International Smoke Signal

The Warriors Dance label occupies a pivotal position in UK and specifically London’s underground music history. Born out of a respected reggae studio, and closely allied to Soul II Soul, it created fusions of British-Caribbean soundsystem culture with hip hop, African influences and American house. This 1990 album may well be the greatest work to come from this intersection. It leans heavily on Nu Groove style NYC deep house for its core rhythms, but its voices and dub space turn it British in the same way Soul II Soul and Smith & Mighty did with slower grooves around the same time. Incredibly, tracks like “O.A.U. in Music” and the huge “Koro Koro” manage to set the distinctly British syncopated bass house formula that would become known as UK funky 15 to 20 years ahead of time.