Legendary UK hyper-connector, broadcaster, journalist and fount of all knowledge, Steve Barker aka DJ Old Rat blesses The Trilogy Tapes with a sick 90 minute Lovers Rock special.
‘Secret Lovers’ is DJ Old Rat’s richly romantic ode to original lovers rock and sounds influenced, or spawned, by the UK’s distinctive contribution to the reggae diaspora. It leads on from tapes for Berceuse Heroique and RWDFWD with a most focussed suite of selections running deep into the pink, primed for dancers and romancers.
For the uninitiated, Steve Barker is, as TTT put it, a “Titan of the right kind of radio, since 1978” via his On The Wire show, which broadcast from BBC Radio Lancashire from 1984-2023, between the county and Beijing (2002-2011), breaking countless acts and styles with their first radio airings, but always coming back to a foundational touchstone in reggae and its offshoots.
Since a myopic BBC dropped his show last year, Barker has come into his own as DJ Old Rat at various dances and on a series of mixtapes, whilst concurrently keeping OTW active on Slack City radio weekly, Sundays at 6PM. Where those shows still wander across a century and more of recorded music wonders, his DJ Old Rat mixtapes have become the go-to for his reggae passions, and this one is no doubt the toppest of the top.
Opening with a Brenda Naffi Rey gem and concluding with a Marcia Griffiths soul slapper from the year he started on radio, we’d dare say it’s the definitive DJ Old Rat session, joining dots between then and now with armfuls of loved-up jungle, toe-kissing steppers, sozzled late night specials and the odd bedspring rocker, all knit with a flow primed for the best of times.
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Legendary UK hyper-connector, broadcaster, journalist and fount of all knowledge, Steve Barker aka DJ Old Rat blesses The Trilogy Tapes with a sick 90 minute Lovers Rock special.
‘Secret Lovers’ is DJ Old Rat’s richly romantic ode to original lovers rock and sounds influenced, or spawned, by the UK’s distinctive contribution to the reggae diaspora. It leads on from tapes for Berceuse Heroique and RWDFWD with a most focussed suite of selections running deep into the pink, primed for dancers and romancers.
For the uninitiated, Steve Barker is, as TTT put it, a “Titan of the right kind of radio, since 1978” via his On The Wire show, which broadcast from BBC Radio Lancashire from 1984-2023, between the county and Beijing (2002-2011), breaking countless acts and styles with their first radio airings, but always coming back to a foundational touchstone in reggae and its offshoots.
Since a myopic BBC dropped his show last year, Barker has come into his own as DJ Old Rat at various dances and on a series of mixtapes, whilst concurrently keeping OTW active on Slack City radio weekly, Sundays at 6PM. Where those shows still wander across a century and more of recorded music wonders, his DJ Old Rat mixtapes have become the go-to for his reggae passions, and this one is no doubt the toppest of the top.
Opening with a Brenda Naffi Rey gem and concluding with a Marcia Griffiths soul slapper from the year he started on radio, we’d dare say it’s the definitive DJ Old Rat session, joining dots between then and now with armfuls of loved-up jungle, toe-kissing steppers, sozzled late night specials and the odd bedspring rocker, all knit with a flow primed for the best of times.