First up this week (and by "first up", I really mean second, because I just did the last listed entry on this post) is the reason I'm doing one of these today as my initial thought was to just do a post featuring the excellent Discern Riddim from PBR Music Productions, alone. THIS THING IS NICE! It's is beautiful! Along with just being a big riddim, in general, something very interesting happens in regards to the songs on the Discern. The tracklist is front-loaded with the biggest names featured here, Mykal Rose, Lutan Fyah, Turbulence, Chuck Fenda, Anthony B and Teflon and.... pretty much all of them do very well. Of particular notes are definitely Lutan Fyah who THRILL with 'Stay Deh' and 'Pump Blood', respectively.
"Di dutty water inna di gully, dat inna yuh bloodstream
Pumping to a heart, that slimy, wicked swamp fiend
Vampires waan fi taste yuh flesh, a mussi cantine
Mi gotta spear yah weh sharper than di proper pants seam
Nuffi will seh dem love, but it's only a scheme
SMILE LIKE A HUMAN, MORE LIKE MACHINE
Grudge yuh fi yah car, yah house, yah land even ya queen
How man can so mean? A laser beam
Fi dem heart a ongle fi pump blood
Dem no got no conscience and dem no show no love
Fi dem heart a ongle fi pump blood
With a mind fulla hatred, driven by grudge
Fi dem heart a ongle fi pump blood
Smile inna yuh face a while yuh drown inna di flood
Fi dem heart a ongle fi pump blood
Dem no mind man shoot ya like bug
Dem si yah career ah rise and go a di Obeah an fi stuck it
Laugh and rejoice when another kick di bucket
Tell dem fi avoid I, still dem ah chuck it
Si another yute ah rise, no interrupt it
CAN'T TELL DEM FI FOLLOW DEM HEART
FOR THEY HAVE NONE
Heartless and cold, yeah dem whole body numb
Dem waan blood fi drink, that's why dem waan blood fi run
That's why the Rastaman keep saying 'fire bun' "
I mean.... Turbulence DAZZLES lyrically in a way that.... yeah, it's been a minute But when this man is on top of his game, he has nary an equal in Reggae or any other genre anywhere either! The second half of the Discern Riddim is full of un/under known artists and a few of them such as G-Boss, Classical Eska and definitely the well gifted Nadg, manage to standout from the rest as well. The Discern Riddim is well worth your time; One of the best riddim albums of 2022, without a doubt.
The Midnight Oil Riddim [Full Blown Entertainment & Monk Music]
Given the fact that it only has a quarter the number of tunes spread across only ten and a half minutes or so, you probably won't get as much usage out of the Midnight Oil Riddim as you do from the first entry on this post, but it's likely to go down (at least in my opinion) as one of the finer Soca riddims of the year, for its part. Constructed by [I THINK] Back Ah Yard Records from out of Grenada, the Midnight Oil (I've been writing about Vaughn Benjamin for SO damn long that writing 'midnight' just feels odd) just pulls such a powerful vibes, but does so in a very subtle way. While it isn't necessarily what I'd call 'reserved', it also doesn't leap out at the listener too much, but when you FULLY tune it in, there're so many nice sounds which form one golden track. Handling the vocal duties are Sekon Sta with the decent 'Tech Rum a Lesson', the legendary Machel Montano who links with former Spicemas Road March champion, Runi Jay ["Si mi, I gone! Si mi, I gone!"] for the MAMMOTH 'Mad House' and, taking top honours, Mical Teja alongside the inimitable Boyzie (if you kind of loosely follow Soca music you may not have paid much attention, but Boyzie has been making some of the finest music in the entire genre over the past seven or eight seasons or so) who destroy every thing and every one, living and dead, with their 'Lash Up'.
"Lift My Voice" by M. Pres [Big Bus Records - 2022]
I'm just mentioning this one briefly, because I'm thinking about reviewing it (and if I don't, I will probably mention it again at some point with more detail). But check a nice album from someone who I've never heard of it, M. Pres, "Lift My Voice". [she sounds absolutely delightful]
The New English Riddim [Music Signal Records - 2021]
A big credit, once again, can be given to Turbulence who dropped a big tune on the New English Riddim via one Music Signal Records, the scathing 'One Bobo', which has driven me back in the direction of the rest of the tunes on the track. I don't love this one, actually. It's somewhat Hip-Hoppish and kind of simple to my ears, but that doesn't stop it from pulling out a nice tune or two as, along with 'The Future', Shane-O and Zamunda also come with decent efforts, especially the former.
The Rusty Cann Riddim [Kirkledove Records - 2013]
And then there's the Rusty Cann Riddim.... I don't have much to say in regards to this one as, between its nine vocal tracks, only two or three of them really decent in my opinion. General Degree does well (he always does), so did Power Man and... yep, that's about it. HOWEVER, with that being said this random, nearly decade old riddim from Kirkledove was absolutely FILTHY! It has downright hypnotic KNOCK to it that I cannot stop listening to it and, having now dug it up, it isn't likely leaving my players anytime soon - at least until I find another one just like it. Beautiful actual not ancient Dancehall riddim.
"The Journey: The Very Best Of Sizzla Kalonji" [Greensleeves Records - 2008]
And lastly (I say "and lastly", despite the fact that I'm writing this one first), I wish I had a good explanation as to what it was, exactly, that led me back to a nearly decade and half old greatest hits compilation, but I do not. Instead, what I can tell you is that, should this end up being what leads you back to "The Journey", then what you will find when you get there is an absolute forgotten gem! Along with just being a well put together project (and, in retrospect, given all the work Sizzla did with Greensleeves, back in the day, this was just a very good idea. VP also did it, as did Jet Star (Reggae Max vols 1 & 2 were solid!) (especially the first one), "The Journey" featured some INCREDIBLE music with somewhat of a Greensleeves twist, if you followed along. I don't know what brought me here in the first place, as I said, but I've happily stuck around for the likes of 'Praise Ye Jah', personal favourite 'Rastafari Teach I Everything', 'Show More Love', 'Really & Truly' and a tune I had forgotten all about and had not heard in years, the MAMMOTH [!] 'Africa Prepare'. As I've said in the past, Sizzla is my favourite of all time so I'm always listening to something he's done (and looking forward to his next set, "Rise Up" which reaches in a week and a half or so as of this writing) (have a really good feeling about that one) and these days, it's definitely been "The Journey".
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