VIP

Well, this time along we find the sonic fruit of long time mutual musical appreciation between Young Echo crew's Jabu and SKRS!

     As with previous Jabu output on NoCorner, there is a leaning towards the broader sense of classic R&B, hip hop or soul, when listening, there is a sentiment that almost leans towards feeling like it could be a radio anthem, but then it’s worth remembering that our sense of what could be ‘popular’ is still very much underground in the grand scheme of things… 

     And these tracks are by no means shying away from the honesty of forward thinking music, never made to conform. But that sentiment is a testament to how accomplished and captivating these songs can really be, from the very first drop, to the hook and right through until the last set of distant gunshots are fired off, it’s a ride into the deepest combined depths of SKRS x Jabu wizardry.

Limited to 200, hand-numbered.

Printed sleeve, designed by Amos Childs.

Silver silkscreen overprint, designed by Mysteryforms.

Hand-stamped inner sleeve.

Printed centre labels, designed by Studio Tape-Echo.

Out now on NoCorner Records!  Get em here!

xxx

LoversDedication VHS Version

MYSTERYFORMS lightning-strikes us once again with this short but saturated visual feast; this time creating a companion video-art piece to the new SKRSINTL full length album, LoversDedicationStation, on South London's Bokeh Versions

MYSTERYFORMS chops and screws the artwork they created for the LoversDedication LP and infuses it with essential Ragamuffin extracts, dried herbs and incense to offer us an expanded glimpse into the sights and sounds that is LoversDedicationStation

Set playback to loop and get transported to a scene from a parallel dimension!  

xxx

LoversDedicationStation

Request line dedications past midnight under assumed aliases;

Cold sweats and burning hips;  singular obsessions backed with frayed nerves;

Determined, you make your approach;  Doubting, you double back.

The age-old hunt forever begins anew.  Pursuit, capture and escape in a locked groove.  Forked tongues spell twisted words.  The promise of Union dancing like diamond encrusted chains.  Consummated and consumed in rapture, you don rose-coloured X-Ray specs that betray greener pastures.

Now this ya a Dedication to all who see PAST this relentless push-and-pull sold to us as "love";  To all those who struggle and stand fast amidst the heady swirls and rumblings down low;  To those who are dedicated to Waking Up! and move tirelessly Closer to the Real Thing.

Onelove from the SEEKERSINTERNATIONAL Crew!

Recorded at Aquaboogie Studios, Southeast Richmond 

Mastered by the Stunt Man at Suite Sound Labs, Vancouver 

Artwork and Design by MYSTERYFORMS

Out NOW on the indelible Outernational Dub Champion, Bokeh Versions

xxx

IfUWantMe b/w TrustInDigikal 7inch

     New SKRS 45 inna double-vision excursion! Essentially a split-seven featuring two separate tracks from two forthcoming releases on Bokeh Versions; brought together to form a dizzying dub moiré of SKRS expanded view of all tings dubwise.  Hear it from the label themselves!

     "Bokeh Versions is a new home for outernational sounds and dub lifeforms based outta South London.

Seekersinternational's debut on Bokeh Versions finds SKRS in a woozy mood. IfUWantMe is a warped interpolations of classic lovers rock vibes. Taken from their forthcoming LP, SKRS launches lovers into another dimension with a distant gyaldem chanting mantras over ruffneck lows.

TrustInDigikal is an archival track rescued from cosmic limbo. Sparse dub abstractions and alien gurgles battle with clipped samples to a synthonic conclusion. Think Scratch Perry and Joe Meek clashing with Low End Theory and ‘08 beats."

Get it from the label direct or at your local mom & pop store!

xxx

theShopApprenticeEP Limited Edition Cassette

     

     To celebrate the latest initiate and newest member of the SKRSINTL Cru, the ineffable Ranking Miss Isha, 2015 graduate of the Ecclesiastical Society of San Joaquin, we are now delighted to offer theShopApprenticeEP as a stand-alone(!)* Limited Edition Cassette through our sister-affiliate label ICSLibraryRecords!

Straight head-to-head circuitry clash by SKRSxMX7 on tape. Recorded directly in-campus at ICS' Drumalie Ave Television and Radio Research and Repair Lab. Six tracks deep, each tape side is essentially a nine-minute suite in three movements.

SideA : RadioRepairman / BareWires / OpenCircuit

SideB : ShopApprentice / SignalPath / Potentiometer

Professionally duplicated in Eastern Canada on high-bias TDK SA cobalt cassette tape (better than Chrome!). Cover photography and design by MYSTERYFORMS. Edition of 70.

  *The original TAPE+POSTER+DIGITAL Combo Pack can still be purchased here

So gwaan get your dusty tape decks serviced by your local radio repair shop

and ghetto-blast this one ya slice of '88 other-worldly dancehall

Straight to a Soundbwoy head!

xxx

HER.IMPERIAL.MAJESTY

Her.Imperial.Majesty

This is our Dancehall Devotional;

Ghetto original; Our hoarse voices ring;

Backyard confessional...

In humbled surrender and utter awe

We sing praises to Your blinding effulgence;

The divine Mother - in your countless emanations:

From You, most earthy: Big Batty Gyal;

Rope gold garlands of sweat and glitter;

Unapologetic stilettos fracture Death's grip

To You, most exulted: Supreme deliverer of Justice;

Sentences decreed and nay-sayers laid low.

Let nuh boy try fi test!

Hurry come and descend pon we;

Dash out slackness and obstinacy

Rise up Your forces from deep in our hearts;

Make we ready for when the Real Clash starts!!!

Recorded at Aquaboogie Studios, South East Richmond,

and Del Monte Ave Studios, Quezon City

mastered by The Stunt Man at Suite Sound Labs, Vancouver

all original artwork by MYSTERYFORMS

Out on BOOMARM NATION

xxx

SendWeASign Videomatic Version

SEEKERSINTERNATIONAL - SendWeASign from BOOMARM NATION on Vimeo.

  Load up unnu Betamax players and run tape!  Ultra-magnetic offering by man like Max Kelan Pearce using video lens haze and tape degradation to mirror the Seeker's plea for rest and deliverance from confoundment and confusion.  Send we a signal that we may know that we're on the right path! 

*SendWeASign is taken from the album HER.IMPERIAL.MAJESTY, out 06/16 on Boomarm Nation

xxx