31–40 of 223 posts
It feels natural and organic. Human creativity building on and growing what came before.
There's no decent reggae after the early 1980s, apart from UB40 knock off bands. Give me the Pioneers, Dave and Ansel Collins or Justin Hinds any day.
> There's no decent reggae after the early 1980s ... Big reggae fan here (old reggae) but Mike Love, "Permanent Holiday" is quite something: https://youtu.be/fU7hZ3smj0g
Most late 20th century western musical movements and the cultural changes that came with them was down to manufacturers of instruments. It was usually a box, synthesizer or effects unit. Surely the R&D for new sounds is what music depends on?
Some people have a certain fluency with sound and music. It's not about training, although training will bring it out if someone has it. But it seems pretty innate. And it cuts through in a way that the work of people without the fluency doesn't.
Roland used to be masters of this. Their rhythm and bass boxes seemed like stupid failed toys, but they had a magic that wasn't obvious until they were handed to people who didn't try to use them in the "proper" way.
That's fluency from two sources - something the original designers somehow had (until Roland stopped being that kind of company) mixed with the feel the pioneering users had.
This story is another example of that.
Compare with - say - Yamaha's attempts to sell physical modelling synthesis. There was much money spent, a good selection of instruments produced, but it failed to cut through. Possibly because it ended up being a system of presets and directed constraints that limited imagination instead of opening it up. (Or possibly not. It's a mysterious process.)
There's no decent reggae after the early 1980s, apart from UB40 knock off bands. Give me the Pioneers, Dave and Ansel Collins or Justin Hinds any day.
There's no decent reggae after the early 1980s, apart from UB40 knock off bands. Give me the Pioneers, Dave and Ansel Collins or Justin Hinds any day.
There's no decent reggae after the early 1980s, apart from UB40 knock off bands. Give me the Pioneers, Dave and Ansel Collins or Justin Hinds any day.
For those who don't know, "Riddim is the Jamaican Patois pronunciation of the English word 'rhythm'. In the context of reggae and dancehall it refers to the instrumental accompaniment to a song and is synonymous with the rhythm section... A given riddim, if popular, may be used in dozens—or even hundreds—of songs, not only in recordings but also in live performances." The actual riddim sounds completely uninteresting…
I find the simple casio rhythm delightfully engaging and catchy! But that may be because I've heard it in so many reggae and dancehall songs I associate it with now. But the first time I heard those songs, they immediately caught my ear and made me want to dance.
Here's just an MT-40 playing the present. To me that's super catchy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq7B4MFbmgU
There's no decent reggae after the early 1980s, apart from UB40 knock off bands. Give me the Pioneers, Dave and Ansel Collins or Justin Hinds any day.
The Sleng Teng riddim is one of my favorite reggae riddims. Americans might best know it as the bassline from Sublime's Caress Me Down ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_LP4IU6XD4 ). But you might really love the lyrics of Tenor Saw's Pumpkin Belly, which a song of the "old time proverbs": "Whatsover you want / You have to work very hard to gain." https://genius.com/Tenor-saw-pumpkin-belly-lyrics
Here is a video where Wayne Smith tells how he found the preset on the keyboard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM2qMdop890
The Sleng Teng riddim is one of my favorite reggae riddims. Americans might best know it as the bassline from Sublime's Caress Me Down ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_LP4IU6XD4 ). But you might really love the lyrics of Tenor Saw's Pumpkin Belly, which a song of the "old time proverbs": "Whatsover you want / You have to work very hard to gain." https://genius.com/Tenor-saw-pumpkin-belly-lyrics
Also reminds me of the intro to Creature Comfort by Arcade Fire.