Summary: Earlier this year, Equiknoxx, the Jamaican duo of Gavin “Gavsborg” Blair and Jordan “Time Cow” Chung with collaborators Bobby Blackbird and Kofi Knoxx, released Bird Sound Power on Demdike Stare’s exceptional DDS imprint. The album sums up Equiknoxx’s output perfectly, shining a spotlight on their ingenious fusion of fractured dancehall riddims and spacious experimental sounds – in many ways it serves as a primer for anyone unfamiliar with a sound they’ve been developing over the last near-decade. Bird Sound Power is a compilation release put together by Demdike Stare and Jon K, collecting up a number of vintage productions (the oldest dates from 2009) and placing them alongside completely new tracks giving a line into the Equiknoxx crew’s sprawling discography. They’ve been releasing records since 2008, dropping 7″s (and more recently, MP3s) on their own Equiknoxx Musiq imprint and fostering a stable of friends and collaborators to flesh out their unique take on dancehall. It’s Gavsborg who has pieced together this blistering FACT mix, and he’s pieced together a typically unpredictable sun-baked blend where you’ll find Ace of Base and Shakira next to Popcaan, Fleetwood Mac and The Beatles next to regular Equiknoxx collaborator Puppy Disco, a sizzling dancehall edit of Andy Stott’s ‘Numb’ (seriously) and plenty of the duo’s own productions. Equiknoxx Music’s latest single ‘Bubble’, featuring Devin Di Dakta is out now on Manchester’s Swing Ting imprint.
