This debut single release from Richie Phoe is a hot little platter of rough and ready yet soothing dubs. The A side, "Heartical Behaviour" with a hard driving militant hip hop beat and funky hypnotic vibe, is made to move the dancehall bringing to mind a mythical melange of 70s Scientist, 80s Black Uhuru and 90s dubby breakbeat.

With "Ital Food," he slows it down to a simmering brew of hypnotic jazz infused melodies over downtempo beats with just a pinch of King Tubby-era Augustus Pablo to feed the head with tasty dubby goodness.

"Heartical Behavior" was featured on the Demo Clash for 2 weeks running on Brighton's Juice FM, as well as other stations off cd-r.

Although this is his first single release, Richie has already seen many of his songs get major airplay. Three of his songs have already been played on BBC Radio 1 in the UK. One of these tunes, "Sinful" was selected by Rob Da Bank to appear on a compilation called "Rob Da Bank and Chris Coco - Listen Again" on Ether Music. and is currently licensed to GC3 (Grand Central 3). This same track has also been licensed to Sony Playstation for a Kung Fu game coming out this fall.

Max Sedgley is currently remixing "Sinful" and Richie was commisioned to do a remix for Max Sedgley that will be released on Rob Da Bank's "Sunday Best" Label soon.

Hailing from from Brighton, England by way of Southend and Portsmouth, Richie has been producing music and Djing reggae in clubs, bars and radio for more than a decade.

Redbud Releases:
RB7-011

Redbud snaps up Brighton's Richie Phoe and gives his heavy rootsy sound an outing on the NY imprint by the way of this 45. The winner here is "Ital Food", a nourishing marriage of militant beats, smoky flute kisses and murky bass dalliances.

[acid-jazz] Reviews
Jon Freer