911. he’s gonna step on you again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld1vQVoaQIM

John Kongos, who isn’t known for much else, loops up some genuine African drumming (way before it was the thing to do) lays a groovy pop song on top and cracks the British Top 5 at a time (1971) when that was simply not an easy thing to do. Philip Random recalls first hearing it on his second trip to Britain. “Mid-90s. well on my way to getting drunk at a very old pub in Nottingham. My immediate thought was wow, somebody’s done a helluva job with that Happy Mondays song. I had it backwards, of course.”

969. depth charge

African Head Charge were nothing if not truth in advertising. Or as I once heard it put, ‘it’s like Africa on acid, except you’re at least ten thousand miles from Africa, so what is it really?.’ What they were was a loose sort of psychedelic dub outfit formed by London based percussionist Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah in the early 1980s, with Adrian Sherwood at the mixing board, having fun with frequencies, noise, rhythm and razor blades (which is how they used to edit audio in those days – direct application of sharpened metal to electromagnetic tape). Depth Charge is pure truth in advertising. It goes deep and the slightest contact leaves you with at least a bit of burn.” (Philip Random)