2015

05/20 - High Smile Hifi feat. Tenna Star – "Be Smart" - 7'' Single - (Soundkilla Riddim) - Top Smile Records

The crew is called HIGH SMILE HIFI, their common passion is DIGITAL REGGAE. The team was officially founded in 2012 and consists of three members: Icky Top, Kebilli & Pappa Irie.
Icky Top – the musical backbone behind our productions. He’s deep into music from a long time already, playing various instruments and producing beats and riddims for almost two decades now. His musical journey started in the beginning of the 90’s. His productions ranging from Hip-Hop, Indie Rock to Electro and Reggae.
Kebilli – bought his first record back in 1995 and made his first experiences as a disc jockey around 1997, back then playing mostly Hip Hop music. His first contact with reggae and dancehall music was around 1999, when two of his friends played their tiny 7“ selection on his decks. He soon after decided to take a closer look at reggae music too. His sets then started to change, the reggae and dancehall part getting bigger and bigger. He played his first plain reggae set in 2000 and became a regular selector in local dancehall in and around Glarus. For more than 10 years he has done various pre- and after juggling sets at live concerts of varouis singers and bands.
Pappa Irie – started his musical journey around 1998 by doing his first beats on a MPC. Back then he was mainly into Hip Hop. Soon after he discovered his love for vinyl and became a disc jockey and record collector. After roughly 5 years into Hip Hop and Rap, his attention switched more and more towards reggae and dancehall. He moved to Zurich in 2001 and started digging up the 1980’s in the reggaefever store. Allthough he initally moved to Zurich for his studies, he sometimes spent more hours in the record store than in the auditorium.
Back in 2004 Kebilli and Pappa Irie united their efforts and teamed up together to mash up the local reggae scene, whitout even having a proper name for their sound. In the following years, they’ve been playing records on more than 200 occasions in different locations in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. For their bigger events, they always called up Icky Top to accompany them, in order to have their own soundoperator and effects guy, adding a unique live feeling to their sets. Over the years, the whole crew collected a respectful amount of vintage synths, keys, drum machines and effects, as well as some kick-ass software tools which they use for their productions and live shows. Spending countless hours in our studio and gaining more and more experience, their main goal always was and still is to produce good music people can relate to. Only two years after High Smile Hifi was founded, they are now ready to take the next step by issuing their first official release on the Top Smile Records label in 2014.
This Switzerland based production has teamed up with Birmingham / UK resident Tenna Star, who on their modern and yet vintage digital style (bringing back the era of Sleng Teng or either Tempo's riddims) delivers an excellent conscious tune on a riddim called Soundkilla.
"No more time and make a start for a better tomorrow" is the positive / encouraging message that Tena Star gives us.
Runn it Selecta !

Track-list:
A: High Smile Hifi feat. Tenna Star – ‘Be Smart’
B: High Smile Hifi feat. Tenna Star – ‘Be Smart Remix’
Released: November 2014