David Rodigan: Stand by for our global top five countdown where we find out what the hot tunes are in various parts of the world. Er, there are now more new young sound systems in Germany than there are in England, stretching from Berlin in the east to Hamburg in the north, Munich in the south and Essen in the west.

And it’s to Essen that we go now for our global top five as we hook up a link with Franklin, founder of the Top Frankin’ Sound System at his Top Frankin’ Record Store in Essen, but before he tells us what the top five reggae records are in his store this week, take a listen to this: it’s his unique mega-mix in which he fuses the orgasm rhythm with the shine/bad-boy Horace Andy fever bass line to give us a medley of big tunes in one mega-mix. The Top Frankin’ master-mix – on the orgasm/bad-boy rhythm featuring, amongst others, Barrington Levy, Burru Banton, Lexxus, Beenie Man, Elephant Man, Mr. Vegas there, Tanto Metro and Devonte, Red Rat; TOK and Capleton coming up. 

So how does that sound on the radio over there in Germany – Top Frankin’. 
Franklin, how are you doing?

Top Frankin’:  Yes, thanks, fine David. 

David Rodigan:  (chuckle) You’re hearing it loud and clear are you?

Top Frankin’:  Yes. 

David Rodigan:  It’s sounding crisp. Uh, what made you go and fuse those two rhythms together, what inspired you to do that Franklin?
 

Top Frankin’:  It comes, sometimes it comes like from a vibe. Me sit, in the evening, me sit in my flat, listen to some new tunes, some old tunes and then me get a vibe and say ”OK, me try it” and do a remix. David Rodigan:  But, sometimes with the records there are no acappellas and yet you seem to have created your own acappellas. How do you do that?

Top Frankin’:  Yes, I use an equaliser.

David Rodigan:  Right, and just EQ-out all the, as much of the instrumentation as you can leaving the voice…

Top Frankin’:  Yes.

David Rodigan:  …and then you start building the beats on top of that?

Top Frankin’:  Yes.

David Rodigan:  Well there you go. I was very impressed with that, which is why I played it. The Top Frankin’   orgasm-fever megamix. Franklin, how long have you been into reggae, when did you first get into it all?

Top Frankin’:  Oh it was in the ear(ly), like when me was a little boy in the early eighties I start to listen to Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, that’s how it start. And then me go to visit some concerts and then me see more and more artists that me never see before and so, and so that’s how it grow.

David Rodigan:  Now listen, something else that you sent for us on this CD is - in my opinion - very exciting, it’s called the coffee-grinder rhythm. Now at this stage it’s only a raw rhythm but I was very impressed with it and we’re going to play it in just a moment. But first of all, tell us why it’s called the coffee-grinder rhythm and how you recorded it.

Top Frankin’:  Yes, first me have to say me recorded it with Natty U, a bredren, and we get a vibe, we get an idea from a man in our crew named Mr. Coffee – that him real name – and him has a special kind to dance, a special art of dance, because him have something with his knees and so then we say OK we have to make something with this dance and build a riddim. 

David Rodigan:  This is somebody in your crew?

Top Frankin’:  Yes. 

David Rodigan:  Right.

Top Frankin’:  Him named Mr. Coffee.

David Rodigan:  Alright.

Top Frankin’:  So when we get the idea we say OK,how we start to build the coffee-grinder riddim. And then we say OK, we have to use some real sounds for the riddim like a grinding machine and an electrical grinding machine, a hand-grinding machine and we recording it, sample it and so we start to build the riddim.

David Rodigan:  So you actually recorded a coffee-grinder?

Top Frankin’:  Yes!

David Rodigan:  And I remember you telling me that you were very specific about the coffee beans, right?

Top Frankin’:  Yes, so me filled some coffee beans in a machine and it make a noise, so we recorded it, put it in the riddim. 

David Rodigan:  (chuckling) And they were Blue Mountain coffee beans….

Top Frankin’:  And we used Blue Mountain coffee, that’s true.

David Rodigan:  Oh, the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. So you recorded the sound of the coffee beans grinding and then, how did you then – ‘cause you’ve got that bass drum in there as well – how did you get that effect?
(The foot drum.)

Top Frankin’:  So first we use a bass drum from a drum computer and when we start to record the sound from the grinding machine, I´ve shaked the grinding machine to get the sound of the shaking beans
and me make a mistake and thump the microphone and it make a special noise that we also put under the bass drum. 

David Rodigan:  So you’ve tied that into the bass drum, the thump of the actual coffee grinder knocking against the microphone … 
Top Frankin’:  (laughing) Yes

David Rodigan:  … and the sound of the coffee beans being put through, being ground up – Blue Mountain coffee beans – the end result, Top Frankin’, Franklin with Natty U and the coffee-grinder rhythm, have a listen to this London: the coffee-grinder rhythm. Stay with us Franklin.

David Rodigan:  Are you smelling the coffee?

David Rodigan:  (laughing) I do love this – the coffee-grinder rhythm. Recorded live, so to speak. What are you going to do with the rhythm, Franklin? Are you going to put artists on it, what is your game plan at the moment?

Top Frankin’:  Yeah, the plan is, me have an artist, a Jamaican artist, named Shocking Murray, a very talented young artist …

David Rodigan:  Yes

Top Frankin’:  …and he voiced the title track of the riddim, it named the Coffee Grinder, about the coffee-grinder dance.

David Rodigan:  (laughing) Great.

Top Frankin’:  We have a real dance in Germany that we call the coffee grinder.

David Rodigan:  It’s your own dance …

Top Frankin’:  Our own dance, that’s true

David Rodigan:  … that the Top Frankin’ crew do.

Top Frankin’:  Yes.

David Rodigan:  Well I know you have a residency where you play out in Dortmund as well as playing all over Germany. And that’s every two weeks, the second Friday of every month, correct?

Top Frankin’:  The second and fourth Friday of the month.

David Rodigan:  Right. And that’s in Dortmund. And let’s go now – ‘cause you’re in your record store, thank you for coming in on a Sunday evening to give us this link up here on Kiss 100 – go now with the global top five, as I say we home in on different cities to find out what the big tunes are. What are the top five selling reggae records at the Top Frankin’ record store in Essen this week, Franklin?

Top Frankin’:  The number five is Buju Banton ”Judgement Morning”, number four General Degree ”Yeah Man”, number three ”Gimme di Woman” from Capleton, number two is ”Tribal War” by George Nookks, Beres Hammond, Junior Kelly, Richie Stevens, Bounty Killer – so many names – Morgan Heritage, Tony Rebel and Nitty Kutchie and the number one is Shaggy with Rikrok ”It wasn’t me”.

David Rodigan:  It wasn’t me, it wasn’t you, either. 
Franklin, thank you very much indeed for the link up from the Top Frankin’ record store in London, er, er, in Germany, on Kiss 100. There was the coffee-grinder rhythm and Top Frankin’s monster mix of the orgasm/fever rhythm. This is the number one record in your store this week. Thank you, Franklin.

Top Frankin’:  Thanks David.