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Greetings guys, how’s it going? Thanks for taking time to read the ol’ newsletter. We had a lot of fun looking back at our favorite releases from 2023 in our last one. Hopefully you enjoyed reading and it served some purpose. If just one of you found something new to you that you are digging, then we can be satisfied, but hopefully there are a few more of you than just one. I know I cast a wide net in my tastes and some things might not be for all, but variety is the spice of life and all that. I know I left a bunch of things out and that certainly wasn’t because I didn’t like them, but I figured my colleagues might pick some of them and we set our limits to just ten. I chose not to include our own label releases, but damn we are proud of everything that sported an SSR catalog number last year. 2024 is already beginning with a bang, with our two newest releases hot off the presses and in store. Click for more details on Deletar and Fugitive Bubble and get ‘em in your lives.
Alright, back to this newsletter and what the heck to write about? We are not (always) trying to hype stuff to sell you, but rather take pleasure in just talking about music and steering you in the direction of interesting stuff and this week will be one of those from me. I tend to write about things that are resonating with me at the time rather than just pull random “cool” records off the shelf and try to come up with something just for the sake of it. I’ve never been able to plan DJ sets in advance because of the way my brain works like that. I make decisions in the moment based on the current vibe and circumstances, which for me makes it fresher and more interesting. It also means having to bring a lot more records to gigs to select from, and with my aching back that’s not as easy anymore. I can see why a lot of folks went digital. Vinyl gets heavy.
So, I enjoy watching old movies. A lot. I pay for cable TV primarily to keep getting the Turner Classic Movies channel as that’s almost all I watch. I particularly like Westerns and WWII films and Film Noir. Robert Mitchum is one of my favorite actors. Another favorite, due to watching him with my Dad, is John Wayne. I know both guys wouldn’t pass the PC police these days, and there’s no doubt Wayne said some dodgy shit and people certainly have their opinions on whether he should have served during the war, but as an actor portraying a character, there’s no denying his charisma. Over the past few weeks, I’ve watched films about Pearl Harbor, one of my favorite Christmas films, Three Godfathers and last night another western with him and Mitchum. A film called El Dorado from 1966 which was produced and directed by the great Howard Hawks. It’s a decent movie with Mitch and Duke being the reason to watch rather than a great plot, but interestingly some scenes of Wayne from this film were reused in his final film The Shootist as flashback scenes.
Anyway, this morning I woke up and fancied listening to some reggae and flipped through a few things I had to hand and stopped at one by John Wayne called Boogie Down. Naturally after just watching Wayne the gunfighter, I had to hear Wayne the DJ, backed by Sly & Robbie with The Aggrovators and produced by Bunny Lee. LoL. Obviously not the same Wayne a.k.a. Marion Morrison but rather the Wayne known to his mother as Norval Headley from Jamaica.
This album Boogie Down is a top-notch rub-a-dub reggae record. Released in 1983 on the Vista Sounds label out of the UK, it’s the only full length credited to Wayne, but he had a career lasting through the 90s and is on a ton of singles either solo or with other performers.
With the pedigree present on this album, it had to be good. Sly & Robbie with The Aggrovators in their prime and Bunny “Striker” Lee at the controls. It’s a fun album in the rub-a-dub style and cut right before the digital era, so retains the feel of a classic 70s reggae record. If you see it, I highly recommend picking it up. There is a recent reissue out there, but otherwise just that original pressing.
As I was listening to the record, sipping my coffee, I attempted to continue reading a book that Daniel lent me ages ago and which I had left unfinished. It’s a book on The Clash which delves into the political climate of Britain and America during their time, and it’s fascinating reading. The historical aspect really interests me, and the author gets into the true nature of Thatcher and Reagan’s relationship and talks about how particularly Reagan’s whole presidency was pure theatre and a massive PR exercise with the White house fully concentrating on keeping whatever narrative that served them going and spending almost all their time doing that instead of doing actual helpful shit. Sound familiar? Pretty much the Republican playbook ever since.
The irony of the US Republicans who drape themselves in the flag and talk about the constitution and conservatism is that they are now the opposite of that. It’s all show and a distraction and deflection from what they are up to. Which is of course a huge problem and threat on democracy and the very foundations on which America was founded upon.
After the reggae record finished, I stuck on an album that I have by the actor John Wayne where he gets all patriotic. I think he was being sincere on it, but in the post MAGA world now, all these overtly patriotic, flag waving type of things come off badly. Which is a shame because the American dream should be a good thing. Normal patriotic citizens who are proud to be American shouldn’t have to feel ashamed or feel that by displaying Old Glory on their porch makes them a Trump supporting racist. I’m an immigrant to America who came to chase the dream too. I’m finally going to try and get my citizenship this year. A few hurdles in my path over the years stopped me. As I listened to the Duke reading the poems that looked mostly to be written by his son, I couldn’t help but get a little emotional myself. I believe in the true America and want to be a part of the rebuilding and uniting part of the population. Becoming a citizen will give me a vote and I can use that to be a part of the solution and not the problem.
Wasn’t intending on getting into a political conversation with my staff pick, but there you go. We live in charged times. What can I say? Fuck Trump. Listen to good reggae records and watch western movies. Thanks for your support and see you next time.
Cheers - Dom