After a few years spent moonlighting in King Midas Sound, making exquisite lovers’ dub and hollowed-out urban soul, Kevin Martin is finally set to reignite the fire under his explosive dancehall alias The Bug. Good news for anyone – and everyone – familiar with his previous Bug output, and especially his last album London Zoo: Martin doesn’t do things by halves, and even several years later cuts from that album still detonate through dancefloors with all the force of a nasty biological weapon.
Martin announced today through Twitter that he is set to launch a new 7" label, named Acid Ragga, an offshoot of Ninja Tune. Its first release will be a Bug single, featuring contributions from long-running collaborator and fearsome toaster Daddy Freddy and Hype Williams’ Inga Copeland.
Exciting news indeed, delivered with with following announcement: "Finally, literally finished the new Bug single 5 minutes b4 jumping a cab for the airport, and i’m PSYCHED…I’m starting a 7" label within Ninja Tune called ACID RAGGA, first single is ‘Can’t Take This No More’ ft Daddy Freddy/’Rise Up’ ft Inga Copeland(Hype Williams), and it will drop imminently.."
The second is set to swiftly follow the first, containing ‘Ganja Baby’, again with Daddy Freddy. In Martin’s words – "think Plastikman mashing Witness The Fitness".
UPDATE: Further details are announced in the press release for the label, which indicates that yes, as its name suggests, Acid Ragga will find Martin coaxing acerbic sounds from the machines that gave birth to acid house: a 303 and an 808. The label will release 7" singles throughout 2012, leading up to the next full-length by The Bug, which will be titled Angels & Devils. It’s set to feature collaborations with a stunning and very varied roster of people – Death Grips, Gonjasufi, Grouper, JK Flesh (Godflesh/Jesu), The Spaceape, Flowdan & Warrior Queen.
"But this isn’t your parents second coming of the summer of love acid," the announcement reads, with ominous portent. "This time there will be no smiley faces, no ecstasy, and no future. The world is truly fucked and Kevin Martin can always be relied on to soundtrack armageddon time. Rather this dystopian acid takes influence from pioneers like Stakker’s ‘Humanoid’ , Plastikman, Phuture’s ‘Cocaine/Your Only Friend’, Aphex Twin etc, and twists it into Kevin’s own perverted take on classic dancehall. Harkening back to when Sleng Teng refined Jamaican music as we know it, the Acid Ragga imprint will forever scar the face of raggamuffin reggae."
Well, we for one await the impending apocalypse with all the wild-eyed, scraggly haired conviction of a preacher screaming himself hoarse on a street corner. Listen to a clip of ‘Can’t Take This No More’ below.
Appetites whetted? While you wait for the full beast to arrive, read our interview with Kevin Martin here. Oh, and you can pre-order the first 7" here.
