I'm leaving the year off because Carnival season doesn't follow the regular calendar anyway and the last couple threads didn't quite justify dedicated annual threads--hopefully this one will get massively unwieldy and I'll regret it. Also making the thread remit open to basically any Caribbean pop music that isn't already covered in the dancehall and reggaeton&c. threads, though the emphasis will still likely be on Trinidadian music.
Kes's ode to Queen's Park Savannah, "Savannah Grass," seems like a great place to start:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXXq4RBKhtc
Also enjoying the Tingin' riddim this afternoon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eazfwcqabpo
I desperately need a pre-season mix though, if anyone has any recs.
― rob, Saturday, 26 January 2019 19:50 (four months ago) Permalink
(repost) Just for the pleasure of having Bunji Garlin with spanish-style guitar againhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzPJNUe5mkA
― Nabozo, Tuesday, 29 January 2019 14:47 (four months ago) Permalink
That's really nice, it has a Carnival Tabanca vibe to it.
― rob, Tuesday, 29 January 2019 15:18 (four months ago) Permalink
Yeah, nice one. For the uninitiated (=me): who is the original “Carnival Tabanca” by? I see lots of songs (cover versions?) with that title.
― breastcrawl, Tuesday, 29 January 2019 17:14 (four months ago) Permalink
Bunji, i think?
"Tabanca" as a concept is used a lot though - it's basically longing for something that has passed so in this context generally means post-carnival comedown.
― ShariVari, Tuesday, 29 January 2019 17:29 (four months ago) Permalink
yeah I meant the Bunji tune:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiYTfkvdtNg
one of my favorites
― rob, Tuesday, 29 January 2019 17:36 (four months ago) Permalink
Soca Monarch semi-finalists are out btw:
http://www.looptt.com/content/soca-monarch-semi-finalists-named
I haven't gone through them properly yet (though in true Trini style, i haven't gotten around to listening to my Carnival 2018 compilation CDs yet, so it may be a while).
― ShariVari, Tuesday, 29 January 2019 17:40 (four months ago) Permalink
wow I don't think I know *any* of the Power finalists
― rob, Tuesday, 29 January 2019 17:43 (four months ago) Permalink
I do know most of these finalists but it’s great to have the songs listed like this. Thanks!
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Tuesday, 29 January 2019 21:17 (four months ago) Permalink
Dumpa Truck goes HARD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqe3PYxmq8s
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Tuesday, 29 January 2019 22:22 (four months ago) Permalink
I think longneck might have posted this on the previous thread, but man I love Bunji's See Meh:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLFnIPxjH-A
On Badang he's meta:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lciBiSpQvQ4
― rob, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 20:06 (four months ago) Permalink
^Olatunji and Machel are also great on that if you missed it earlier like I did
― rob, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 20:09 (four months ago) Permalink
Speaking of Bunji Garlin, I really enjoyed this - as well, of course, as everything I've found lurking here for the last decade or so.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeGRongJI8k
― vcrash, Thursday, 31 January 2019 01:31 (four months ago) Permalink
that bangs! underpopulated rolling genre threads are a great way to de-lurk imo, just saying
― rob, Thursday, 31 January 2019 22:28 (four months ago) Permalink
haha, true dat
― breastcrawl, Friday, 1 February 2019 07:10 (four months ago) Permalink
can't remember if I posted this on last year's thread, but I like this very much.
Juby - Look She Dey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXKo0qEBU0M
― frame casual (dog latin), Friday, 1 February 2019 12:55 (four months ago) Permalink
What can you lot tell me about Zouk and French-Antillian / French-Caribbean music? Is it still a thing? I remember Kassav' and Zouk Machine being on TV in France a lot as a kid
― frame casual (dog latin), Friday, 1 February 2019 13:04 (four months ago) Permalink
Ha I ate pancakes at Riley's in December! Great tune too.
Sadly I know rien about French-Caribbean music. fwiw, I think the stray tracks that have crossed my radar were all basically dancehall. LargeUp was never perfect but it definitely sucks there's no good source for general Caribbean music now
― rob, Friday, 1 February 2019 17:48 (four months ago) Permalink
This power soca tag team development is worth noting:
Skinny, Machel, and Bunji / "Famalay"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD4lqYEwmiI
Erphaan, Nailah, and Sekon / "Brave"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwXoxYOqb9Y
― rob, Friday, 1 February 2019 17:50 (four months ago) Permalink
The Juby is great. Loving the brass and the breakdown at the end. In heavy rotation now.Some fresh jab from Slatta (or “Slätta”, as Spotify likes to call him, as a result of interference with a Danish band of that name). I had a wild musical fling with him last year, and he’s back! Slatta • Unbothered:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fmn5pPqY1ik(this one makes me so so giddy)Merzy ft. Slatta • Doh Fraid:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-_Nu6ntsRc(the instrumental track of this one is absolutely bonkers!)The Cigar Puff Riddim has Slatta, but also this: Big Red • Typa Way:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOHFSg-ApQUAs it happens, these are all produced by Xpert Productions, who also did Bunji’s “Wet” upthread.In case it wasn’t abundantly clear yet: Jab is by far my favorite kind of soca.
― breastcrawl, Friday, 1 February 2019 19:12 (four months ago) Permalink
Question: I say “jab”, because that’s how people call it here (I think), or is “jab jab” the (only) correct name for this genre?
― breastcrawl, Friday, 1 February 2019 19:16 (four months ago) Permalink
I say Jab but I'm by no means an authority. think 'Jab jab' means devil which is the root term
― frame casual (dog latin), Friday, 1 February 2019 19:22 (four months ago) Permalink
Either is fine.
― ShariVari, Friday, 1 February 2019 19:52 (four months ago) Permalink
That’s settled then, cheers!
― breastcrawl, Friday, 1 February 2019 20:03 (four months ago) Permalink
The Toco Loco Riddim (posted at the tail end of the previous thread) is a great way to start the day. Make the shower your carnival!
― breastcrawl, Thursday, 7 February 2019 07:50 (four months ago) Permalink
Jab MADNESS
'Pick up something - Run wid it!'
https://www.facebook.com/MrKilla/videos/2171317776455741/
This is Mr Killa - Run Wid It. I think it's mandatory to pick up something when this comes on
― frame casual (dog latin), Friday, 8 February 2019 15:31 (four months ago) Permalink
http://www.looptt.com/content/more-criticism-mr-killa-over-soca-monarch-win
Sour grapes re Grenada’s Mr Killa?
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 6 March 2019 21:54 (three months ago) Permalink
I like Mr. Killa from Grenada’s “ Run Wild it.” His speedy ennuncation and the percussive rhythms. He’s gonna be in DC Sunday.
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 26 March 2019 13:32 (two months ago) Permalink
http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/238717/killa-slays-iwer-ism-crown-goes-grenada
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 26 March 2019 13:34 (two months ago) Permalink
Listening to David Rudder’s Catharsis album from a few years back. I like his lilting melodies, socio-political lyrics, and rhythms that aren’t quite as fast-tempoed as most soca hits
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 28 March 2019 14:16 (two months ago) Permalink
https://newsday.co.tt/2019/02/08/wheres-the-lyrical-artistry-in-soca/
Rudder, a singer/songwriter who won the Calypso Monarch and Road March titles in 1986, answered first.
Each generation reflects where we are in society, he said. Recalling that he had come up as a calypsonian in the tradition of Zandolie and Kitchener, the “Lyrics Man” said working with 2016-18 Soca Monarch Voice showed him that young writers see rhyme and lyrics differently from the older generation of calypsonians. He and Voice have a 2019 release called Madness....
...Calypso emerged from the songs of enslaved Africans in Trinidad and came of age in the poor, black, urban jamette culture of the early 20th century. Its anodyne lyrics often disguised subversive or vulgar double meanings.
There is no need to disguise such meanings any more, Rudder said. “It’s not by chance. It’s a very raw time.”
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 31 March 2019 18:47 (two months ago) Permalink
70-something Calypso Rose from T & T is performing in NYC tonight. Wish she’d come farther south to my locale
― curmudgeon, Friday, 5 April 2019 18:33 (two months ago) Permalink
xp my Chutney-loving mate made the case for parallels between that style and country music. so many songs about break ups and alcohol abuse
― frame casual (dog latin), Friday, 5 April 2019 18:53 (two months ago) Permalink
Maybe so
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 10 April 2019 12:54 (two months ago) Permalink
From Martinique (and from 2016, but new to me, so yeah):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuFnsdjtCeU
M.O.B • KoKoLeCheL
This is from this year, slightly different title, completely different track:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAgu-Bj-dtk
M.O.B • KoKéLécheL
(Spotify has them as by “Mob” and “M O B” respectively, but it’s the same guy)
― breastcrawl, Friday, 3 May 2019 12:59 (one month ago) Permalink