Willi Williams: Don’t Show Off Single Review – Steve Topple for Pauzeradio.com. A-Lone Productions is at the top of its game at present. Having recently dropped the superb, reimagined Creation Riddim (based on Shanti Yalah’s 2017 track of the same name), we now have another on-point 7” featuring Willi Williams. Willi Williams Don’t Show Off, released via Empathy and A-Lone Productions, is a stirring, musically interesting and ultimately strong release, led by the ever-excellent Roberto Sánchez. A-Lone has a solid reputation for inventive and original works, and with Williams on the vocal Don’t Show Off is no exception. It opens

Kingston Express and Sticky Joe featuring Horseman: Mr Bigman Review – Steve Topple for Pauzeradio.com. As their recent album The Foot of the Mountain showed, Birmingham-based Roots band Kingston Express are as diverse as they are talented. And this classic track from 2018 shows their deeper, more brooding side as they team up with Horseman. Horseman Mr Bigman, release via Kingston Express Records, once again has Sticky Joe on production duties. He brings an intricacy to proceedings that plays well to the composition – notably raising the levels of certain lines across the track and also applying some deft use

Kingston Express featuring Macka B: Lyrical Chef Single Review – Steve Topple for Pauzeradio.com. UK-based Kingston Express have had quite the year. Their latest album, The Foot of the Mountain, was a classy piece of Roots and Dub-driven music featuring a stellar cast of artists. But their back catalogue is equally delicious, as this track with Macka B shows. Lyrical Chef, released in 2017 via Kingston Express Records, is a whimsical, carefree and entertaining piece from the band and Macka B. Production by Sticky Joe is as you’d expect: carefully measured, with the right emphasis on the instrumental lines that

Jah Mason and Queen Omega: Time is Now Single Review – Steve Topple for Pauzeradio.com. It’s always a pleasure to hear conscious Dancehall-led music. Strong leaders of the movement in 2020 so far include Govana, Jahmiel and Dotta Coppa. But Jah Mason and Queen Omega have just added another worthy track to the community – although calling it simply “Dancehall” doesn’t do it justice. Jah Mason & Queen Omega Time is Now, released via Akom Records, is a raging, forthright yet elegantly constructed track. The production from Dub Akom is stellar: inventive, smart and utterly engaging. It’s one of those

Kaylan Arnold: At All Single Review – Steve Topple for Pauzeradio.com. The influences of other genres across Roots-derived music are not always opaque, but if you listen with an open mind and ear they can often be found. Kaylan Arnold is one such artist who shows this, and her latest track showcases one, often under-used influence – while drawing on a plethora of others. Kaylan Arnold At All, released via Dadason Entertainment, is a furious, heavy, Roots-led cut that pulls no musical or lyrical punches. Complex in its construction, raging in its overall timbre, the track is enthralling and unsettling