Coming Soon
The Mighty Sparrow Catalogue [T&T Entertainment]
First up this week is the most ‘important’ bit of info in the bunch as ‘T&T Entertainment’ is releasing a HUGE amount of the legendary Mighty Sparrow’s back catalogue full of literally dozens and dozens of albums. Apparently the label is another of digital Soca standout Faluma’s 6,000 sublabels and they’ve definitely found a way to catch attention here as pretty much EVERYTHING you would want from Sparrow is going to be available bright and early next month. A great deal of it was already available previously, but certainly nothing like this one this scale has ever been done for Sparrow nor any of the calypso greats to my knowledge (now, if they can mix in a Rocket Launcher, everything would be just fine) (I'm just saying).
Potential Rating In Full: 5/5
Releases In January 2010
Police In Helicopter Riddim EP [Necessary Mayhem]
Next is POTENTIALLY a very significant drop as Curtis Lynch’s UK based Necessary Mayhem releases the first in what is HOPEFULLY quite a few new riddim compilations to the masses for the outstanding take on the venerable ‘Police In Helicopter’ riddim. The piece features but three vocal tracks (with an accompanying dubbed out version of the riddim by ‘Da Grynch’), but in those few you’ll find nice efforts from YT, Million Stylez and of course Mr. Williamz with ‘Babylon In Helicopter’. I have it on good information that we’ll soon start seeing quite a bit of Lynch’s work going ‘worldwide’ and hopefully that includes the EPIC ‘Joka Smoka’ at some point (for all I know, it could actually include this release) and the Police In Helicopter is but a start. And hopefully we won’t have to wait too long, Necessary Mayhem has been absolutely FLAMING as of late in the UK alone and it’s time they just need to share! Dammit!
Potential Rating: 3.5/5
Releases On December 25th
Bounty Killer - Raise Hell On Hellboy EP [Pay Day Music Group]
For those of you not heading to Sting this year (and I’m not either, Mama comes before clash) Bounty Killer hopes that he can give you a bit of an ‘early recapping’ as he rather timely is going to release (just four days before Sting) what he hopes can stand as the soundtrack to his anticipated clash with former protégé Vybz Kartel as he delivers Raise Hell On Hellboy. The piece features five of the Killa’s most SCATHING war tunes in recent years, including the downright DEVASTATING ‘Chatta Box’. If early returns are worth a damn (and they probably are with an audience left as the ultimate judge as in the case of Sting), then Killa might just take the crown as some of this stuff is RIDICULOUS and it also includes the ’crowning jewel’ of the bunch the FUCKED UP ’Chatta Box’. Even more important, arguably, is the fact that the tunes don’t appear to be UNedited in anyway and should his actual successes on stage do ANYTHING, you should very well expect to see a full blown album from Bounty and probably in not too short order considering his long overdue but sudden fondness of the wonderful digital medium.
Potential Rating: 4/5 [That’s the rating, I know every tune on here]
Releases On December 22nd
Nectar Riddim [House Of Hits/Zojak Worldwide]
Probably my favourite new label coming from 2009 is House Of Hits, who I couldn’t seem to avoid a few months back, is coming back with a LOVELY new release, the ‘Nectar Riddim’. This one sat around here for awhile before I began to dig into it (because you wonderful and lovely people send me stuff night and day!) at all and when I did, I looked at the tracklist and saw the first tune, ‘We’ll Make It Over’, was a combination between HoH artist Marley Campbell and none other than NiyoRah! I mean, how can such a thing just lay around taking up space! That’s brilliant! Not to mention that the second tune featured another combination with HoH artist Stream and Perfect! I mean, the only thing that it could do better was to . . . Well I don’t know - maybe add a tune from Lutan Fyah? Yep. He’s here too, as is Capleton, Lady G, Len Hammond and a returning Ruffi-Ann. Despite its brevity, it’s probably STILL one of the best riddim albums of 2009.
Rated: 4.25/5
Releases Soon
In Stores Now
Black Dillinger - Love Life [IMMusic]
Yes! It’s out! Dammit! iTune it, Emusic it (not yet apparently) or Amazon it. Do whatever you have to do, but get it. Black Dillinger’s sophomore album Love Life, whose whereabouts along with those of a few other releases have DOMINATED my email box over the past few weeks is finally out. It was worth the wait, pick it up, it’s beautiful.
Spanner Banner - Clean Up Your Actions [Clive Hunt Productions/Ugly Man/Zojak Worldwide]
This one I meant to talk about quite awhile back now, but it’s finally out now apparently, so I did good! A few weeks ago I told you about the fact that Clive Hunt was emptying his vaults and had delivered the downright MYTHICAL Out Of The Blue, the long lost debut album of Richie Spice (which is also out now) and he’s now working on covering the entire family as you can go and pick up Clean Up Your Actions which I THINK, was the debut album of Spanner Banner. The album isn’t AMAZING and I doubt it’ll have much of the same value to collectors that ’Blue‘ did, but Spanner is definitely a talented singer and taking a listen back to his origins is well interesting (amazing how much he sounded like Spice back then) and I imagine his fans will be all over this.
Rated 3.5/5
Chezidek & Natty King - Head 2 Head [No Doubt Records/Zojak Worldwide]
I told you a little while ago (like 2 days ago) about the wonderful Acoustic styled riddim releases of Kemar ‘Flava’ McGregor’s No Doubt Records through the wonderful people at Zojak Worldwide and this is a release along those same lines with the label virtually throwing together a very nice compilation featuring two of their favourite (and mine and hopefully yours also) singers, the prolific Chezidek and unfortunately not so prolific Natty King, Head 2 Head. Both singers have a very solid history of voicing for the label and a very solid history in general, so you should know what to expect here. Of course I should make the distinction that if you, like me, do VERY MUCH frequent the releases from McGregor then such a release may not have as much appeal for you as with newer fans (particularly with both artists having released actual albums for the label), although chances are that you don’t, or even if you do, someone in your life could definitely use a beginner’s course on the greatest Reggae producer on earth and such a release would serve that purpose EXCELLENTLY in my opinion.
Rated 4/5
Kevin Lyttle - Fyah [Tarakon Records]
Kevin Lyttle’s well traveled, nearly year and a half old sophomore album Fyah is now available for worldwide download through his own Tarakon Records label (good for him, he should sign up and do the same for a few of his neighbours, two of who join him on the album). I imagine quite a few people will have the ‘whatever happened to him’ type of response to Lyttle these days and he’ll ultimately have to drop a mighty HUGE tune to be regarded as something other than a one hit wonder outside of Soca and Caribbean music fans in general, but that’s certainly not to say that he isn’t skilled, because he certainly is. This album includes big tunes like the title track as well as ‘Dangerous’, ‘My Girl’ and ‘One More Try’ (and a SWEET tune called ’Too Good For Me’) as well as guest spots from aforementioned neighbours of the Vincy star the bros. Madness, Skinny Fabulous and Problem Child, as well as Lexxus from the Dancehall (notice how I did that sans adjective) and of course the sensational Bajan star Alison Hinds who features on a remix of the once mighty ‘Turn Me On’.
Rated 3.75
Uncle Sam - Signal Di Bumpa (Single) [Uncle Sam]
Staying on the Soca side is this quick one. Uncle Sam from Florida (I THINK) definitely one of the more interesting Soca characters from the States is releasing a new tune by the name of ‘Signal Di Bumpa’, to the masses. Uncle Sam catches a bit of flack from Soca heads, but I don’t give a fuck! Achis Reggae supports Uncle Sam (wish he would've zipped up the sweater a little more though), his tunes are usually very nice and colourful and just fun and Signal Di Bumpa is no exception and is especially recommended to a lot of the Soca-apprehensive Reggae heads reading.
Rated 3.5/5
Jah Marnyah - Sweat Of Your Brow (single) [Faya Wurks Records]
And lastly this week is a new tune from one of my favourite recent finds, the Montserrat born Jah Marnyah, ‘Sweat Of Your Brow’, from the very solid Faya Wurks in the UK. Marnyah is a very nice young artist with a wicked EDGE to his sound (the man literally rhymes like he has ‘issues’) and I’ve been enjoying his output for quite awhile now and this tune definitely measures up and he has been working quite extensively with Faya Wurks so HOPEFULLY they can give us an album in the new year, which would be BIG!
Rated 4/5
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