Scotch Bonnets: Mungo’s Hi-Fi x Soom T

Words by Jesse Serwer

Mungo’s Hi-Fi, the Scottish DJ crew said to boast the largest physical soundsystem in Europe (that’s it above), make their U.S. debut this Friday, at brand-new New York City venue Dominion. Although they may not have their full speaker setup with them, in tow will be Soom T, an Indo-Scottish chatress out of Glasgow best known for her work with Jahtari, a label specializing in reggae made with 8-bit Atari systems.

The occasion is the impending release of Mungo’s Forward Ever, a diverse LP of quirky reggae and offbeat reworkings of first-wave dancehall riddims voiced by the late Sugar Minott, U.K. deejay Mr. Williamz, Lee “Scratch” Perry’s son Omar Perry and Israel’s Ranking Levy, among others, released through Mungo’s own (appropriately named) Scotch Bonnet Records. Soom T (“Imagine if M.I.A. was what the press said she would be, but instead of flaming out on a major label, she had decided to hone her skills with a strange indie label obsessed with kung fu and creating digital dancehall on 8-bit Atari systems,” is how Subatomic Sound System’s Emch, the promoter bringing her here, described her to us) features on two songs on Forward Ever, and both are worthy of at least a 300,000 units on the Scoville heat scale.

Stream “Bad Bad Boy,” a  soulful, ska-inflected number that reminds slightly of Amy Winehouse’s forays into Caribbean music, and the Sleng Teng-inspired “Sound Boy Police” below, and cop tickets for Friday’s show here.

“Bad Bad Boy”
[audio:http://largeup.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/9_Mungos_Hi_Fi_-_Bad_bad_boy_ft_Soom_T.mp3|titles=9_Mungo’s_Hi_Fi_-_Bad_bad_boy_ft_Soom_T]

“Sound Boy Police”
[audio:http://largeup.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/013_Mungos_Hi_Fi_-_Soundboy_police_ft_Soom_T.mp3|titles=013_Mungo’s_Hi_Fi_-_Soundboy_police_ft_Soom_T]