The first release on DJ Stryda’s Sufferah’s Choice label features two exclusives from the pen of the legendary Nick Manasseh. Side A opens with the deep and heavy ‘Babylon Outside’. A tightly-coiled bass line underpins energetic percussion and a siren that wails into the night. Followed by a dub in the traditional style, it’s raw, driving power and statue-toppling weight perfectly capture the frantic time we are living in. A straight-up soundsystem classic.

The b-side ‘Brexit Blues’ is topical in an entirely different way. Featuring reggae virtuoso Charlie Nightdoctor (famous for backing Little Roy and for the classic UK dub LP The Herb) on lead guitar, it’s a unique, mournful and meditative piece. Its haunting glockenspiel and organic instrumentation evoke late nights in smoke-filled rooms, and captures the melancholy of the UK establishment’s decision to cut itself off from Europe - a decision Manasseh campaigned tirelessly against.

Mastered on 1/2” tape at Star Delta studios, with stylish label art by Joshua Hughes-Games, the first Sufferah’s Choice 12” is a landmark release.[info sheet from distr.]