What I'm Listening To: Pass Di Dutchie!

"Love Who Loves You Back" by Jah Decko [Inam Records - 2026]

First up today is someone with whom I'm quite familiar with as a producer and someone behind the scenes (more on that in a second) but he's also shown his hand, here and there, as a vocalist over the years and is now setting out an entire project, the talented Jah Decko. I don't know if "Love Who Loves You Back" is actually his debut (and I don't feel like looking it up) but I was pretty happy to see that Decko had made his way to the forefront in a full way. I'm not going to lead you in a bad way and tell you about how amazing "Love Who Loves You Back" is... it isn't. It is not a great album and it contains one tune, by the name of 'Take It Easy', which may rank as one of the single worst that I've heard from ANYONE this year (may be the first time I've heard the word "boobies" used on Roots album) but it definitely does have its moments; including the opening salvo of 'Fyah Pon', 'Give Praises' and 'Go Back A Africa'. The kind of unusual title track also gets my attention (though I'm still working on making out exactly what I think of that tune) every time. 

"Rise Up" by Miriam Simone [Sound System Club Ltd - 2026]

The delightful Miriam Simone has also apparently been hard at work and the fruits have been poured into a new seven track EP of her own, "Rise Up". "Rise Up" is solid but not necessarily special as I've become fond of about half of it (including the pair of dubs that it carries). A good example of this is the first two songs which is a remake of the classic 'Satta Massagana', which is pretty middling, in my opinion but its dubbed out counterpart, 'Satta On Ya', is pretty outstanding. Later on is the very nice 'Stop The Shooting' and it's own dub, 'Ceasefire' which're both standouts and headlining everything is the golden title track which definitely sits amongst he very best material I have ever heard from the 'Dutch Alison Hinds' altogether.

'Few Of Us' by Bunji Garlin [NMG - 2026]

The one none Dutchie we're looking at today is the downright MASTERFUL Bunji Garlin who jumps up, a bit out of season, with a winner in the all sorts of odd but ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC 'Few Of Us'. The tempo on this song is damn strange but when it gets going, as is his norm these days, Garlin thrills on 'Few Of Us', particularly in highlight several of the local community entities that he feels could help liven up a party ["STOP DISGUISE FUNERAL AS FETE"]. Of course you could also use Garlin, himself, and a few of his peers. A song like this just goes to remind you what time of year it is: We aren't quite THERE yet... but it's coming. 

"Modern Rockets Vol. 1" by Joggo [Dredda Records - 2011]

Remember Jogo?? If you do then there's a decent chance that you may already be familiar with the work of the aforementioned Jah Decko as, if I recall correctly, he, at least in part (if not in full), produced an album of Joggo's by the name of "Modern Rockers Vol. 1" (still anxiously and patiently awaiting Vol. 2). Decko even hopped on a tune by the name of 'Strong Like Lion', which also featured Turbulence. "Modern Rockers"... may just be one of the greatest SLEEPER albums that we've ever covered on this blog. It did pretty well in terms of garnering attention and I think it surprised quite a few people who heard it. Not one of the BEST (I'm not trying to sell it as a modern classic or anything) but PROBABLY one of my personal favourites that we've looked at since I've been writing this thing and if you haven't yet, be nice to yourself and dig it up. You will not be disappointed. 

"Genesis" by Maikal X [Rock 'N Vibes Entertainment - 2010]

Remember Maikal X??? It's been a very long time since we've mentioned him around here, I think, and probably because we haven't had much of a reason to. He's still making music and I do check in occasionally but nothing has really gripped me in a few years. But we can always look back as I have been quite a bit this week to his debut (and SOLE, I believe) album release, the now sixteen year old, "Genesis" (and I think it came out in early 2010, so it's almost SEVENTEEN years old). Of course there was a big winner here in the hit that was 'Best In You' but "Genesis" also had some other pretty nice tunes as well such as the all kinds of fun remake 'Here She Comes', 'Caught Up', 'Give Thanks', the Don Corleon licked 'Bare With Me', 'Born To Die' and others still provided very nice vibes on an album that has aged pretty solidly. The great Luciano, the late Peetah Morgan and Irie Love (remember Irie Love???) all stopped by and lent a helping hand during this "Genesis".