Ian ‘Nasty’ McQuaid is a DJ, journalist and producer. Alongside being resident spinner at the Off Modern art/indie/raves he runs a number of events, including Bruk Out, a night celebrating the best in hip hop, RnB, dancehall, grime, hype lyricism, and booming basslines.

The consistently on point Reggae Gold compilation, delivered annually by the dons at VP Records, has just hit its 20^th anniversary. As a result, the 2012 edition has the usual round up of what’s currently popping in the Caribbean combined with a disc (if anyone still knows/ cares what a CD is) of classics from the last 20 years of the series. The bonus tracks are pretty good- they’d wanna be with 20 years worth of source material to crib from- but there are some glaring omissions, most shockingly the complete absence of any cuts from Elephant Man and Vybz Kartel- two performers who have both absolutely smashed the dance in the last decade. A strange decision, although considering the fact that Kartel is currently facing multiple murder charges, and Ellie is on bail for alleged rape and assault offenses, almost certainly a political one. Aaaaaanyway, we’re interested in the new cuts on the first CD—particularly this stone cold banger from new boy Potential Kidd. Yah Suh Nice has got it ALL going on, a sick, sparse rhythm track, weird wobbling sounds, and the requisite mental yard lyrics delivered in a style that recalls the heyday of freakish adult baby lookalike Red Rat. And, no, I’ve no idea WTF the bogling puppet thing in the video is. Is it meant to be sexy? It looks sexy. Heading back to Blighty, and I’ve been loving this deep, house infused RnB bomb from Dogtanion. Dogtanion is a bit if an enigma to me—his solo stuff veers from sublime Robert Wyatt-esque melancholic beauty that leaves my laptop gently sobbing, to grating Jamie T mockney balls that makes me want to swap my ears for a pocketful of cack and some shares in Barclays. On Cheap he pulls himself out of the equation, handing vocal duties over to Kerry Leatham who delivers a lovely vocal that places this very much in the same garage-for-Guardian-readers arena as Joe Goddard’s Gabriel, (and I know that sounds like a cuss, but it isn’t. If you read the Guardian- and come on, don’t pretend you don’t- and you fancy a spot of garage, you’ll like this. F.A.C.T.) I’m going to post this next tune sans video. Why? Because the woman rapping is one of the wackest looking rapping milfs I’ve ever seen. But the track, Christ, the track is HYPE. I need to find out who’s behind the beat because from where I’m standing (and by standing I mean sitting, in my yard, barely dressed, drinking a lukewarm cuppa and chucking doggie chews at the mutt) it sounds like a club DEMOLISHER. The whistling is so damn skippy, the hand claps snap right back and the bass line pumps like Arnie in the 80s. The ‘rappers’ name is Alazae, and fair fucks, she’s got that sassy flow that lurks somewhere between Eve and Gwen Stefanie. But honestly, she looks terrible. Yeah, yeah I know this shouldn’t count, but on the first promo they sent me she looked like a jobbing yoga teacher, and on the official video she looks like a cougar facepalming through a TOWIE audition. Stylists, help her, please. Anyway, if you like this one as much as me, you can grab a free download from www.AlazaeMusic.com.

Finally a quick tip of the hat to Frank Ocean for running the slickest promotional campaign I’ve seen for years. BLAM! I’m sort of not really but maybe a bit gay! YEAH, I said it! KASABOOM! BTW here’s my new album! On the plus side the new album is great. He’s no Prince yet, but give him a few years and he might well be… You can stream it in full over on his blog right here

 Ian ‘Nasty’ McQuaid

This entry was tagged as alazae, bruk out, dogtanion, ian mcquaid, nasty mcquaid, off modern, potential kids.