Death$ucker: Bringing Back the Raggacore!!!

What is Raggacore? According to Wikipedia:

Raggacore is a genre of music resembling a faster version of ragga jungle, or breakcore with dancehall, ragga or reggae style basslines and vocals.

This unique genre of reggae-infused breakcore first surfaced in 2001 with releases like Venetian Snares' "Clearance Bin" 7" (History Of The Future) and DJ Scud's "Full Watts" series. Artists like Bong-Ra and The Bug (with his label Razor X Productions) were also making ragga-fused music around the same time. Since those early days, there has been a move towards a more defined Raggacore sound from labels like Peace Off, Clash, Mashit, Shockout, Sozialistischer Plattenbau, Sprengstoff, Kool.POP and artists like Aaron Spectre, DJ C, Soundmurderer, Shitmat, FFF, Rotator, Istari Lasterfahrer, Krumble.

More recenlty a new wave of artists have been pushing the Raggacore sound. From Cambridge (UK) the Life4Land crew have been putting on free parties, releasing records and churning out tracks like there's no tomorrow. Peace Off have also been on the case pushing artists like Cardopusher, Dr. Bastardo, Krumble, Kovert and Repeater.

Ragga and Reggae music have been an big influence on my musical tastes, especially living in St. Pauls (Bristol's Reggae Mecca!). This can be heard in some of my own productions, in particular tracks like "Strong Like A Lion" and "Toxic Dancehall", but also on some past Death$ucker releases:

• D$R01 Bong-Ra - Riddim Wars 7" (2002)
• D$R02 Various - Ballroom Blitz CD (2003)
• D$R07 Ripley - Ich Bin Defekt CD (2005)
• D$R12 Aaron Spectre - Evil Most Foul 12" (2005)

Now Death$ucker is taking Raggacore to the next level, with a series of hot new releases in 2008!

• First up is D$R27, a split 12" by the mysterious Johnny Clash and Stivs of Life4Land. On the A side Johnny Clash mashes up Damian Marley's version of "Exodus" with amen / gabba breaks at 240bpm! On the B side Stivs' classic tune "Dustbinmen" gets remixed and remastered for what has to be the tune of the year! http://www.fugazi.net/dswat/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1863

• Following swiftly on is D$R28, a split 12" by Eustachian & The Teknoist (currently on tour in Europe). Eustachian proves that they aren't all about experimental thrash metal with "Stronface", a raggacore stormer with crazy time signatures and heavy bass. On the flip the Teknoist's track "Richie's Breakcore Love Song" doesn't quite fit the raggacore mold, but is none-the-less a future breakcore anthem., with lush strings and glitchy gabba kicks. http://www.fugazi.net/dswat/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=2011

• Coming up in April 2008 is D$R29 by Krumble (Peace Off/Jungle Therapy). Krumble brings his unique blend of choppy breakcore and cut-up jungle bass terror to Death$ucker with two dancefloor killers "Time To Burn" and "Fucking Hostile". Link up Krumble's MySpace to hear previews of both tracks!

• Next up is D$R30 by Stivs (Life4Land), with an 8 track, double 12" album (a 1st for Death$ucker!) featuring some of the finest ragga-jungle, breakcore and wonkstep EVER! Solid production skills and heavy basslines make this a sure-fire hit! Stay tuned for audio previews, but in the meantime check out Stivs @ the Goatlab in Feb 2008!
  

FFI:

http://dswat.streamlinetrial.co.uk/deathsucker/?Releases - info on Death$ucker releases
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raggacore
http://www.lfodemon.com/raggacorearticle - An interesting article by LFO Demon from 2004