NICE UP! Records bring you 12 Dubs of Xmas
NICE UP! Records breaks up the commercialism of christmas with 12 brand new dub tracks absolutely free of charge for your audio enjoyment. DJ Shepdog gives 25ThC a brief run down of what to expect:
Thank you for the very generous free festive gift of these 12 xmas dubs. Can you tell us about some of the tracks/remixes that are featured on the album?
Our pleasure! They say the joy is in giving, so it’s nice to offer something back to our fans and followers that have supported us throughout the year. I realised back in October that we’d been sat on a few bits that never saw the light of day, such as the Marie-Christine vocal on Poirier’s “Positive Up” rhythm that didn’t quite make the cut for the single release and the Vibration Lab dub of Blend Mishkin that David Rodigan had played exclusively on 1Xtra, so I got them all together and realised there could be enough for an EP or something. I spoke to the rest of the artists on the label to see if they had anything else lying about and the results were overwhelming! It’s surprising how much great material sometimes slips down the cracks, so we ended up with a whole album.
Other things such as the Numa Crew dub of Cut La Vis had been completed for a while, but due to scheduling we had to hold it back til next year, so thought it would be cool to drop a dub as a bit of a teaser – they’ve also done a full vocal remix. Part2Style got in touch to say they loved the Red Eye Hifi tune and asked if they could remix it. The single had already been released so I mentioned we were doing this and they were up for it – they turned in a wicked remix in about 7 days! Origin One turned in the Sticky Joe remix in the same amount of time and its brilliant. I mentioned the project to a few other friends and producers and they also started sending stuff, so in the end we kinda had too much! I don’t wanna give too much away, but there’s plenty more surprises coming!
I’m really feeling your Mashup of Poirier’s “Jump” and Rhianna’s “Work”. How did that come about?
Ah – well, I’d kinda retired from doing mash-ups, but like the Sopranos… just when I thought I was out, they keep dragging me back in! It came together really easily actually – I obviously love the Jump rhythm that Poirier produced – it’s one of those tracks that you can put pretty much any vocal over the top and it works. An instant classic. I’d played around with some other acapellas whilst out DJing, but then got my hands on the Rihanna one and it fit like a glove – it was too good not to do!
The album is a great advert for the brilliant artists currently on your roster. What releases do you have planned for 2017?
Thanks! We’re very lucky to work with such a talented bunch. There’s so much already in the schedule for 2017 – a killer mixtape and single from Ghost Writerz (plus an album), a great new EP from Jahrkon, a massive new single from Turntable Dubbers featuring Dynamite MC, some brilliant new material from Mr Benn and Red Eye Hifi have been sending me some amazing demos so expect some big stuff from them next year. I’m also on the verge of signing quite a big drum & bass act, which I can’t say too much about right now, but watch this space!
There are quite a few xmas reggae tracks knocking about old and new. Which ones do you particularly rate?
I find most Xmas songs a bit too cheesy to be honest – especially when it comes to reggae – bah humbug! Actually, Yellowman’s “Breadfruit Roasting On An Open Fire” is very tongue in cheek, so that gets a pass. That said, Major Lazer & Protoje released one recently that I really liked – its not overtly festive, its all about weed (called Christmas Trees). Chronixx’s “Santa, Do You Ever Come To The Ghetto” is pretty legit too, but again its not a traditional style Xmas song – no sleighbells or angel choirs singing!
NICE UP! will be releasing one dub a day from the 12th December and they will be available until 01 January so catch them while you can from their bandcamp page.
Interview by 25ThC.
