Chaka Domu & Lady Yolanda – Mash Up

At last the first single of the year from Sonar Kollektiv sub-label Best Seven. Best Seven is the 7″ label of JAZZANOVA / BEST WORKS booker and INNER CITY party co-organizer, DANIEL W. BEST. With Mash Up SB7017 by CHAKA DOMU featuring guest vocals of LADY YOLANDA he has again selected a massive tune to honour in seven inch format. Mash Up is a fat dancehall reggae number which is guaranteed to rock the house.

There are artists who can’t get enough monikers, names, projects and labels to put their music out. DOMINIC STANTON from Bedford (UK) is one of those people. Now 28, he has been dj’ing for around 11 years since the age of 14. STANTON’s musical journey began with UK hip-hop, which led to lessons in jungle, detroit, brazilian, jazz, funk, soul…the list go on…with his basic premise being that anything with soul is in the bag. To say DOMINIC STANTON’s output over recent year has been prolific would be an understatement. The man has so many aliases you might easily lose count. He has released under the names UMOD, ZOLTAR and DOMU, SONAR CIRCLE, BAKURA, REALSIDES, RIMA, YOTOKO and on such diverse labels as 2000Black, Archive, Talkin’ Loud, Neroli, Bitches Brew, Ninja Tune, Grand Central, Compost and of course Sonar Kollektiv on which his acclaimed solo album Enter the Umod came out in 2004. The first DOMU 12″ was released on 2000Black in the summer of 99, with the first DOMU LP “up and down” released on Archive in september ‘01. since then highlights have come in the form of the Rima album on JCR [with VOLCOV] and remixes for CINEMATIC ORCHESTRA, 4HERO, KING BRITT and JAZZANOVA. Infact, this is CHAKA DOMU’s second 7″ on Best Seven. Back in 2003 he and VOLCOV gave us the fabulous track Souljah (SB7011) which BUGZ IN THE ATTIC featured in their Fabric mix (FABRIC24)
For this release on Best Seven STANTON is worked as his CHAKA DOMU incarnation to produce a lovely old-school dance-hall track. The vocals of LADY YOLANDA on the mic are perfect for giving the piece a classic old-school flavour. But for those who prefer their dub straight, there’s a mighty instrumental version on the 7″ too. Mash Up has got it all going on: as MISSY YOLANDA says herself – this is one to get the party jumping.

Mashing it up is exactly what Sonar Kollektiv does best. Wether its nu-jazz, funk, soul or in this case dancehall reggae, you never quite know what to expect from a label with such an eclectic a+r policy. With Mash Up (SB7017), the latest offering on Best Seven, we are taken on a journey to the roots of dancehall. It sounds as though it could have come straight out of the ghettos of Kingston rather than Bedford, England. This record is up there with Jamaica’s finest!