On-U Sound have announced a comprehensive New Age Steppers reissue campaign  New Age Steppers, the seminal group fronted by the late Ari Up of The Slits of course  There’s Four studio LPs to be reissued alongside an album of unreleased music, plus an anthology boxset, all set for release on 19th March 2021

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This reissue campaign is to feature their first 3 classic studio albums back on vinyl for the first time since original release in the early 80s: New Age Steppers, Action Battlefield and Foundation Steppers, a first time vinyl pressing of the posthumous 2012 Love Forever album, with sleeve by Vaughan Oliver collaborator Chris Bigg of v23. A new LP of outtakes and rarities, Avant Gardening (in the On-U tradition of albums such as Return Of The Crocodile, Displaced Masters and Churchical Chant Of The Iyabinghi). New sleevenotes for all LPs by Oli Warwick featuring interviews with Adrian Sherwood and other key players and a 5CD + 32 page book boxset anthology of all their work for the On-U Sound label, Stepping Into A New Age

A loose studio collective centred around the musical partnership of Adrian Sherwood and Ari Up from The Slits, New Age Steppers existed on and off from 1980 to 2012. Notable for bringing together musicians from the post-punk and reggae scenes together, their records feature contributions from members of The Pop Group, The Raincoats, Flying Lizards, Roots Radics, Aswad and Creation Rebel.

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“An anthology set of the group that launched the On-U Sound label with the first album and single, New Age Steppers were a collective with an evolving line-up, built around the driving forces of Ari Up (The Slits) and producer Adrian Sherwood. Their records featured contributions from several singers and players from the UK post-punk vanguard such as the Pop Group, The Raincoats and The Flying Lizards; colliding with established movers from the reggae world such as Bim Sherman, Style Scott and George Oban. Contains the following discs: New Age Steppers (1981), Action Battlefield (1981), Foundation Steppers (1983), Love Forever (2012), Avant Gardening (a new compilations of rare dubs, version excursions and unreleased tracks from the vault) plus 32 page book containing photos, ephemera and a new sleevenotes by Oli Warwick that trace the history of the group via conversations with Adrian Sherwood and other contributors”.

More details – On-U Sound / Bandcamp

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And well we can’t really park this page here without indulging in a slice of The Slits can we?

“The late Ariane Foster (Ari Up), Viv Albertine, Teressa Pollitt and Peter Edward Clarke (“Budgie”) create some new wave punk in 1979″.

And this is worth a momrnt or two as well….