Cherry’s fifth album in 30 years take some appreciating, but after a number of plays, we like it a lot. It takes those repeated plays to get into as it’s nuanced, and nuanced can take time. All the songs feature Cherry’s vocals over percussion, although that percussion might be piano, and some of it is […]
Rebelution: Free Rein
This is reggae, but the sunny, chilled music reminds us most of Jack Johnson; music for lighting a fire on the beach after a hard day’s surfing. Then sinking some beers and saying dude a lot. Rebelution are new to us but the internet informs us they’re big in the States. Their first full-length album, […]
Calypso Rose: So Calypso
Calypso Rose is 78 and a calypsonian (a new word on us). She started writing songs at 15, and has composed more than 800 tunes and recorded more than 20 albums. Born Linda Sandy-Lewis, she grew up on Tobago, the birthplace of calypso. This new one is a follow-up to her 2016 platinum seller Far […]
New Kingston: A Kingston Story, Come From Far
This came out a while ago. Ok, August. But it’s reggae: it’ll find a ready audience and it all sounds pretty much the same anyway so there’s no rush for a review. This is the fourth studio album by New Kingston, who are Jamaican by heritage but living in New York: Courtney Panton plays drums, […]
The Undercover: Hippy Truth and Fiction
The Undercover Hippy — his mum calls him Billy — is one mixed up dude: he sounds like he should have long hair but doesn’t; on record he sounds a bit of a crusty but he’s a smart young man (his mum must be proud); he raps like Eminem but to reggae. He’s certainly different. […]
Gentleman’s Dub Club: Dubtopia
The sleeve is more reminiscent of a space rock band like Ozric Tentacles, but Gentleman’s Dub Club play reggae. Chemical stimulants may feature as widely in their audience’s leisure time as with the Ozrics, admittedly. If the sleeve is a bit misleading the name is not: Gentleman’s Dub Club dress like gents and play, if […]
John Brown’s Body: Fireflies
We’re guessing this is modern reggae; they’re from Boston and call themselves “future roots music”. We like a bit of reggae but it’s (obviously) a tight genre, so we asked our local reggae fiend and he said they’re “making waves, an up and coming band”. They’ve actually been going 20 years so we guess this […]
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