Bristol Archive Records Present:
Voices From Another Part Of Town + Bunny Marrett Album Launch Party (15) Thu 28 June 21:00
This year’s reflection on 50 years of independence for Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago continues with a rare screening of a seminal BBC documentary made by activists in Bristol’s St Pauls area shortly after the 1980 riots, featuring Bristol reggae legend Bunny Marrett. After the screening Bristol Archive Records are hosting an after party in the Café/Bar to celebrate the release of I’m Free, Bunny’s long lost album. With a live performance by Bunny featuring some of The Startled Insects and Tony Orrell, PA from Dan Ratchet and DJ support c/o Steve Rice (Downbeat Melody Sound System.) Fee: £8.00 full/£6.50 concessionss (includes free priority entry to the launch party in the Café/Bar)
BOOK NOW: http://www.watershed.co.uk/whatson/3566/voices-from-another-part-of-town-album-launch

Sugar Shack / Nubian Records will release Black Roots new album entitled ‘On The Ground’ on September 10th 2012 in three formats CD, Vinyl and digital download.

Track listing for the CD is as follows:
1.       I Believe
2.       Pompous Way
3.       Long Long Ago
4.       Militancy
5.       Earth Land
6.       I Am flying
7.       Slavery
8.       Oh Mama Africa
9.       Hide out
10.     On The Ground
11.     Call Me Out
12.     No Fee
13.     Struggle
14.     Landscape
15.     Without Direction
16.     Capitalism
17.     Come and Sing

Recorded in Bristol in April at J & J Studios
Produced by Black Roots  and Mixed by Loius Becket

More news soon

www.sugarshackrecords.co.uk

HOT NEWS! We have just agreed a partnership deal with Chris and John from Fashion Records, the iconic London Reggae label started in the 80′s to rerelease their back catalogue on cd and vinyl via our sister imprint www.reggaearchiverecords.com. More news soon but we start later this year with ‘Fashion In Fine Style Significant Hits Vol One’. Amazing!!

Lots of news on Bristol Archive Reggae releases in the latest edition of the brilliant magazine

Link here: http://unitedreggae.com/magazine/18/

Black Roots

All Day AII Night (Deluxe Edition)

Bristol Archives CD/DL

Recorded for the Nubian label in 1985,

Black Roots recruited Neal Fraser, The Mad

Professor, for mix duties and the trombonist

Vin Gordon for authentic brass weight. The

result of this more professional approach

was a cleaner, punchier sound, less rootsy

than previous work – an inexplicable move,

as those earlier tunes had generated BBC

sessions and a commission for the theme

music for the TV sitcon The Front Line. lt’s

mostly conscious tunes all the way, and

so magisterial is the 12″ cut to “Pin ln The

0cean” that it’s difficult for anything to

match it, although the “Face Dub” (the flute

and trombone version to “Seeing Your Face”)

is as good as anything to be found on Mad

Prof’s Dub Me Crazy series. Black Roots are

currently working on a new album.

The Columns I Soundcheck I trrewire | 0r

Bristol Archive Records came from seemingly nowhere when the label in early 2011 dropped the acclaimed compilation Bristol Reggae Explosion. This release has been followed by several hard to find roots reggae gems by Bristol-based artists. United Reggae got a chat with label owner Mike Darby to find out more about him and his many projects.

Meet Mike Darby, an independent financial advisor, golfer and married with two children. He’s also the owner, head of people relations, chief detective, finding new material, head of A&R and boss man at Bristol Archive Records and Sugar Shack Records. If that wasn’t enough, Mike Darby is also a Director at Archive Publishing.

He started his music career as a singer in 1979 with the reggae/two tone/ska band The Rimshots. The band put out a couple of singles and played with The Beat, The Bodysnatchers, Black Roots, Talisman and acclaimed dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson.

Six years later he ventured into band management and launched Sugar Shack Records focusing on British rock artists. The label recently switched direction though, and from 2012 and onwards Sugar Shack will be putting out contemporary British reggae acts.

In music terms, Bristol is primarily known for the genre trip-hop and artists such as Tricky, Portishead and Massive Attack.The reggae scene has however also been thriving ever since the 70’s in different shapes and forms, and the main aim for Bristol Archive Records is to put many more or less unheard of reggae artists on the map and put the record straight.

“For me it’s the untapped and unreleased gems that have fallen through the cracks of time,” explains Mike Darby, and continues:

“The expectation is minimal from the artists so its amazing seeing these people get a break some 25 or 30 years later, smiling, being proud and getting excited about roots music again.”

And the response on the releases so far seems to please Mike. And one word sums it up well.

“Amazing,” he states, and explains:

“I can’t believe the response from all around the world. The records sell, the artists have a second chance and we are one big happy Bristol family – taking on the world and spreading our sounds.”

Thanks to the success of Bristol Archive Records Mike has also changed direction of his other label – Sugar Shack Records. Its first reggae release is the 12” Sound History Volume 1 by AMJ Dub Collective, released on 23^rd April 2012.

“The success of the Bristol Archive Records means that Black Roots, Talisman and now Joshua Moses are back out in force spreading their message via live performances. It just made sense to support them and their new material by having a record label that can work with them,” says Mike, and further explains the company’s direction:

“All things reggae from Bristol and the rest of the UK if we can discover the talent on our other label www.reggaearchiverecords.com .”

Now back to the reissue business, and Mike’s recipe for finding new material to put out.

“Word of mouth, referrals, putting out great looking records and being nice people.”

It sounds easy, but it probably also means a great deal of work to compile compilations with hard to find golden nuggets or unreleased gems, Mike pays special praise to his Reggae colleague Martin Langford aka Dubmart who compiles the track running orders and writes the amazing sleeve notes, plus Steve street who does most of the mastering.  

Jah Praises from Revelation Rockers is one of those gems. It was recorded in the late 70’s, but didn’t see the light of day until March 2012.

“Shocked, stunned, excited and motivated,” says Mike about his reaction when he heard about Jah Praises.

But this album is far from an exception in the increasing Bristol Archive catalogue, and the flagship compilations Bristol Reggae Explosion 1, 2 & 3 includes a great deal of unissued material. To me, it’s remarkable that a tune like Rise Up from Joshua Moses has been lying around in a drawer somewhere.

And happily enough Mike reveals that there are more to come.

“Joshua Moses’ Joshua to Jashwha 30 Years in the Wilderness is a must buy for any roots fan. It’s stunning.”

www.bristolarchiverecords.com

www.sugarshackrecords.co.uk

www.reggaearchiverecords.com

www.archivepublishing,net

Taken from: http://unitedreggae.com/articles/n936/032312/interview-mike-darby-from-bristol-archive-records

Joshua Moses                                              4/5

Talisman                                                       4/5

Bristol Reggae Explosion 3                       4/5

The Joshua review is killa:

‘This is one of the must – have reissue albums of the year’ 4/5   RecordCollector

BUNNY MARRETT- ‘I’M FREE’

Released 18^th June 2012 as Vinyl LP (Limited Edition), CD & Digital Download,

through Bristol Archive Records / Shellshock and all digital platforms.

          An influential figure on the Bristol reggae scene since the 1970s, Bunny Marrett has been shamefully neglected on record with just two tracks on the A side of a 1981 Shoc Wave 12” his sole output, although his compositions have fared somewhat better having been recorded and released by both Black Roots and Delroy Ogilvie.

     Bristol Archive Record’s June 18^th release of Bunny’s 1986 recorded album “I’m Free,” should go some way to making up for that oversight. As a bonus, Bunny is accompanied by legendary Bristol band The Startled Insects and equally legendary local jazz drummer Tony Orrell.

     Bunny may be a reggae artist, but he is also a jazz lover and with first rate jazz accompaniment, the music they produced is a totally natural fusion of reggae and jazz that more than twenty five years after it was recorded still sounds totally fresh.  It’s naturalness, it’s simplicity and it’s beauty make this music timeless and with an appeal far beyond the traditional reggae market. This is joyful music created by musicians who were obviously having fun and that shines through. There is no artifice in this meeting of Jamaica’s and the United States’ greatest musical gifts, it just works as a perfect blend of styles.

     Bunny has been singing since his childhood in Montego Bay and after relocating to Kingston was soon entering talent competitions. Moving to England whilst still in his teens, Bunny continued to sing as well as becoming involved with sound systems. He also embraced the local jazz scene as well as the diverse music of the West Indies including learning to play Piano with Laurel Aitken. Although his profile outside of Bristol may not have been high, by the time he recorded “I’m Free” he was an experienced writer and performer.

      When they collaborated with Bunny the, Startled Insects had already made an impact with their first two records on Antenna and were about to be signed by Island. One of the Startled Insects, Richard Lewis, will be well known to fans of Bristol Archive Records as legendary engineer and producer UK Scientist. The remaining band members known as just the Insects, would go on to a very successful career scoring music for film and television, writing for Massive Attack and working with several leading UK acts.

       Drummer Tony Orrell is something of a legend in Bristol music circles. In fact, having played with Spirit Level, Sphere, Andy Sheppard and Adrian Utley to name just a few, he’s a hugely respected musician on the UK jazz scene and has often utilised his talents for non jazz artists.

       The vinyl LP contains the 1986 album as it was envisioned, four vocals, the uplifting title track “I’m Free”, Bunny’s tribute to Bob Marley with “Jazzy Reggae” making an excellent adaptation of the Wailers original. “Farm Diggin’” inspired by life in rural Jamaica and “Natural Princess” a pure love song, “Jazzy Reggae and “Farm Digging” are accompanied by their versions/dubs. For the CD issue we have added “Times Are Getting Harder” and “Hard Times (dub)” both tracks from Bunny’s Shoc Wave 12”.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                www.bristolarchiverecords.com

ARTIST: Bunny Marrett

TITLE: I’m Free

RELEASE DATE: 18th June 2012

LABEL: Bristol Archive Records

DISTRIBUTION: Shellshock

FORMAT: Format:   Vinyl LP (Limited Edition), CD and Digital Download

CAT NO: ARC253V and ARC253CD

BARCODE: 5052571027318 / 5052571027325

DOWNLOAD LINK (For review purposes only): 

WEBSITE: www.bristolarchiverecords.com

CONTACT: Mike Darby, E: [email protected]  T: 07885 498 402

Tracks:

Vinyl

Side 1:

!. “I’m Free”

2. “Natural Princess”

3. “Farm Diggin’”

Side 2:

1. “Farm Dubbin’”

2. “Jazzy Reggae”

3. “Jazzy Reggae Dub”

CD

1. “I’m Free”

2. “Natural Princess”

3. “Farm Diggin’”

4. “Farm Dubbin’”

5. “Jazzy Reggae”

6. “Jazzy reggae Dub”

7. “Times Are Getting Harder”

8. “Hard Times Dub”

JOSHUA (JASHWHA) MOSES AND THE RAS BAND

PLUS SPECIAL GUEST AND PAPA ROOTS SOUND SYSTEM

FRIDAY JUNE 29^TH THE FLEECE, BRISTOL, UK

In the early 1980s, Joshua Moses was one of Bristol’s most popular live performers. He took his brand of Roots Reggae on tour across the UK and Europe but like many others, changes in taste and the loss of venues saw Joshua virtually retire from live shows.

      Now with the release of his highly acclaimed debut album “Joshua to Jashwha – 30 Years In the Wilderness” released via Bristol Archive Records, Joshua makes his long overdue return with a gig at the Fleece. With support from The Ras Band and a catalogue of great songs, many of which he’ll be performing live for the first time, Joshua will be reminding fans old and new just why his music was so popular first time around.

      Along with Joshua there will be a surprise special guest and support from Papa Roots Sound System. It’s been a long time coming but the return of Joshua Moses isn’t to be missed.

A joint presentation by The Fleece, Bristol Archive Records and Midnight Mango Agency.

You Tube Video link:

http://youtu.be/-tfbvKCoffA

Dan Ratchet 12″ Vinyl (Limited Edition) ARC254V
Recorded in London and mixed at Dynamic Studios, Jamaica 1986
Produced by Simbarashe Tongogara
Never released until now – 11th June 2012
Pre-sales will be up soon at www.bristolarchiverecords.com and all major and minor overground and underground mainstream and reggae distribution outlets
The album drops in July 2012 with more previously unreleased material to follow later in the year and 2013 – busy time for Dan and exciting for the team
Video for Afrikana Policies will be uploaded and available in March