The Specials have always been a very special band to me. They were the first live show I ever saw, in LA at the Key Club, when I was maybe 10 or 11 (this was when they reunited in ’96). All nostalgia aside tho, they were one of the most forward thinking and influential groups with a predominantly dub sound. If you think you’ve never heard em, pick up a copy of their self-titled LP from 1979 and you’ll realize you probably know half the tracks.

So never have I been more thrilled to hear a cover, than when Ghetto Bassquake (whom you should be subscribed to, because they are amazing) dropped this little jewels in my ears last week: Fantasma’s incredibly excellent cumbia cover of “Ghost Town” – that cumbia shuffle just works so brilliantly over a reggae song performed by Londoners featuring an orientalized snakecharmer riff… this is a quintessentially postmodern jam, with musical roots on just about every continent.

Download HERE.