While in Jamaica recently I linked up with upcoming reggae artist Chronixx and his fellow Zinc Fence Crew members, Ricardo Lynch and Shady McGrady. Hailing from Vineyard Town, Kingston 3, nineteen-year-old Chronixx, real name Jamar McNaughton, is the son of veteran reggae artist Chronicle and is currently creating a buzz in Jamaica with tunes like “Start A Fyah” and “Behind Curtains“. It was an honour to be at Big Yard studio alongside Special Delivery Music while Chronixx recorded his current single “Beat & A Mic“. I couldn’t say no when they asked me to design the single’s cover art.

Buy “Beat & A Mic” on iTunes here.
Follow Chronixx & Special Delivery on Twitter: @iamchronixx @specialdmusic

This Saturday 7th January sees London reggae crews Shimmy Shimmy, Tighten Up and Extra Classic get together for Champion Sound!, a 7-inch-only soundclash at Silver Bullet, London N4 (opp Finsbury Park station). Doors: 10pm til 3.30am. Check the facebook page for more info.

Friday 16th December is Extra Classic 3, a vinyl-only night of reggae, dancehall, soul and lovers rock selected by Disorda, Cool Hand Luke, Sash Kuttah and Al Fingers with Seanie T on the mic. Taking place at Babalou, St Matthew’s Church, Brixton Hill. 11pm til 5am. Check www.extraclassic.co.uk for full details.

For those who know and love Dub Vendor, here’s a photo of Ox and John just before the Clapham Junction shop closed its doors in September this year.

Gappy Ranks and Al Fingers demonstrate Yuri Suzuki‘s sound sculpture, built out of thousands of Red Stripe cans recycled from Notting Hill Carnival.

I’ve been meaning to big up Shimmy Shimmy for issue 2 of their No Ice Cream Sound zine, featuring interviews with Sizzla, Ward 21 and Solo Banton. It came out mid-August so there may not be many left, but if you’re interested check the list of stockists here.

Friday October 7th, 11pm til 5am.

@ Babalou, The Crypt, St Matthews Church, Brixton Hill, London SW2 1JF.

Free entry with flyer or guestlist.
Email names to

www.extraclassic.co.uk
www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=254462171241317

This Saturday is a sad day for reggae music as London record shop Dub Vendor in Clapham Junction closes its doors indefinitely, to become an exclusively online retailer. John MacGillivray, who founded Dub Vendor with Chris Lane as a market stall in 1976, felt the move was inevitable due to a sharp decline not only in music sales over recent years, but also in actual physical product coming out of Jamaica.

The crunch point came after the London riots, when Lavender Hill, where the shop has stood since 1982, was ransacked and the party shop next door was burnt out. At this point MacGillivray decided it was the timing was right to lease out the shop, although the mail order business will remain upstairs, and may open to the public for a half day a week by appointment only.

“I feel alright about it,” says MacGillivray, “We’ve gone out at a time when people still care sufficiently about it to care. If I took it on for another year there’d be less and less people who would feel like that. The timing seems right. And after 35 years I’m going to get my Saturdays back! But the phone number, emails, website, address, emails remain the same, it’s just that there’s no shop. But we continue along…”