Nantes Loves Reggae

"10 years ago, maybe not so much, but now you walk around and it's reggae party here, reggae party there. The kids like house, but most people listen to reggae." The owner of a sandwich shop on the Rue du Maréchal Joffre, Nantes. He's not wrong; flyers for reggae nights fill shops down the thin cobbled streets of the old city. Much of daily life here is soundtracked by the partytime.fr web radio station, broadcasting reggae and roots music out of Paris, and local reggae heroes Truth and Right.

One of the reasons behind the growth of reggae soundsystems in this city over the last decade is Ras Abubakar, who set up Zion Gate Music - a well regarded Nantes-based reggae label - in 1996. We caught up with him in Oneness Records, the record shop he runs on Rue du Maréchal Joffre. Here he explained that much of the reggae culture here comes from immigration from the West Indies, and his label, along with their house band, bring artists from around the world to record here. This meant that, alongside purchases of Beastie Boys' Check Your Head Curtis Mayfield's Superfly, I managed to pick up a Zion Gate record featuring a singer from Birmingham. 6 hours in Nantes and already I've got a little taste of home.

Hello, the Summer.

At LIFB we can normally be found fighting the good fight against the locust-swarm of terrible mash-ups, a long-lasting fad that invaded the internet the day the world decided that taking recognizable bits from two different songs and playing them at the same time was postmodern and cool. It was when Danger Mouse did it with the Grey Album. It isn't when you do it with Pink Floyd and Soulja Boy.

However, sometimes the concept throws up something that has an existence outside the realm of less-than-the-sum-of-its-parts novelty. New York's Max Tannone - the DJ and producer who gave us last year's Jaydiohead (Jay Z/Radiohead - worked in parts but the rhymes were overwhelmed by guitars and was just a little too angry) - has just dropped Mos Dub, Mos Def rapping over Dub and Reggae classics.

Like any mash-up collection that aims for a little longevity, most of the tracks are produced in such a way that they avoid 'name that tune' obviousness (with the exception of the excruciating Travellin' Underground). Reggae always sounds like summer, and the careful updating of classics, as controversial as it might be for some, is always welcome here - this one is going in the car for those increasingly regular journeys with the window wound down.

The whole album at the Mos Dub site.

And this is our favourite cut:
Mos Dub - 04 - In My Math by lifeinflashback