Quarantine Scene Check, Day Infinity (Sunday): The depths of AD HQ’s office closet beckoned. And like Hiram Bingham III, but hatless, I entered. The 7 year old’s pleas for FROZEN II dissolved behind me (I ignored them) as I fought past the aesthetic pleasures of BASF stacks and Scotch reel-to-reel tapes. And then there I found it, the unsightly treasure: a cache of ‘90s Case Logic books…
Category: Reggae/Dub
Lee “Scratch” Perry :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
When I call up the reggae legend, Lee “Scratch” Perry, The Upsetter, to talk about his new album Rainford I reach him on a grainy WhatsApp audio connection. He’s in Jamaica and he’s in bed, “looking at the lights. looking at the day, and looking at the night.”
Perry’s in his eighties and when he gets going he speaks in limericks, but he doesn’t come across as wacky, just joyful. The first thing I notice about Perry is the giggle that roils through the conversation and punctuates his sentences. It’s disarming, a Buddha-like by-product of a lifetime of producing joy by way of deep and heavy rhythms, and meant for killing egos.
Christmas Jambree :: A Vintage Jamaican Yuletide Mixtape
Yuletide sails into Jamaica each year on what the locals call the Christmas Breeze, a slightly crisper air that tends to waft through the island come December. There’s another seasonal […]
Bomboclat! Island Soak 8 :: Jamaican Vintage (A Mixtape)
It’s July, which means it’s time to check in with the third largest of the four Greater Antilles. Enter Bomboclat! Island Soak, Volume 8 – another batch of seasoned sides […]
Mudie’s All-Stars :: Loran’s Dance
When a cover works. In this case, Mudie’s All-Stars Jamaican rendering of Idris Muhammad’s “Loran’s Dance.” I’m scribbling this on a train back to Tokyo after three nights haunting an array of […]
Christmas Jambree :: A Vintage Jamaican Yuletide Mixtape
Yuletide in Jamaica glides in each December on what the locals call the Christmas Breeze, a slightly crisper air that tends to waft through the island this time of year. […]
Studio One: Version Dread (Dub Specialist) / Vinyl Reissue
Speaking of the latest excavation of the famed Studio One vaults . . . Pre-dating what became known as dub there was the version. Out-of-print for over a decade, the label recently announced […]
Studio One Radio Show: Jamaican Broadcast Corp. 1977 / 1978
Mic control, Jamaican DJ Winston Williams had it. Released last year as part of the latest excavation of Studio One’s vaults, Radio Show finds the famed selector mc’ing two episodes broadcasted for the Jamaican Broadcast Corporation; 1977’s Sounds of Young Jamaica and 1978’s Soul, Power And Sound.
Bomboclat! Island Soak 7 :: Jamaican Vintage (A Mixtape)
Island Soak Vol. 7 is back. Heavy on the rocksteady, twenty-three deep cuts highlighting the abundance of crooning talent and metronome-like rhythms that populated the era. Contact high approved
Money Maker :: Studio One
Earlier this year, Yep Roc Music Group launched its massive Studio One reissue campaign. Founded in 1954 in Kingston by Clement “Coxsone” Dodd, the label practically defined reggae, releasing records by […]
Adrian Sherwood :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
“I never tried to make a commercial record…I know that sounds like a bit of a weird thing to say, because you try to sell records, but I was always […]
Bomboclat! Island Soak 6 :: Vintage Rocksteady II (A Mixtape)
The return of Bomboclat!: Volume Six. A twenty-two track compilation of crate digging Jamaican vintage with just the right amount of soul and funk to move your feet and shake […]
Jamaican Snapshots :: Winston Cooper (AKA Count Machuki)
Welcome to the fourth installment of Jamaican Snapshots – a recurring column illuminating Jamaican artists whose music largely flew under the radar outside of genre enthusiasts. Winston Cooper a.k.a. Count Machuki : known as […]
Jamaican Snapshots :: Dandy Livingstone (Ska Beat, 1967)
Welcome to the third installment of Jamaican Snapshots — a recurring column illuminating Jamaican artists whose music largely flew under the radar outside of genre enthusiasts. A prolific musician and producer, Dandy […]
Jamaican Snapshots :: Lloyd & Glen – Keep On Pushing
Welcome to Jamaican Snapshots — the second installment of a recurring column illuminating Jamaican artists whose music largely flew under the radar outside genre enthusiasts. Lloyd Robinson was best know for his […]