Box Guitar Riddim [Tiger Records]First up this week is a not too surprising release, but one which has at least one surprising result - It’s Achis Reggae favourite, Sherkhan and Tiger Records, with their latest riddim release, the Box Guitar Riddim. If you have a functioning brain and you picked up Perfect’s BIG album from last year, French Connection, also from Tiger Records, then you’ve already had a pretty nice taste of the lovely guitar driven riddim as it featured on the tune ‘Come On Woman’. However, with that tune not even present on the album release, you’re getting eleven more doses. The “surprise” that I mentioned comes in the form of track #3, ‘Cross Me Heart’ from Junior X - It may just be one of the (if not THE) single best Reggae songs I’ve heard in 2010 thus far. I KNEW it would be the case just listening through the clips and having now gotten my paws on the full tune (biggup Sherkhan), the thing is EPIC! It is a monster of a song. If that stirring recommendation doesn’t pique your interests (you are slow) then perhaps the fact that joining X are the likes of Lutan Fyah, Norris Man, Zamunda, Mikey General, Terry Ganzie, a new tune from Perfect, recent Tiger Records’ signee Bazil and of course, La Tigresse, Diana Rutherford. Haven’t gotten my hands on the entire thing as of yet (**wink wink**), but you may be able to expect a full on review later this month or in July because I have a very good feeling about this one.
Uncle Sam - Di Foreign Man [Uncle Sam] I’m going to go ahead and mention Uncle Sam and I don’t give a damn what you think. My very extreme Reggae heads of readers who like Reggae on top of Reggae and have absolutely no room for Soca in their musical diets might want to skip ahead to the next entry on this list (whatever in the hell it is), but if that isn’t you and you have just the slightest of ears for Soca, then Uncle Sam’s new album Di Foreign Man (talk about irony), may just give you a bit of interest and nice vibes as well. Uncle Sam is a singer from out of Florida in the States who is kind of an odd half Soca/half Reggae hybrid. And even in that mold, he doesn’t quite fit as he sings REALLY REALLY laid back, if not ‘old school’ Reggae next to kind of a ‘groovy’ style of Soca which is just . . . Well it’s weird to have in a single artist to any type of consistency. That being said, however, it’s worked for him and although has a very ‘new’ appeal to him, he’s managed to acquire quite a nice fan base both in the States (apparently) and in the Caribbean. His album is about half of Soca and half of Reggae and it seems pretty good. I haven’t had the opportunity just yet to go through the entire thing (and leaving off that BIG tune with Jamesy P was a mistake in my opinion), but still with the presence of his most recent single (that I know of) ‘Signal Di Bumpa’, this one figures to be a very nice surprise for all who give it a shot.
Stagalag Riddim [Juke Boxx Productions/VP Records]This one has been getting a MAJOR attention and rightly so for the past months or so as Shane Brown’s Juke Boxx Productions return with a BIG and BAD new rendition of the legendary Stagalag Riddim. And before the skepticism in you boils over with qualms with ‘yet another relick’, do take into account that this thing is WICKED! Not much of a departure from the original (if any at all), Juke Boxx’s rendition of the Stagalag is pretty much just an updating of the riddim, allowing yet another era of artists take a chance with the timeless composition. Of said artists it probably goes without saying that the THRICE present Busy Signal steals the show, but he’s not alone. Joining Reanno Gordon as the class of the project, of course, Assassin and I-Octane, Romain Virgo, Kippo (big tune ‘Suppose’), the only female on the piece, Timeka Marshall, Chuck Fenda and a very solid of others (including, SHOCKINGLY, Chino). Old school deejaying abounds and I’m very happy to say that the results well live up the big HYPE with this one.
Diwali Gold Edition [Greensleeves]And speaking of bring back old riddims, that’s exactly what’s going on here as VP/Greensleeves rewinds the clock back eight years and gives us a sequel to arguably the greatest Dancehall riddim album of all time and things have changed just a little bit. The album is has now swollen from an already obese twenty tracks to twenty-two due to the addition of two international tracks, Sean Paul’s ‘Get Busy’ and Lumidee’s ‘Uh Ohh’ song. I don’t why exactly VP is bringing The Diwali back now of all times, but I’m certainly not complaining at all about as it gives the masses yet another opportunity to observe just how crazy this thing was. Seriously, I don’t know how many I’ve heard (probably tens of thousands), but it’s one of the best Dancehall riddims I’ve ever heard easily and you should already know this. If you don’t, here’s twenty-two pieces of evidence.
Di Genius Presents: Labwork Vols. 1 & 2 [Di Genius Productions]Stephen ‘Di Genius’ McGregor, Captain of The Big Ship, steers his charge in the direction of Labwork which are essentially two . . . Kind of random compilations of material produced for the label by the wunderkind. The compilations don’t exactly feature the absolute biggest and most well known efforts from the producer, in every case and it’s probably a good idea as most of those tunes are already quite readily available on projects available worldwide. Still, don’t let that fact dissuade you from picking up (or picking through) these pieces as there’re more than enough big tunes here and, of course, both are literally DRIPPING in big namedness. Beenie Man, Mavado, Kartel, Busy Signal, Assassin, Ele, Aidonia and of course Laden and the outstanding Bramma De Bomba are ultra present as is McGregor himself. Besides GOOD music, I just think this is a good idea. The second it dropped it made a whole heap of BIG tunes available (like ‘Defend Mi Own’ from Bramma) which weren’t so otherwise and as an article I read on McGregor quoted him as saying awhile back ‘I figured I instead of waiting for someone to license the songs, I’d release them on my own’ - Well done young man.
Paille - N’Oubiles Pas [Don’s Music]The 1st (and only) scarecrow of the Dancehall, Paille from out of Martinique, apparently has big things in store for the second half of 2010 and as a bit of a forecast he’s dropping a 2 track digital EP, N’Oubiles Pas. The two tunes here, the title track and ‘Fè Yo Mal’, should give listeners a very nice sampling of the ’healthy ridiculousness’ which comes with listening to Paille as the first is a somewhat melancholy number and the second, of course, is an entirely over the top uptempo piece. Hopefully this release is but an appetizer to Paille and Don’s Music bringing forth his sophomore set later this year. That - I can’t wait for.
Conscience & Triple 7 Riddims [Golden House Productions/Zojak Worldwide]This one, I’ve been sitting on for maybe an entire month and now I’m going to tell you to grab it up because it’s very strong. I’ll break it down simple for you (and for me too because I’m getting tired): What you’ll get here are two riddims across one set. The first is the Conscience which is a HEAVY infectious one-drop, while the second, the Triple 7, is a saxophone driven DYNAMIC set. Across them both you’re getting two tunes from Sizzla, Lutan Fyah is also on board, as are Luciano, Natty King, Sugar Minott and the underrated Jah Niceness. I don’t much about Golden House today, but whoever they are, this is very strong material and definitely worth a look over.
Feelings Riddim [Don Corleon]And speaking of stuff I should’ve mentioned a long ass time ago, there’s the matter of the Feelings Riddim. I haven’t (shamefully) been paying a helluva lot of attention to Don Corleon’s productions, but he’s been consistently plugging away and doing his thing (STILL, in terms of everything that he can do, the greatest active producer of Caribbean music of any genre) as evident by his releasing schedule (which is arguably as active as it’s ever been). In the not too distant past is this SWEET SWEET creation, which features the likes of Ce’Cile, Jah Cure, Gentleman, Tarrus Riley, T.O.K. and of course Pressure Busspipe on this absolutely ‘pulling’ one-drop which is easily one of the finest creations I’ve heard in quite some time . . . Incidentally, when I am paying attention, that’s something I find myself saying almost every time I hear a new riddim from Corleon.
Smiley - Lively Road [Love & Unity Music]And lastly, I thought that I’d remind you of something that I’ve been telling you about for a few weeks now as bigtime chanter/singer Smiley from out of Aruba delivers his very first EP, Lively Road. I’m still very excited about this one (even more so now because by time you read this I should actually have the thing in my hands) (oh and after listening to it, you can well be sure that I’m going to mention it again if it’s nice) (and it will be) because Smiley is a BIG BIG artist and definitely this release is going to be somewhat of a landmark in his career and you should be in on it. Like me! Definitely give it a spin and actually, RIGHT NOW, up until May 26, you can enter a drawing to win a free copy on UnitedReggae.com
Smiley Contest
Smiley Website
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