Blackest Ever Black / UK / 2015
Dedicated to Peter Tosh and his Red X diaries.
"Though you may have clocked his appearances as DJ Oa$is on FuckPunk, the label he runs with Vessel, Red X is his first proper solo offering. The title track was made during the winter of 2014/15, inspired by Peter Tosh’s personal taped diaries: mysterious reel-to-reel recordings in which the reggae star documented his dissatisfaction with city life under Babylonian rule, and his mistrust of certain people around him, in the run-up to his shocking murder in ’87.
Recorded using - among other things - samples, Roland synth, and a rowdy one-take session with the open spring reverb thundering through echo pedals, hard delays and distortion, ‘Red X’ brilliantly bridges dubwise, isolationist electronics and modern soundsystem dynamics, the stoic half-step of its opening section gradually hewn apart with a ruffneck 4/4 thump, warping sub-bass and a hellfire of high frequencies. Spacious, spry and airy, but with the threat of violence never far way, B1 ‘Ice & Blood’ feels like something picked up on an ebbing pirate signal, with deep blue synths holding fast against stepping razor drum edits. The deep, dread ambience of B2 ’Blood & Ice (Version)’ was coaxed out of an acetate dubplate of ‘Ice & Blood’, and the crackly old 7” run-out groove of Tosh’s ‘Oh Boombaclat’, shot through ’70s Copicat tape-delay and an array of effects. It powerfully evokes the the last breath, or perhaps first gasp, after the rain, after the violence.
Peace at last."
Edition of 500.