Move Not Backwards Only Forwards

Following Greentea Peng's guest spot with Lee 'Scratch' Perry on 1st October, she's back here today with a new single and video.

It's fair to say that there's already much about Greentea Peng to grab one's attention. Her stage name, for one: a mash up of a Peruvian brew and a slang term for attractive or very good, itself evolved from Jamaican slang for waccy baccy. Aria Wells is fine as a given name, but Greentea Peng pops out from the page.

Then there's her image: tattoos here, there and everywhere that make Rag 'n' Bone Man look conservative in his choices. There are body piercings, kilos of jewellery and formidable and distinctive headgear - Greentea rocks a particularly fine woolly number in this video.

However, if all else fails, calling your single TARDIS will guarantee a whole new wave of Doctor Who fans dropping by to have a listen and look (75,000 and counting since the song dropped last Friday).

All of which may detract from the fact that TARDIS is a good song. Coming in with cavernous beats, you'd be forgiven for thinking that you're listening to a trip hop track from 1994 (Greentea Peng's birth year...now I feel ancient). Greentea then kicks in with a killer couplet of "There are no insecure monsters / No successful half-hearters". 

 

Underpinned by a stretched out bass and splashing, tinkling chords and keys that cement the Portishead/Tricky comparisons, Peng's assured delivery ensures that this is no retro copyist nonsense, but music that sounds fresh and intriguing.

I've not carried out a forensic comparison, though my general observation is that the title is something of a red herring: West Ham seems to get name checked at least as often as the iconic time and space machine, but TARDIS is the attention grabber, right? And once grabbed, Greentea Peng lets the words and music do the talking. 

 

Your attention will not waver.

Swallow It Up

In case you missed it, Lee 'Scratch' Perry's final album - and last recorded performance in his lifetime - was released earlier this year.

 

King Perry was issued on Tricky's False Idols label and the album represents Perry's desire “to do something new, something different but still with a dub framework”.  Working with producer Daniel Boyle, the 12-track album includes guest appearances from Greentea Peng, Fifi Rong, Marta Zlakowska, Rose Waite and a memorable performance from Shaun Ryder on Green Banana.

There are a bunch of remixes available separately too, from Dubkasm, No. 1 Special, Daddy G v Robot Club and Tricky himself. Tricky also co-produces a couple of tracks and appears with Marta on the penultimate song Future Of My Music.

In a sad irony, King Perry's final song Goodbye features the last vocals that Scratch recorded before he passed away in August 2021. It's all the more touching in this context.

 

King Perry is available on vinyl, CD and digital formats and one to add to the list for Bandcamp Friday.