dub
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We might not all be able to know the way to get on that righteous path but there are signals that could help us get there. These are ones found merely by observing that walk to it, in others. Adrian Sherwood’s experimental reggae and dub label On-U Sound wouldn’t have been what it came to…
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“Forget your sorrow let’s start livin’ for today” those are the sublime spliced verses that kick off this monumental piece of house music. Before such a word “house music” even existed only a few people were hip to the possibilities inherent somewhere deep in the mind of English soul band Imagination. Night Dubbing was the sound of Imagination stretching to…
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I’m looking at the liner notes to Sly & Robbie’s Language Barrier right now. Performances by Afrika Bambaataa, Bernie Worrell, Mikey Chung, Manu Dibango, Wally Badarou, Herbie Hancock (!), Bob Dylan (!?!?), and production by Bill Laswell…I keep asking myself why in the world did this not make a dent in anyone’s memory? By the looks of their…
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Back in 1979, French musical giant Serge Gainsbourg travels to Jamaica, meets up with hugely influential dub producers Sly and Robbie, then proceeds to create this controversial 30-odd minutes of “freggae” featuring Rita Marley’s erotic background vocals. It’s a scene that so thoroughly infuriated his own critics, and through one controversial song, infuriated all sorts…
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Even for me, what I’m going to write next seems something out of a fever dream. Polly Eltes, elite, English model/actress seen in the pages of Italian Vogue, and on the catwalks of Europe, teams up with CAN guitarist Michael Karoli to create a forward-thinking blast of Fourth World dub music. If I didn’t have…
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The definitive version of the definitive Nyabinghi album, that’s what you’ll find here today. Filled with religious fervor unheard –and in such dosage– on any other Lee “Scratch” Perry produced release, Ras Michael and the Sons of Negus’ Love Thy Neighbour holds the distinction of both being one of Lee’s finest productions and also one that would signal the…
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How do you classify a six-piece Japanese band like Apsaras? Their debut album Apsaras definitely covers a ton of bases. Let’s count all the genres that they bring into their musical mix: dub, new age, minimalism, vocoder funk, balearic, are a few. Heck, you even hear the glimmers of Afropop and Jazz-Fusion. How many genres have I mentioned so far?…
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How do you describe a band like Frank Chickens? Led by performer/artist/musician/animator/singer/theater producer Kazuko Hohki and her sister-in-arms Kazumi Taguchi, Frank Chickens still remains unlike any band out there. Using Japanese kitsch and asian fetishization as a means to facilitate some truly subversive culture prodding and oddly imaginative musical explorations, Frank Chickens’ debut We Are Frank Chickens shows you a small…
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“Cool, no sweat funk.” – Those exact words are how the leaders of Japanese group EP-4 describe their music. Led by the imitable Kaoru Sato (vocalist) and Banana Kawashima (keyboardist/tape looper), EP-4 in a brief period in the early ’80s existed in its own playing field. Stylistically, and philosophically, more akin to dub-minded bands like The Pop…
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I was hoping to start out by saying how its ok to feel thankful and be thankful. I feel very thankful that I’m I am to share this music with you…but damn! If someone should feel thankful it should be Seke Molenga and Kalo Kawongolo. Not only did they release an unbelievable hybrid of Congolese Soukous and cavernous…
ambient art pop art rock balearic brazilian electro-acoustic england environmental music experimental folk-rock fourth world Funk fusion japan jazz minimalist neo-folk neoclassical new age walearic