Brooklyn Pirates: Neighbourhoods in the Sky, 2014-2021 vinyl edition, upfront copies available now via @boomkatonline.“For the first time on vinyl, another brilliantly assembled time capsule from Death Is Not The End, capturing the buzz of Brooklyn’s pirate radio culture between 2014-2021, melting dancehall, reggae, dub, and lovers rock into deejay chatter, evangelical adverts and political calls to action.Archivist David Goren (@shortwaveology) is a Brooklyn-based radio producer who’s put together a number of shows about New York City’s pirate radio stations, and he’s been cataloguing his research for years, tracing cultural connections between unlicensed radio broadcasting and local migrant culture. On ‘Brooklyn Pirates’, Goren focuses mostly on Caribbean stations, swerving occasionally to include broadcasts from Turkish and Orthodox Jewish stations. It’s a treasure trove of recent history that’s far more gripping to listen to than a simple description might suggest. The music, for starters, is r&b, dancehall and soca jams fizzing to the surface for a second before being swallowed by news coverage or adverts.The most enjoyable moments feature spiritual consultants, commentary on the Trump/Biden elections and adverts for Jamaican patty shops (gotta try that ackee patty), but it’s sobering to hear not only mentions of the George Floyd protests in 2020, but the COVID-19 outbreak and the drive for vaccinations. This kind of archival work will only become more precious as time goes on - but even now it sounds like a snapshot of an important stretch of time, elevated by its presentation, shining a light on communities that rarely get airtime.”View all comments

2 track album

2 track album

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