As freaky and strange as the Bad Company most certainly was, in retrospect, I now regard it as a near GEM from the once mighty Greensleeves Rhythm Album Series. The riddim was produced by Scatta for Iley Dread’s also once mighty Kings of Kings imprint (pretty sure he’s still around) and it was just so interesting and colourful that even all of these years later, I have trouble describing the sound of it. It was maybe a kind of ‘circus’ sounding Dancehall riddim - Whatever the hell you want to call it, it was crazy. Not only that, but as difficult as the Bad Company seemed, it brought out the ‘A Game’ from some of the finest talents in the game as well. Of course there was Beenie Man. ‘The Doctor’ was the only artist to actually reach the riddim two times, with the infectious ‘Row Like A Boat’ and later with the controversial ‘Han Up Deh’. It was also the same riddim which birthed Ele’s big hit ‘Chiney Ting’, Bounty’s SCATHING ‘[Killa] Nah Trace’ and big tunes from Buju Banton, Vybz Kartel, Degree, Assassin (HUGE tune with ‘Do Ma Thing’), MERCILESS (who had one of the biggest drops on the riddim with ‘Tek Wuk’), Achis Reggae favourite Ce’Cile of course (“cause any bwoy nuh call we back a chi chi man dat”) and others (like Sizzla with the riddim title track). Still, seven years later I’m under the impression that the finest tune to be found on the Bad Company Riddim was the FUCKED UP display Madd Anju delivers on ‘Wa Do Dem’. The tune was literally flawless in every way. The riddim wasn’t bad either.
Military Riddim [Birch Records, 2004]
Sticking with crazy hype riddims - Here we have what may be, pound for pound, one of the HARDEST riddims of all time and one which accompanied me on many a long day at the gym a few years back. The Military Riddim was one of the most spun of its day and for good reason as it very carefully blended the line between pure unadulterated hardcore Dancehall and something which could still inspire the shaking of asses on the Hip-Hop dance floor as well, as Birch DEFINITELY knocked a homerun with this one (which is STILL pretty well appreciated). Of course it’s pretty useless (to you and me) if the vocal artists don’t do their proper job and they definitely did with the top shots of the riddim coming from Assassin with the brilliant ‘Step Pon Dem’, Kartel with ‘4 Star’ (“di war nah dun til di whole ah dem DEAD!”), Bounty with ’Warlord Walk’, Ce’Cile with the stylish ’When We R Seen’, Mad Cobra (get well soon) with the typically mad as hell ’Put Gunshot’ and others like the eponymous Tanya Stephens, Beenie Man, Macka Diamond, Mr. Easy and even Lady Saw. Kiprich also did excellent and provided the riddim with one of its most memorable moments when he struck in with ‘Baby Song’ which provided everyone with a blueprint to help find the missing children of the various artists (“If you see a baby when him see Ninja Man him start kicking - Kartel Baby. If you see a baby who love ganja tree and chicken - Roundhead baby”).
Jah Mason - Surprise Dem [Vikings Production, 2004]
Surprise Dem was by no means anywhere near the best Jah Mason album to be found and I think it speaks volumes that it’s one of only two albums that he’s done which I haven’t reviewed (the other is Working So Hard for roughly the same reason), but like most of his work, there’s definitely something here to pay attention to and to take note of. Most notable, in my opinion, was the way in which the Mason kind of seemed to breeze through tunes like ‘Too Hot Fe Dem’ and ‘Red Gold & Green’ and the title track and especially ‘Bigga Joy’ (despite the lyrical flub on the tune), CLEARLY not at his best, not in his finest form, but the tunes were still pretty decent. Vikings would also go on to release the ultimately mediocre No Matter The Time album a few years on, which would contain tunes from this release and eventually it kind of faded away, but I THINK it was re-released earlier this year (and I think by Zojak) digitally. So while it still has kind of vanished and not surprisingly, it’s still worth a nice tune or two and it was a very interesting album.
Chukki Starr - From Crime To Kodesh [Jet Star, 2001]
I always welcome good reasons to go back and pull out all of the old stuff from Chukki Starr and have a next listen and that’s exactly the opportunity I’ve been afforded as he has recently pushed his greatest hits album: Most Wanted (which he is apparently promoting the hell out of), for Greensleeves. If you go back into his catalogue, we find this HUGE release, From Crime To Kodesh, from Jet Star, which was and remains arguably his best and most mature complete set to date. The album was also kind of dark and I don’t think too many people reacted to it properly (and they certainly haven’t since), but it was VERY solid and guest spots from the aforementioned Jah Mason, Junior Kelly and Queen Omega (who sings backup and whose producer, I THINK, Mickey D, helmed much of the album) only added to the special blend for Starr. Still, it was arguably solo tunes like ‘Revelation Time’, ‘Nallage’ and ‘Arise We Fi Rise’ which made up a great deal of the class of this nearly special album.
Mikey General - Spiritual Revolution [Redbridge, 2000]
This one has been pretty much long completely forgotten and buried and left for dead, but it is an absolutely GORGEOUS release. Mikey General is an artist who, much like Yami Bolo and Prince Malachi, just seems to always find his way onto my players in some way, shape or form and lately he’s been doing it with this wonderful album, Spiritual Revolution. I THINK this may’ve been the very first release from the General following both his and Luciano’s exit from the famed Xterminator camp in the late 90’s, but with Firehouse and Dean Fraser (as well as the General and Luciano themselves on their own Qabalah imprint) (and Henfield on a track as well) doing quite a few productions on the piece, you’d never know it from the sounds. The General uses said sounds to big tunes such as ‘H.I.M. Songs & Daughters’ , the sublime Henfield produced ‘Jah Inna Mi Head’ (Sweet River Rock Riddim), ‘Not For The Natty’ (“miss hottie hottie, not for the Natty Natty”), ‘Love Is What We Need’ alongside General Pecos, ‘Fire Never Cease’ and the damaging ‘Too Much Revolution’ (and I could probably name every tune on the album) (and I think I just did, I should really slap a review on this album). Literally every stop on this BIG album is something worth listening to as was and still is the norm for Mikey General.
{note: This one is available in seemingly very selective digital form right now}
(I know. I should know better. I really should )- For me, of course, the ‘be all end all’ when it comes to artists is Sizzla Kalonji. In writing a ridiculous amount of reviews as I do these days, I’ve come to see the fact that, with the way I rate albums (on a scale of anything 1-5); Sizzla is the only artist who starts at perfection consistently in my mind. Whenever he releases an album, I initially have huge expectations and it is ultimately up to the music itself to lose that 5 star rating. Certainly there’re other cases of similar things, but I find that those cases are almost exclusively reserved for ALBUMS which I have a great feeling about and not necessarily ARTISTS and definitely there’s a big difference there. The result of that UNDOUBTEDLY is that I have most certainly overrated quite a few Sizzla albums over the years and I probably still do and I don’t really care actually (except in one case, which was ridiculous) (and no, I’m not going to tell you which) and I think that’s a ‘normal’ approach to have when dealing with one’s absolute favourite artists. You’ll make excuses for them, you’ll fill in gaps which don’t quite make sense and you’ll even leap to conclusions, in some instances, which make absolutely no sense at all and I’m speaking from experience in that. So, when I look at the type of artists who have the same type of interest from other people, it’s definitely very interesting and most interesting as a critic and there exists no more interesting and captivating ‘FAVOURITE’ artist amongst Reggae fans, in my opinion, than Vaughn Benjamin and Midnite. I was actually trying to think of what might be the second most interesting and I eventually came to the type of ‘sports teams’ mentality of devotion which tends to appear almost exclusively in the Dancehall where you have the ‘Beenie - Bounty’ and ‘Gaza - Gully’ type of situations and surely there is something else which is on the way (even in smaller scales you’ll have the ‘Busy - Aidonia’ and ‘Corleon - Big Ship’ type of rivalries which quietly shall exists as long as the entities themselves (if not longer)). And while at least ostensibly the Dancehall situation may seem more interesting than Midnite, when you really think about it, just like sports teams, it exists no matter who is playing or who is cheering for who is playing, meanwhile I don’t think we may ever see the type of STRANGE devotion given to Midnite any time soon, at least not for anyone while you and I are walking the planet.
So why does that type of devotion exist and where did it come from? I have no idea where it came from. Midnite is a unit which seems to UNITE both the casual and the hardcore fans alike. Seemingly the casual heads will see some COOLNESS or EXCLUSIVITY in listening to them, while the hardcore Reggae head may actually see the same thing, but sees it AND is able to appreciate the output. On top of that, you can’t deny the fact that the face of the act, Vaughn Benjamin is a genius, pure and simple and you could make the case that he is one of the greatest ‘magicians’ with the tool of the spoken word since the invention of speech. But that talent isn’t one which always reaches the ears of everyone with the same power. In the case of Sizzla, you’ll get people criticizing him for making the slack and the violent tunes and crazies like myself will step up to defend him by calling it ‘experimental’ (or whatever the hell I say), while with Benjamin and Midnite, you’re certainly going to hear criticisms like ‘strange as hell’ (or as I like to say, “CRYPTIC” or “ABSTRACT“, which is basically a more colourful way of saying the exact same thing). And I also think that same level of abstractness is something which adds to their general appeal as it definitely creates more of a ‘mysterious’ vibes. So, as you might imagine, Midnite’s following is one of the most devoted in the current landscape of Reggae music and arguably ever (I’m seriously starting think that Benjamin’s popularity is something which may actually grow after his musical days, and perhaps lifetime, are long over, which is amazing to think of) and thus, their output is also some of the most popular ‘off-centered’ in all of Reggae. So while VP may never get around to releasing a Vaughn Benjamin album and they may never be nominated for a Grammy (although I think that it might be possible, given their current trajectory), Reggae fans worldwide will continue to pay attention. Well, what they’re paying attention to now is one of the most interesting ‘Midnite’ releases in quite awhile and actually the only MIDNITE release that we’ve seen in a half decade apparently. The actual word ‘Midnite’, in reference to Reggae, has become primarily a nickname of sorts for Vaughn Benjamin over the past few years and his ‘have vibes will travel’ type of practice. But what we have in What Makes A King is an album which features Vaughn alongside his brother, musical genius Ronnie Benjamin Jr., instead of a long line of characters from various stops along Vaughn’s incomparable musical journey. And I don’t know about you, but when I first heard that, the first thing that came to mind was the potential spectre of Ronnie Benjamin’s kind of euphoric-like smile which he seems to have always implanted on his face while accompanying his younger brother in playing the vibes of Midnite in live shows. The result of the kind of return to HOME type of album is one which, in my opinion, EASILY outdoes a great deal of the more recent output of Midnite and it also doesn’t have so much of the kind of hard to transfer type of vibes which the other albums do, such as Ina Now and DEFINITELY To Mene. And while by no means saying that What Makes A King is as accessible as . . . Junior Kelly’s last album or something like such (it isn’t), it’s more of what I personally think about when I think of ‘GOOD’ music from Midnite. Of course the lyrics are top notch, the music is less arduous to get through and less ‘experimental’ and . . . Well, it’s just a BETTER album in my opinion.
Unsurprisingly, the album not only marks a return of Midnite to itself, but a return of the band to their very own label, Afrikan Roots Lab. I THINK that makes this album the first on ARL from since Dezarie’s own return in 2008 with Eaze The Pain and that, in and of itself, is a pretty big deal as well, as I’m sure it’s also Midnite’s first album for the label in approximately four thousand years. I also wasn’t too surprised that the album checked in at a rather small ten tracks and there is NO filler to be found. The first of the ten on Midnite’s return album, What Makes A King, is the downright paralyzing title track. The song, with its type of ‘ethereal’ type of vibes is probably one of the (if not THE) least accessible tunes on the album and it sounds like something from the last couple of years from Midnite, but when you get into the words and THEN overlay them with the backing (which is highlighted by a beautiful piano and chimes (I THINK)), it is a GORGEOUS song. I could spend days and days (as usual with Vaughn Benjamin‘s work), trying to break the tune down from every conceivable angle, but instead I’ll attempt to sum it up by saying that the tune ultimately is about STANDARDS. When you deal with the standards of a KING (figuratively and literally (and in Benjamin’s case - otherworldly - as well, I’m sure)), it stands above the standard of man and I think that is what Benjamin is attempting to show - The drastic difference of standards of man and His Majesty. That song is amazing and I’m almost surprised that I’m not declaring it the finest tune on the album named after it, but that distinction, in my opinion, belongs to the second tune on the album, ‘Emotions’. This is probably the FULLEST sounding new Midnite song I’ve heard in quite awhile (having spent hours and hours toiling through the most skeletal of productions from them as of late) and on top of that it just makes such a powerful, yet indirect, statement in regards to the music of Midnite that it is absolutely captivating. I find the tune kind of slap at critics (like myself) who may listen to Midnite and wonder why they may not do more NORMAL sounding vibes. Vaughn seems to say that they’d much rather do meaningful tunes with EMOTION, instead of “rude boy thug songs and mainstream pop songs, and one would definitely have a hard time arguing against that (and I’m not going to) (at all). I found the tune so very poignant and fitting that, for me, it rose the top of the levels on the album and I may be the only one who feels like that, but who cares. LOVE that song. The final tune in the opening blot is the very clever pseudo-repatriation anthem ‘Native Son’. I could so work the angle of the group returning to itself in regards to this tune and returning to its label (and I guess I just did), but definitely it is more of a HOME type of song in terms of the children of Afrika. However, in any way you receive it, you have to receive it as powerful because that is exactly what it is. Very strong start to the album.
Definitely given their placement and their respective titles, the tunes ‘Give Her Her Due’ and ‘Jah Bless Her’ are going to be linked closely on What Makes A King. To my opinion, the latter is the stronger of the two, although neither are amongst my favourite here (although ‘Jah Bless Her’ is certainly close). These two tunes, in particular, REALLY challenge the listener (in a good way) to pay attention and I think, even in my case, the better you come to comprehending what is being said there, the better you appreciate the vibes which is the norm with Benjamin’s lyrics.
Those two tunes give way to a couple of tunes which clearly are two of the album’s finest pieces in my opinion. The first, ‘Shine’ is top three at worst (and I may actually go as far as to call it stronger than the title track). I love everything about this tune, from the message and the mood (which is this kind of cold and calculated, ‘matter of fact’ type of approach) to the actual pacing of the song as Vaughn speaks on the power received from His Majesty - This very special “shine”. That tune is followed by another big one in the crawling ‘High Places Of Anu’. I, as ridiculously longwinded as I most certainly am, wouldn’t even have the time to get into all of the various directions in which this tune is drawn inherently (by merely its title). But to make it as basic as possible (which is impossible), “ANU” certainly has a biblical tie and probably a biblical meaning as well and it also is the code for Antigua’s airports and it’s noted for supposedly being one of the highest stations in the world as well. SO! With that information (which is almost certainly flawed in some respect), DIG in to an incredibly DEEP song and saying that in reference to Vaughn Benjamin’s standard of ‘DEEP’ is definitely saying something big.
Of the final three selections on What Makes A King, I appreciated all of them, although two in particular really stand out. One of them is the first of the three ‘Dem Gone’. Despite how it may seem initially, I think this song is actually one of the easiest to digest and comprehend on the entire album. It speaks simply to those amongst us who insist on living in a negative way (and Vaughn goes into a great deal of detail, to the point where I think he even means people whose diets aren’t what they should be as he says “disrespect yourself is to offend Jah empire. Dem Gone”). It’s a beautiful tune by its end as well. The next song, ‘Neat & Nice’ may just be my least favourite on the album, but it’s still not a bad tune. The song kind of seems like it has a problem getting started and the very strangely vibed riddim certainly doesn’t help matters. I did find that the more I listened to it, however, the better that it got (strictly in terms of appreciating the pace of the tune), but I’m still not very fond of it. And lastly is another very good tune in ‘Stagnation’, with its absolutely sublime riddim. So outstanding, in fact, is the riddim backing the tune, that despite Vaughn’s very nice lyrics (the tune speaks to Vaughn’s view of the current state of the world which is not changing, for the worst), the highlight of the tune has to be the final minute or so which is almost kind of incidentally completely instrumental (it’s just like he took a break from singing). To have that as the final thing you hear at all on the album is an EXCELLENT touch in my opinion.
Overall, What Makes A King, although not great, is probably the strongest Midnite (or Midnite-ish) album I’ve heard since 2007’s Rule The Time and it’s also probably their most accessible (again, don’t compare the level of accessibility of Midnite to ANYONE else’s) since that album (which was excellent) as well. You can perhaps owe that to the band being back together or just owe that to coincidence or (HOPEFULLY) a newer musical direction for this year. Of course that’ll be revealed soon, but in strict regards to this album, I APPRECIATE IT. I myself am kind of a ‘middle of the road’ type of fan when it comes to all things Midnite, so anytime you can move closer to typical Modern Roots Reggae, of course I’m happy. As for the hardcore Midnite fans, of whom I built the premise of this review, I hope and from what I’ve seen the album has been quite well received and, of course, just like the vast majority of ‘their’ material What Makes A King will hold a very special place in Reggae at the time. It’s a Midnite album and that alone makes it a very big deal, perhaps even bigger than most people know.
p.s. Of course if you don’t like it, you can just pick up ‘their’ new album Ark A Law.
Yow. You ever check UStream? I know from longtime Don Corleon is on the site (I think he still broadcasts), playing pieces from his studio and you never know who you'll see up there and now my own favourite producer and the best in the world, Kemar 'Flava' McGregor is on as well. My Wife's brother, Bredz, calls me up yesterday while I'm out stuffing faces with the Queen and the Princess and tells me he has a new song from Etana and Luciano and plays it in some strange hollow manner, but it turns out he's just playing it through UStream. Flava, OBVIOUSLY delighted with what the tune, which he produced, is broadcasting the tune and mixing it at the same time. Song sounds gorgeous and if you go through his archives, you can actually see it being recorded, as we've shown you here. So definitely check out Flava @ Ustream.
And speaking of Flava Getting crazy response now from Ginjah's album Never Lost My Way and we just got like 6 emails this morning from people asking where they can get it yeah. You can, of course, get it at FlavaMcGregor.com. I don't know if it's going to work out into the more traditional digital sites (iTunes, Amazon, Emusic etc.), but for right now that's the only place I know of that it's available. And if you're kind of on the edge about it, check the review, it's well worth the pick up yeah. And, like I said in the review (I THINK), I was interested in seeing the response the album would get, so from just what I've seen from writing the review, the interest is VERY high, so biggup Flava again and thanks to everybody for reading yeah.
Having already done the business end of Ginjah’s fantastic new album Never Lost My Way, this past weekend I took a second out to REALLY get into the album (I know what you’re thinking, ‘Achis, you just wrote that big ass review and now you’re talking about getting into the album???’). It’s something I usually do and actually after writing a review, when I do it, I usually change my opinion of a particular album (I usually like it more, as was the case here) a little. But while that was going on, it wasn’t the primary feeling that I was struck with - That feeling was fortune. Seriously, including Ginjah, should you just STOP and look at how many top notch artists have released albums, specifically in terms of modern Roots Reggae, in just the first four and half months, the list is getting more and more ridiculous.
And of course there’s still the leader in the clubhouse Naptali
Just take a look at that list and you may not have LOVED every album on the list (and I didn’t) (biggup Teflon), but the very fact that it’s gone down like that is a BIG deal and that’s after a 2009 in which we dealt with the likes of Buju, Pressure, Tarrus Riley, Perfect, Anthony B, Sizzla, Chezidek and a whole heap of others (like Natty King) and it’s getting pretty comparable I think. Then, of course, you get into the Lion D’s and Nereus Josephs (mind you, I’m only talking about Roots, so I never even get into the likes of Mad Cobra and now Admiral T).
And STILL yet to come in 2010 basically for sure are releases from
Jr. Gong & Nas Capleton (hasn't had one in so long, it's basically like his debut) Luciano Etana (just heard a WICKED new tune, combination between Luciano & Etana) (produced by Flava) Anthony B Gyptian (again) NiyoRah! (what!) Toussaint The Liberator (really nice feeling about that one) Smiley (EP) Lloyd Brown
And maybe albums from Jah Cure and I-Octane as well and really who knows who in the hell else. And I’m almost certainly forgetting someone else in the process (wouldn’t it be so nice if we could get a Prestige album in 2010) (and NATURAL BLACK) (and JAH MASON) (and BATCH!) (WHAT!) (and SPRAGGA BENZ!) (and MALIKA MADREMANA!). The possibilities are wonderful and I’m well looking forward to the next seven and a half months. However, should you find yourself forgetting about what we’ve already seen, definitely go back and take a whiff.
Yow! Everybody check the banner at the bottom of the page for Chezidek's new album Judgement Time click on it, play with it, put it on your own damn site and then buy the album, if you haven't already. Hell, if you have bought it already, then buy it again. Why Not! And biggup JahSolidRock and Not Easy At All yeah. Oh! And check my review of the album on UnitedReggae.com. I would link you, but I don't feel like it. There you go!
When I look at any area and I’m trying to get a healthy feeling of exactly how the vibes of that particular region are, I like to try and take as wide of a current sampling as possible. Forgive me, but I’ve seen far too many HORRIBLE documentaries and specials regarding Jamaican music which mischaracterize the vibes in a particular way, usually largely based on the work of Bob Marley (and I always find myself wondering what that particular filmmaker might think about his categorizations if I were to play him an Elephant Man tune), which is generally assumed to represent the entire scene. So, when I do this I do so try to take in more information and experience. For example, if you’d been following the UK scene for the past few years, of course you’d be fully prepared to ONLY declare it the new home for modern Lover’s Rock music, but in doing so you’d ignore recent lights such as Gappy Ranks and the wicked Mr. Williamz. The Virgin Islands? Of course looking at the finely crafted work of people like Batch and Tuff Lion and the Benjamin Bros. one would just go on and say that the VI is where Jamaica circa 1970 had parked itself, but then I’d be compelled to ask of you - What in the hell do you find in 1970 which sounds like NiyoRah or Pressure Busspipe or even Revalation? So, in hopes of getting as specific as possible, I’m going to do that - Try and get as specific as possible. Up until now, every time it came to analyzing the case of Reggae and Dancehall from out the French Caribbean, I always took a very large and broad sampling, but as I listen to more and more and learn more and more, I’m now more confident in distinguishing places from places, even within that same scope. In the case of the most visited stop, Guadeloupe, we can see crystal clear just how much of an emphasis has been placed on artist development. Perhaps not intentionally, but when you have PILLARS of artists such as Admiral T, Tiwony and others (and pillars in terms of SKILL), getting a next contingent of youths flowing in such as Saïk and Lady Sweety is less of a surprise. Truly, I could sit here and say that in terms of pure talent, Guadeloupe may just be one of the richest Reggae ports in the entire world (and I am saying that). But that GUADELOUPE, the second most popular stop, of course, would be Martinique and when you really start to get into the vibes of Madinina, you don’t see the same thing that you see in Gwada, for the most part. That’s not to say, of course, that there aren’t incredible talents there, if there weren’t you wouldn’t be reading this unearthly long review.
It is, however, the TYPES of talents from out of Martinique which is most interesting as I can honestly say that CONSISTENTLY the island offers some of the most UNUSUALLY talented individuals, producing some of the most colourful results, to say the least. To date, the most ‘colourful’ has probably been [L’Homme] Paille, the first scare crow of the Dancehall. You also see individuals such as Saël (of course), Mighty Ki La, Blenda, Mali, Straika (big artist) and Yeahman’C, who although very talented (especially Straika), in my opinion have much more of a RAW appeal than the seemingly carefully crafted catalogues of the aforementioned crowd of the likes of Admiral T, Tiwony and etc. Also, when it comes to RAW talent, definitely some of the younger artists from out of Nina, such as Elvys, X-Man (biggup X-Man) and a few others and I think I may have found the rawest of them all in the form of the extremely talented young DJ, Kalash. Although it’s taken me longer than I may have hoped for in such a situation to catch on, I now definitely recognize Kalash as the type of up and comer who can do big things in the game and maybe even take his popularity to a level which hasn’t been quite attained for Martinique in Reggae. So what makes him so interesting? The first thing you’re certain to notice about Kalash is the kind of BOOMING voice he has, reminiscent of his Jamaican counterparts such as Aidonia (to whom he is often compared), Baby Cham and Bounty Killer and call me crazy or easy to please if you like, but there’s something about a TALENTED DJ merely jumping on the mic and doing almost anything which will almost certainly and almost always grab my attention, just as it did in Kalash’s case (even though it took me awhile to realize it was him). In terms of the actual words, I’m thinking about the insanity that is either Paille or Mighty Ki La (Paille has . . . A lot of stuff going on there with him although he is very talented, while MKL, although less ostensibly zany, makes music which seems to accept the notion that there can be no middle ground in terms of pacing) which are two other very well known Dancehall DJ’s from out of Martinique (both of whom have albums) and while I’d say that MKL is more talented at this point, Kalash may have already risen to a point of equaling Paille lyrically which is definitely saying something. Well, now you can get your very own taste of exactly how well young Kalash has progressed in any range as he brings forth (to my knowledge) his very first album, for the very popular (and active) Chabine Productions, which is self titled. Apparently the album has already caused quite a bit of commotion and is being well received (in the sense that it’s been selling pretty well), which is, of course, a great thing, but the issue that I’m looking at is whether or not you’ll enjoy it - You might. Listening through Kalash, the album, I was almost immediately struck with two different (and opposing) thoughts. The first is that Kalash is VERY good. He clearly has a talent for this game and when he develops he’s almost certainly going to be a GREAT artist. HOWEVER, it seems as if he kind of shows the problems with youth as, at times, he seems to try to do too much which takes him ‘out of his elements’. The result is an album which, although certainly lacking in consistent quality, just as certainly has more than its fair share of brilliant flashes.
The album literally seems to go in spurts with its quality. Like I said, it lacks consistency and definitely that can be something which is attributed to age and having a big idea of how you want the album to sound (especially your very first album). But with that being said, if you aren’t able to appreciate the first load of tunes on this album - Seriously, go and find something else to do. Maybe I can make an exception to that condition with the very first selection on Kalash’s self titled debut album, but only because it’s an intro, after that however, beginning with ‘Champion Woman’ and last for the next few tunes, you should be impressed. The tune finds Kalash applying a few different types of tempos (or, he has an unaccredited guest), but ultimately raining supreme with the big blaring voice, which is how it should be, as he tells the world what type of woman is certain to catch his eye on the big song. Then the madness begins. ‘Pran Pié’ is FUCKING RIDICULOUS! The tune is absolute madness and it’s definitely one of the greatest guilty pleasures of 2010 thus far. The tune features Gwada veteran Lieutenant (who appears on probably every mixtape made everywhere, everywhere in the world in every genre) (and then a few more), who I’ve never been REALLY impressed with, but the Lieutenant more than just holds his own on the song. Meanwhile, Kalash provides the listener with pretty much everything you need to know that you’re dealing with a superior talent on the finest tune on the album altogether (also, if you were expecting for someone to jump up and say “lord evil”, you weren’t alone my friend). ‘Only God Can Judge Me’ takes the task of keeping the vibes high following that monster and it does very well with its old school Dancehall vibe and it does VERY well. This tune definitely shows that Kalash[nikov] can be effective with something besides the very hype type of vibes and it’s a very nice bit for the future when he REALLY gets a handle on what it is that he’s good at, because ‘Only God Can Judge Me’ is damn near masterful and it’s one of a kind on the album. Still, I’d argue the tune which follows is even stronger as ‘Es Zot Paré’ finds Kalash linking with the always welcomed Saël and doing so in an EXCELLENT fashion. Again, the tune isn’t the normal HEAVY type of Dancehall vibes, but Kalash shows that he can handle the more midtempo set and the tune is ultimately a very nice and bouncy one (love to hear Saël deejaying every so often) and one of the strongest on the album.
And then things . . . Change. I suppose you could make the case that ‘Mama’ is a nice song. It’s reportedly the next one up to receive a big push in terms promotion and it’s OKAY. It’s very straight forward, however, and it’s the type of tune (a kind of a ‘signature line’ of Reggae songs), on which he could have tried something different with the vibes, but it isn’t BAD. ‘Ne M’en Veaux Pas’ isn’t either (in fact, my cousin (a female) think it’s the best tune on the album), but it’s another unexceptional one to my opinion and I think I might hear a little autotune in there as well. The riddim is delightful and I’m thinking I’ve heard it before maybe, (hopefully Kalash passed it to Straika or Saël when he was finished with it). And then there’s ‘Ho No’. If you can, I’d suggest you skip this one altogether, because the melody will be stuck in your head for quite some time and that’s not a good thing because this freaky disco sounding . . . THING is probably HORRIBLE, but I hesitate to call it so because the damn thing is stuck so far in my brain I may need a procedure to remove it. ‘Gimme More’, which features a singer I’ve never heard of by the name of Mahalate (she’s pretty good), didn’t appeal to me at all. It’s a pretty straight forward POP record actually and not that that’s a bad thing inherently (because it isn’t), but again, it’s just unexceptional and it kind of sounds like it was done in a haste. All of that being said, however, if this one is pushed, even a little, it should be a big radio hit without much of a problem in my opinion. ‘Gallys Anthem’ which finds Kalash featured alongside a truly BIG artist in Daddy Mory was somewhat of a disappointment and not because it’s a bad song. Quite the contrary, it’s probably one of the better, however, these days anytime I hear the word ‘daggering’ in any form, I immediately dislike whatever it is that I’m hearing a lot more and the latter stages of the tune throws the unfortunately unburied word around a bit, which is a damn shame, ruining a perfectly good party song. And speaking of daggering, you immediately get the point on the following tune ‘Tout Mouille’ [‘All Wet’] with it’s pornish intro and really a running porn-like moaning behind the balance of the tune, very Vybz Kartel like. The tune, however and again, isn’t a total loss because the flow itself. Kalash shows excellent deejaying at times on the tune, effectively ‘bailing it out’ of being just a bad song, but it certainly would have been better sans the ‘pyro’ (biggup Pleen Pyroman).
Thankfully, on the final three tunes, things begin to right themselves and it all starts in the most interesting of ways as Kalash enlists the aforementioned Paille to join him on the WICKED ‘Don’t Talk’. This one has a big argument for being my second favourite tune on the album on the strength of being a TRUE Dancehall tune (vibes circa 1998 or so), it’s just so addictive and Dancehall heads like myself will eat it up. Not to overlook the fact that Paille’s not too subtle madness is a very welcome addition to the vibes of the album and when he first reaches he EASILY drops one of the finest verses on the entire album and a big lightening bolt to the full quality as well. On ‘Arrête Ton Film’ Kalash appears to tackle the same riddim Shyne and Barrington levy ran with on their famed ‘Bad Boyz’ combination tune and he does an excellent job with it. Again, the song shows that he can deal with these type of middle of the range songs (and just sitting here thinking about it, I’d probably say that Kalash grew up listening to A LOT of old Reggae music, because it’s definitely a welcome surprise to his vibes) which is an excellent quality of his looking forward. And finally is another combination track, ‘Toi Et Moi’, which happens to features Martinique Zouk diva and a label mate of Kalash’s, Christiane Vallejo. The SWINGING tune might be familiar to listeners because it also appeared on Vallejo’s album Metamorphose from a couple of years back. Unlike ‘Gimme More’, this one definitely has a vibes of its own and it doesn’t kind of fall in line with the kind of ‘run of the mill’ type of Zouk or Pop songs. It’s also very nice, although not a fitting end to the album, but strong is strong and ‘Toi Et Moi’ is strong.
Overall, I’m very happy that we’ve progressed to the stage where almost anyone can tune in and pick up Kalash, the album, digitally because it is a PERFECT example of a project where picking and choosing will most certainly come in handy. The tunes on the album which don’t quite measure up, fail to measure up in such a way that although they do remain interesting (everything Kalash will ever do will probably be interesting and just because it’s him doing it), they’re almost completely unremarkable for one reason or another. On the other hand, the truly GOOD of the album, like the first four tunes and the final three, are VERY good and they’re going to be very hard to ignore. So, unless you’re already a superfan of Kalash’s (in which case you probably didn’t need to read this most certainly flawed review), then I’d best recommend picking up this one digitally. And to return to the premise of the review and to speak on Kalash’s talent and potential talent in full - Certainly he needs a bit of ‘seasoning’. I’d like to see him maybe pick on a few more old school type of riddims because, despite his COMPLETELY new school style, he definitely has an ability which lends itself to that arena as well and I’d like for him to STREAMLINE his vibes as well. WHEN he does that (because he will, provided that he sticks around long enough), then with his very appealing style and ‘transferable’ skill, Kalash just may become the poster boy and torchbearer for almost EVERYTHING that is GREAT about modern Reggae from Martinique.
p.s. Yes I was disappointed ‘Bust It Up’ wasn’t on the album, the tune is amazing.
Okay so, either all of the early editions of the tracklist were wrong (and that's certainly possible), or VP just saw that perhaps the early responses weren't quite strong, so they've WONDERFULLY added at least one more blip to the forthcoming Soca Gold 2010 which is 'Call Meh' by Bunji and Faye-Ann and is now track four.
Wonderful addition, of course, but if you listen closely you'll hear a very light, but strong chanting of "PALANCE! PALANCE! PALANCE! PALANCE!"
Soca Gold by Various Artists releases worldwide on May 25
Yow! Apparently I haven't done such a post since the third of April and given the fact that April was the most interesting of months (and I've suddenly thought that this is a pretty good way to start the month-ish), here it is again! Now I just have to think of a cool little title for it and I'll post it up. . . . After I write it, of course. And yes, the festivities here are over, they torched King Momo's fat ass. Didn't do too much at night, but more in the daytime with the little one, so a good time was had and definitely looking forward to next year.
Okay so, we'll be on the road this week, coming up on Thursday, going to see the In-Laws, won't be there the entire week, however, we'll be back around here the following Tuesday. Of course you won't notice a change at all (with the possible exception that I probably won't be posting on Thursday) and yadda yadda yadda. Supposedly there're a couple of nice packages waiting on me and there'll be even more by time we reach (and biggup Iwer George). So, hopefully they can cheer me up because the trip means that I won't be able to go and see Ce'Cile on Saturday (I think it's Saturday), probably all the best anyway because I'd probably try to introduce myself at this point and be nervous as hell, thus making a fool out of myself in front of my better half.
Speaking of in-laws, my Wife's brother, Bredz we call him, is apparently taking off this summer from school and his plans include not only accompanying we to Vincy Monarch, which I is on July 3rd, he's also thinking of starting his own Reggae related website and should he do so (it would be late July/early August, so I'll keep you posted on that and Bredz takes a camera with him (I mean a real camera, not a cellphone) everytime he leaves the house, so you may even see my ridiculous face on it should it materialize, so here's hoping that it doesn't.
What shall materialize around here in May??? Let me tell you!
Okay, first of all, of course, are the reviews. Tomorrow, I'll give you the ins and outs of Kalash's self titled debut set and this coming Friday, apparently having not learned my lesson from the first two times, I may actually give you a review of Midnite's albumWhat Makes A King? And I won't give it a stirring review and then I'll be insulted viciously on the comments, of course I'm sensitive as hell so I just may disable the comments for that post (j/k, flame on). Besides that, looking ahead what we have is the VERY FORTUNATE case that two of the biggest releases for this month, Busy Signal's D.O.B. and Capleton's Iternal Fire have been delayed (Busy until the middle of June, Capleton until early July), which is great because they'll drop eventually and it spreads the time around. SO, instead of reviewing either, you can look forward to reviews for (of course) Distant Relatives from Jr. Gong and Nas, hopefully I can get that one a little early and have it up for the day it releases (I THINK), which is the 18th. And also Gentleman's Diversity also is headed for a worldwide release so I can finally snatch it off of Dutchie iTunes and slap a review on it and I will ONLY be reviewing the Deluxe Edition, all 5,000 songs of it. There's also Soca Gold 2010 and I may actually wait on that one to coincide with the fact that on June 1st Alison Hinds turns 40 apparently. That day just so happens to be a Tuesday and lo and behold I write reviews on Tuesdays and Fridays, so I may just do a big ass Soca week again. If that's the case, along with Gong & Nas, Gentleman, Midnite and Kalash, for the rest of may, you can MAYBE expect a review for Franz Job's Babylon Is Dead album, which is a little better than I thought and who knows what the hell else I'll get my hands on, so I'll shut up there.
And, just to add on to that, you'll see it with the Kalash review and I might go back and change a few, but I'm adding a brief new feature to my reviews which is that because I get asked about the format all of the time, when I write reviews, at the end when I mention label and year, I'm also going to mention the available formats of the particular album (to my knowledge), be it CD and/or Digital.
I have a really cool idea (in my opinion) for a Completely Random Thought and I may just roll that out on this coming Wednesday.
I'm still looking for the most ridiculous of ideas for lists, so I have gotten a few, but keep them coming if you have one (especially that dude Marcus). The last two lists that I did, the Underachievers and the Overachievers, got a pretty good response and apparently Truckback tweeted about it (that is the first time I've EVER typed the word "tweeted" and hopefully it is the last).
What else? Oh, Sara Lugo! I got two readers link me and tell me that they've seen her on tour around Germany and one linked me to the fact that the people she's touring with, a band called Jamaram, have been keeping like a video diary for the tour and you can go to it and see what they've been up to, of course it mostly in German and even Lugo is speaking German, which is ridiculous, but . . . Yeah. Go watch it on Jamaram's YouTube Page. Apparently Sara Lugo is like two and half feet tall so big her up (LITERALLY). And we'll hopefully be dealing with her again pretty soon, because she features on the Soul Riddim which I so hope I get soon to bump Midnite out of next week (and I'd most certainly forget about it the following week yeah).
I won't be doing a Coming Soon post this week because I don't think I could fill one up, so either I'll look to it for next week, or next week you can expect another edition of Check It, which I like doing better anyway yeah.
Remember to check out my work on UnitedReggae.com, I have something pretty cool (interview #3) coming up later this week maybe and maybe a nice and condensed review of Ginjah's album also (see ridiculous version here) and an already completed review of Chezidek's album Judgement Time (big ass version here).
Also, be looking for Timeless Words vol. 2, I don't know who it'll be on just yet (although I'm thinking maybe Kartel would be a good choice). And of course just a ton of other things as well
Yeah! All of that stuff coming in May and who knows what in the hell else. A really cool version of Video Drop should also be somewhere in there (if you aren't attracted to women, you probably won't think it's so cool) and again, who knows what in the hell else I'll come upon.
Soooooooo. Only thing that's left is a song and this one is clear, because you can now pickup a copy of Chezidek's aforementioned new album Judgement Time, digitally all across the globe and to coincide with the release, they've also done a nice new cool video for the sweet sweet tune 'In My Heart' (which may be the first Lover's Rock-ish video Chezidek has ever done). So, here's the video
11 weeks already? Yep, you know what it is. No long talking AchisReggae@hotmail.com if you have something that isn't playing on every radio station in the world and HOPEFULLY, just HOPEFULLY it's also good, like the title says yeah. Let's go:
First song kind of comes from me, but the direction is from Susan from Zojak. She suggested a COOL tune from Louie Culture, of course I couldn't find it, so I just kind of picked a tune I liked and what I came up with was 'Stand Tall' from the Big It Up riddim. Seriously high level material right here, master class level deejaying and a message behind it as well, which was generally the case with Culture who is. . . slowly but surely making his more than welcome return yeah.
And because I couldn't track down her first choice, I'm also going to throw in Susan's second choice, 'Jah Light' from Prince Malachi. I actually think Malachi may've had two tunes with this title, but I think this is the most well known version. Probably 80-85% of his catalogue would qualify for this series, so big up Susan for the excellent choice and biggup Prince Malachi, the most underrated man on earth.
I got this selection from longtime reader/conversationist (his word, not mind), Ivan from out of Austria who made the pick after noticing that I mentioned that Anthony B's 'Waan Back' was one of my favourite tunes from the artist just yesterday. 'Waterpumpee' from big German group Seeed. Of course Reggae done in German isn't my favourite thing to listen to and words with 3 consecutive E's are pretty fucking creepy, but somewhere in there is Anthony B and 'Waan Back', so I don't have much complaining to do and I'm sure I'll be talking to Ivan in . . . like a few minutes lol. Biggup Ivan.
And lastly is this rather timely blast from the past suggestion from Nicole from Washington DC in the States, 'Natty Watching You' from Midnite. Timely is it because I may just write a Midnite review next week and the madness from that will ensue when I don't call every tune on What Makes A King absolute genius (and I won't). But, just on this tune alone, of course it's very strong, Ras Mek Peace album guarantees that, so nice choice Nicole and enjoy that Admiral T yeah.
Me? Well because I heard the song on the radio about three times today and most certainly will hear it tomorrow. I'm going with the legendary Garnet Silk and I'm saying Happy Mother's Day to my Wife, my Mother, my Grandmothers and to all of the beautiful and wonderful mothers around the world. Yeah!
