Adrian Sherwood’s On-U-Sound is thirty this year. As part of their birthday celebrations they’ve announced a few particularly notable dates for the diary over the next month or so.
Firstly, on 27th October, the label are hosting an in-store special event at Rough Trade East. It will feature a Q&A between Sherwood himself and Steve Barker of BBC radio show On The Wire, followed by a DJ head-to-head session between Adrian Sherwood and reggae artist/producer Dennis Bovell. In advance of the event, Rough Trade will be selling a special New Age Steppers 7", featuring ‘Fade Away’, the A-side of On-U-Sound’s first ever release (from 1981). Pre-ordering via the Rough Trade events site will guarantee entry to the in-store, otherwise it’s a first-come-first-served jobbie.
On-U-Sound is also releasing a couple of rather tasty looking records around the same time. 24th October sees the release of If You Want Loyalty Buy A Dog, a collaboration between Sherwood and Skip ‘Little Axe’ McDonald. In the label’s words: "also featuring the legendary drummer, Style Scott, from start to finish this is a dynamic and un-compromising meeting of both forms of Roots music. Immaculately played and defined as never before, [it] is, in the eyes of McDonald and Sherwood, their finest work to date."
And on 7th November the label is releasing Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s Nu Sound & Version, a set of remixed and reinterpreted classic tracks from Perry. It features versions by Kode9, Digital Mystikz, Bullion, Congo Natty and more – on the strength of those names it sounds promising indeed. Plus, it should slot nicely in alongside King Midas Sound’s Without You remixes/reinterpretations record, released at about the same time).
