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Drop whatever youre doing and start partying peeps, with its cheeky skanking riddim and energetic vocals West Londons Burning is the ultimate party tune. Full of energy and colour, this is guaranteed to win you friends on the dancefloor. For a powerful affair flip to Klaus Heavyweight Hills remix. Heavier than a double decker bus filled with gold bullion. LN 4
Anyone who was feelin Dogtown Clashs last track Substance & Sound should waste no time and dig this puppy out as it's second-time around more dub-a-dabulous bizniz from this awesome side project from Barry Ashworth. West Londons Burning is no messing skankin beats with Barrys trademark horns aswell as some tasty lyrics and a bass to make you bounce along. Tracks like this leave other productions in their wake, pulled of with such effortless ease, Dogtown Clashs sound has more body and weight and will sound as good in ten years time as it does today. Klaus Heavyweight Hill turns in the remix on the flip in his own unique style, if you like his Heavyweight sound this is for you, but for this DJ It's all about the original, pure carnival vibes!
M7/M8 (Tom Real)
Dogtown Clash West London's Burning (WESTWAY) The mysterious West London wideboys, Dogtown Clash, return to Westway for an outing of electronic urban skank electro. Drawing heavy influence from two-tone ska anthems of years gone by they more than nod their heads towards The Specials, which of course is no bad thing. There's plenty of evocative brass lines and a jump-up dub-electro bassline to keep you pogo-ing to this modern take on times gone by. (M7/M8) SOTO RECOMMENDED
DOGTOWN CLASH West Londons Burning Westway Records
Dangerous.
You have in your sweaty paws a copy of the fourth Westway release West Londons Burning by Dogtown Clash. Its already been described by DJ magazine as "Ruffneck ska-dub-breakbeat in excelsis", and has had spins on radio by Tayo on Kiss FM and Eddy TM on Xfm.
This is the second release by the mysterious Dogtown Clash on Westway, the label run by Barry Ashworth and Carl Loben and named in homage to The Clash. Dogtowns first release Substance & Sound drew comparisons with Tigas Pleasure From The Bass electro anthem, but this new track has them taking a different path.
West Londons Burning begins with live horns that sound like theyre from a classic Studio One reggae session. As the beats kick in, the ska backbeat guitar begins along with dub-style delay techniques. The ruffneck vocal by Nicky Tonguetied then starts its twists and turns through the sights and sounds of West London. Its tale of weed smoking and Carnival delights will be familiar to anyone whos spent any time around Portobello market, particularly on August Bank Holiday although the sentiments expressed within it are universal.
As if to demonstrate this, Westway have commissioned a video for the song the first for the label. Directed by rising star Dicky Chalmers from production company Cops & Robbers, the action centres on two Samurai rude boys brandishing Kill Bill-style swords as they strut through the streets of downtown Tokyo. Intended to parody West London bad boys, the video has the Samurai engaging in illicit activity such as scoring drugs, having a smoke, doing graffiti and running from the cops. The humour in the juxtaposition is obvious, because the traditional Japanese Samurai were very straight-laced.
West Londons Burning comes with a remix by Klaus Heavyweight Hill, one of the most well known names in global breakbeat. Stripping the track down, Klaus makes full use of the vocal and aims his rework at peak-time dancefloors. Klauss mix is already a staple of Atomic Hooligans DJ set. The release also comes with an instrumental dub, and a radio edit.
"This town is becoming like a dogtown."
Westway continue to push boundaries with each release. Look out for more records in the coming months from Italian hotshot Madox, The Drum Monkeys, the Velours Brothers and more.
Watch the West Londons Burning video ..
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'Substance & Sound' is the debut release from the mysterious Dogtown Clash and it's been causing ructions on the floor since it came out on promo recently, with Rennie Pilgrem and Matthew B early supporters.
Imagine if legendary West London punk rockers The Clash got together with seminal LA skate punks the Dogtown Crew to make dance tunes. They'd make music full of balls and attitude, right? Records to give an aural one-fingered salute to artificial genre divisions, formulaic dancefloor fodder and opportunistic band-wagoneering, yes?
Music, in fact, a lot like that which the mysterious Mick Bones and production partner Paws Simenon have been cranking out via their significantly-monikered Dogtown Clash outfit. 'House music has got really boring,' argues Mick. 'It's too safe, people are too worried about selling records. House music has become like your dad's music. It's time to start messing it up a bit again. 'Obviously The Clash are a big inspiration in terms of the name, but also in terms of attitude. The Clash were supposed to be the last gang in town, a righteous gang who weren't afraid to start throwing it up and kicking it in a bit.'
Any punk fans reading this may have noticed that the Dogtown Clash line-up take their names from original Clash members Mick Jones and Paul Simenon. Moreover, Dogtown Clash was actually formed following a drinking session in the West London Pelican pub where The Clash played their first ever gig. Just up the road is the Westway skate park, which got the duo thinking about their mutual love of skateboarding and inspired the other part of their name.
'The Dogtown skate crew were the first ones who started skateboarding in LA in the 70s, doing it in disused swimming pools and stuff,' explains Mick. 'There was a film out about them a few years ago. We're both really into punk and skateboarding, so we thought we'd fuse the two.'
Musically, Dogtown Clash take their cues from a rather different direction, as is evidenced by their debut single 'Substance & Sound'. With the original mashing up house grooves, electro sounds and ghetto-tech bass and a remix taking things down a funky breaks route, the twelve is a good illustration of the Dogtowner's independent-minded approach to music making. 'We want to cut our own path rather than worry about anyone else, ' states Mick. 'Our music is a complete mish-mash, somewhere between dub, electro and acid, with a punk ethic thrown in.'
'Substance & Sound' also finds Dogtown Clash adding their own contribution to one of the most popular lyrical styles in dance music: the tune devoted to mind-bending substances. And the singer/songwriter featured on the tune is exceedingly well-placed to sound off on the subject, explains Mick Bones. 'We wrote the tune a year ago with a guy calling himself Troy Fortress. He's actually a social worker who works with the baddest of bad kids, a drugs social worker. We got into that whole acid house thing of monotonous lyrics carrying on through the track and getting into your head subliminally.'
As well as introducing Dogtown Clash to the world, 'Substance & Sound' is also the first release on the new Westway, a new London label, set up by beat-freaks Barry Ashworth and Carl Loben, it's going to be releasing graffiti breaks, dirty dubwise house music, futurist electro and more. Music that, like The Clash did in those heady post-punk days, forever pushes forward.
Despite the name, Westway Records isn't just some trendy West London operation. As if to demonstrate this, the label is having launch parties in all four corners of the capital, and taking the sound to clubs and parties in assorted other cities too. They've also got a track forthcoming called 'West London's Burning'!
"There's nothing like a good bass-line to get a dancefloor moving. And the bass-line on the debut single from West London outfit Dogtown Clash is definitely a good 'un. The elastic, acid-electro low end tones that pulse and throb their way through the track are only part of the fun, of course. Punchy hand-clap rhythms and dubbed-out sci-fi effects help set up the rolling breakbeat house groove; a suitably spaced-out spoken word vocal from sometime drugs worker Troy Fortress adds atmosphere. But as no lesser an authority than Arthur Baker once pointed out, it's so often the b-line that really makes the difference when it comes to club tracks, and that's certainly the case here."
4.5/5 (Reviewed by Tim Irwin)
