rolling dancehall & reggae 2017

I like the individual songs whenever I hear one of them, but no, I haven't been able to really listen to the album either. Which is... weird. Anyway, this gives me an excuse to post Aidonia's Yeah, which should have been posted many weeks ago (along with a dozen other songs but... work).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAfoh46RYNY

unlistenable explicit trop xover bid (i can)

lol I do remember that one

think I like "Krayzay" and "Banga" more than "Yeah Yeah" but nice to see him so full of fire this year

thread is tragically neglected this year, but did we ever post anything from La Vida riddim?

i like money topic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ina8BboD4fA

I think Bruise is the only recent Aidonia I have a slight problem with, but mostly because the idea of bruising and sex makes me go hmmmm.

This new Kartel stays lodged in my brain:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_Wzm0SVuv0

that's a good one. I like I Octane on that riddim too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xuLPriwXjw

been wondering lately if this has been kind of a down year or if it's me? I definitely haven't been staying super current like years past, but just looking at say Alkaline's output, I think only Fast and Red Eyes have really stuck with me. curious if you feel the same way. otoh, I don't want to blame everything on politics but this has also been a pretty anhedonic year in general and I've spent way more time listening to older stuff in response

mm hm is so good, reminds me of older kartel like court case or something.
think it has been a bit of a down year though, a lot of the energy has moved to the uk for me. if i want to hear a new alkaline song i'm more likely to reach for his guest verse on textin. that said pretty girl team is one of my favorites of the year.

this one's great as well. good month for vybz.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-FfToAJpd0

I think it has been a really good year for Alkaline overall, and Kartel is staying strong. (I agree that Pretty Girl Team, Fast and Red Eyes are awesome, but right below them there's Impact, Nice & Easy, Buss Head and Gyalis Pro.) Plus Masicka is getting closer and closer to... something interesting. And Shenseea, Popcaan, Konshens and a few other artists have consistently brought it. However, it all feels a bit... barren in other areas. None of the Spice songs have REALLY stayed with me and few among the B-team artists have made those memorable songs that they usually make. And we sort of kind of missed that ubiquitous summer riddim this year, didn't we? There were a few nice ones, but no Moscato Riddim or anything like it.

yeah that's what I'm getting at really: I have a weaker grasp on what tunes/riddims have been really big this year but wasn't sure if it's because nothing really achieved that status or I missed something--"no Moscato" sums it up. I get that I'm alone in this but pointing to Kartel as a sign of the genre's health is odd to me--I think it would be even if he wasn't in jail. Dude is 41 years old and has been making music for a quarter of a century! Plus--this is a personal taste issue for sure--I just don't dig hearing his voice that much these days. I should go back and check all the Alkaline stuff I only gave a quick listen to; but I'm not really worried about him, he was on fire last year and I don't expect that kind of sustained hit-making (five years ago I remember I was worried Popcaan had run out of steam lol). I do wonder what I'm missing with Masicka, per his YT views he's quite popular but I never really like anything he does that much. I don't have the data to back this up, but beyond the relative strength of individual artists/careers cited, my gut feeling is that dancehall production is in a holding pattern right now? Generally my problem with, e.g., the Alkaline tracks I'm meh on is that I don't care that much about the riddim.

curious about oiocha's uk comment: do you mean specifically UK dancehall or more broadly UK rap/afrobeatsy stuff?

I obviously still love Kartel's voice and will keep loving it until his well runs dry, lol. But apart from that I'm with you all the way. As for Masicka I love his Money Mix Version, 10 out of 10, but he seems to lack a bit flavour and personality overall.

Guessing that oiocha was referring to the "afro bashment" scene, the sub-J Hus stuff, since he mentioned WSTRN's Txtn With the Alkaline feature, but even that scene seems to have started the year stronger than they're closing it out, imo. I haven't really heard an afropop song I've loved in a while either, though, so I'm guessing it partly has to do With me working too much and not really having the time to dig in musically these days. I will say that I love this Demarco tune though:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHmS6XFSzss

definitely agree on lack of a big summer riddim/hit- nothing has felt as big as moscato or even just "fever" on its own last year. money mix is great but no club crowd is going to react to it the way they react to that piano hook in moscato. genna bounce/"yeah yeah" seems like it has a lot of momentum right now but isn't really my thing.

but that said it's hard to argue looking at the year in tunes: pretty girl team, 10 outta 10, infrared, popcaan - addictive (wildly underappreciated!), jahmiel & shenseea - tell me, aidonia - ig girls...all of that's still pretty fantastic music that doesn't sound quite like anything else, who cares if it doesn't fit our need for a narrative of progression, right? i'm sure something is going to come along and blow my mind soon as well.

longneck you might dig juls' fader mix for new-ish afropop...i played it all of late summer, laid back and lovely stuff
http://www.thefader.com/2017/07/06/fader-mix-juls

Thanks, I kind of slept on his album for some reason but will get around to this. Usually, all it takes is a Neptizzle weekly mix to pull me back in. I do like all of the songs you mentioned and even a couple of others - Robbo Ranx has kept playing Kranium, Wizkid and Ty Dolla's Can't Believe until I finally caved in and realized it's one of the biggest tunes of the year, lol. I low key hated it at first.
I think the problem is mostly me working too much, which means that something needs to be really special to grab my attention. I need to give myself the chance to be pulled in properly again.

to be clear, I should have started with a disclaimer by saying that a 'bad' year for me with dancehall means fewer than like several dozen great tracks. Definitely not in despair over here and everything I've posted upthread continues to be spun, and there's a handful or two I never posted that you guys are probably already up on.

heh, I do not like that Kranium et al track at all despite that one having a great riddim! but yeah tbrr my problem is totally rooted in being depressed about the state of the world. I didn't want to turn this into a thread about that, but it's affecting my music listening across the board, preferring familiar music or drifty dreamy stuff to the more direct pleasures of dancehall or soca. I have also fallen out of the afropop loop so thanks for that juls mix, his "Early" is one I did manage to pick up on. And I like that Demarco track; the Popcaan/Davido one is also good imo

Anyway, "Addictive" is great! I think what's holding it back is that it was never officially released? Obvs that doesn't mean a whole lot in 2017, but it's not on Spotify (in Canada at least) and that can't be helping. Point taken about narrative progression, but I honestly don't think I'm looking for that: I would be psyched for a good throwback ragga riddim. I mean Moscato was certainly retro.

Glad I posted though as I'd slept on Pretty Girl Team and Money Mix

wasn't sure about this one at first but I have succumbed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho9AQ91qGxQ

Interesting point about the state of the world, rob. I think the sunny caribbean and african sounds are all that keep me *from* depression at times, so whenever there are fewer than a few dozen hits I love, I'm instantly getting nervous, lol. Love the I-Octane and Bunji, btw.

Btw, Chicken and Dumplin was *almost* that riddim for me.

Oh I'm the same with using sunny sounds as a bulwark agains the shittiness of the world, so I am a little nervous tbh! It's too bad about the Chronixx album--now would be a great time to have some really searing roots to turn to, something like Popcaan's "System" would be so welcome. In that vein, I've grown to really really love "Buss Head"

ah yeah i wasn't trying to drag any positivity out of anyone! just following my own train of thought and remembering how lucky i am to be able to access all this incredible music haha.

it's definitely therapeutic for me as well, in These Times Of Ours, you have to take your pleasures where you can and getting a reliably great (or at least above average) alkaline or popcaan or vybz or shenseea track every few weeks is one of my major ones.

i love "can't believe" and can't believe I forgot to mention it up there...gliding over those smooth dembows, mmmm. kranium has such a great voice and i'm a sucker for that echo-y, expansive production on the vocals, one of those tunes that has a whole night out compressed into one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDHktZY7a30

also, any chance anyone knows something about the first 40 seconds of this video? clicked on it randomly and was completely taken aback by this random minimal skeletal earworm only to have my excitement crushed when it's just the intro and the actual tune is a decent but not great conscious track. is it an interpretation of an older song i don't know?

i don’t know what it is, but you’re correct about it being an ear worm, been walking round the house going “some man pick up the guuuuuuuun” for the last forty minutes.

and fwiw, state of the world and richness of current dancehall, soca etc notwithstanding, am always really grateful for this thread for consistently throwing up favourite tracks.

no idea about that intro either but I like the whole thing, nice find!

Maybe like longneck I was too harsh on Can't Believe--I do really like the feel of the production. On first listen, I may have been expecting too much from the Wizkid feature, or maybe it's that the song grooves where I expected it to build up to something bigger. Also Kranium's album, which I initially liked, barely stuck with me so I might be holding that against him.

I don't think I ever posted this Alicai Harley. Absolutely love it, wish there were more of these weightless, plinky NES-sounding riddims--reminds me of Cute Bubble a lot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf9kO4pATJU

^^Yeah, that was my initial reaction to Can't Believe too.
I haven't posted Washer Dryer yet, have I?

https://youtu.be/nF0ryxo0fjY

There's also Don't Come Back, which just dropped:
https://youtu.be/Ylgj6ksqXlo

Is Mavado's main problem as an artist that he doesn't at all seem interested in sex? Just a stray thought that has been bothering me for a while.

Another seemingly related random thought: I really like Masicka whenever he making songs for the girls. 10 outta 10 is good, and so is Down For Life.

I suppose there is something a bit stone-faced and perfunctory about Mavado's sex songs, no sense of pleasure being communicated. I think, for me, current Mavado's problem is that as he's aged his voice has sounded more tired (I mean that literally) and the poignancy it used to have has been lost a bit while the braggadocio doesn't come over as well.

Washer Dryer is great, though immediately filed under "headphones only" for me lol. Are there other versions on that riddim? it's nice.

Definitely more accurate to say I'm super picky about Kartel tracks than that I dislike him now. that said, "Don't Come Back" has that uh suspiciously timeless quality to it we've discussed before. I dig this one with Kim Kelly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc2k6zuxyTU

Would have to do due diligence on Masicka to weigh in, but fwiw I don't really care for any of his gunman tunes while I do like 10 Outta 10. Have to admit I am also mildly anti-Masicka for the 'genocide' branding; I probably wouldn't care if he was on some tommy lee sparta goth metal shit--and lord knows I compartmentalize tons of other shit in dancehall--but it feels cheap to me

My own random thought: is this Kyla/Popcaan song good or just an admirably efficent feat of engineering together like 4 different genres that I love?

The clean Washer Dryer is actually better, lol. It's Washer... dryer... com-complete. I even discussed it with my daughter, who agreed that a washer wasn't complete without a dryer, lol.

hahaha <3

Btw, I think the Kyla is good - but I'm not quite sold on Poppy as the romantic interest. At least not yet.

dancehall/reggae fans - other than Soul Jazz's Invasion of the Mysteron Killer Sounds, what other riddim comps are out there that are just the instrumentals? I know about the Greensleeves and Riddim Driven ones, but I want comps of multiple riddims

there aren't too many sadly but there's mo'wax's compilation Now Thing and Raime's mix Our Versions of Their Versions come to mind

https://soundcloud.com/the_large/infrared-mixtape

such an absolute fire mix and a good overview of the year for casual thread-perusers

just me or is the chronixx album a bit of a disappointment?

― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Wednesday, September 6, 2017 4:24 PM (two months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah I listened to about half of it and got kind of bored despite liking some bits (iirc the one with his dad was good?). I should give it another shot but haven't felt particularly inclined.

― rob, Wednesday, September 6, 2017 4:45 PM (two months ago

Saw that Rolling Stone magazine put this in their top 2017 album list so I gave it another listen. Eh, its ok with some strong moments, but yeah nothing amazing.

Aidonia still going hard:

https://youtu.be/LtUmdsEdiGI

Great mix of instrumentals from Bass Clef on NTS.

https://www.nts.live/shows/floatingworldmusic/episodes/open-hand-real-flames-28th-november-2017

For those compiling your year-end lists, this playlist includes all the available tracks on this thread, organized roughly chronologically in order of mention:

ILM's 2017 Rolling Dancehall + Reggae Thread Spotify Playlist

Thanks ulysses, really appreciate your work on these

terminatorthumbsup.jpeg

rereading the thread I must confess: I now love "Can't Believe", it just took a while for that hook to totally worm its way in.

ha ha, I knew it!
Honestly though, there have been a lot of big tunes that haven't been posted in this thread this year. The same goes for the afro and soca threads. My new year's resolution is to step up for 2018.
But since I'm here, let me jiust mention that the All Night Riddim is pretty gorgeous.

Alkaline:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2_QDsFU1Ks

Mavado:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4v24DuiNEk

Tarrus & Konshens:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68jbqgel0oI

Chris Martin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtgUAVulFvM

D-Major, Jahmiel and Sean Paul are also good on it.

Vybz is still the artist I've listened to the most in 2017 though. I don't know how it's possible but there have been about 20-30 new Kartel tracks that I really love/like this year.

re Cant Believe. I noticed one day I had the keyboard hook in my head and when I went to youtube to listen to it, I caught the "dance video" which is just super fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWx-_7V24Yc

nice Teetimus track from that Large mixtape:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3D0a8dUScI

nih-ninininih-nih-ninininih-nih-ninininih-nih-ninininih...

otm

also from the dept of potential EOY second thoughts, this Fader micro-doc on Masicka is p likeable: http://www.thefader.com/2017/12/05/masicka-documentary-energy-fader

as is, i should mention, the track in question:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB508IJYSYs

I totally missed that one. Sounds like he's beginning to stretch out and loosen up a bit.

wow Alkaline kills this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtwtzkvYmHU

faster than Fast?

Some v half-baked thoughts after listening to Large Up/Mighty Crown's eoy mix:
This was a good year, but I do think it was kinda uneventful/unsurprising, basically dominated by a handful of (excellent) artists. As mentioned above, no single uniting song or riddim, no weird/funny novelty tracks, a very quiet year for the roots scene. No promising new stars with the exception of Shenseea, whose success put the shutout of women in the genre into relief. There are a couple riddims on that mix that absolutely cry out for an Alaine or Denyque--it's weird that there are no women in that rnb-ish space while we have Kranium, Jahmiel, Vershon, Chris Martin, et al (as much as I dig all those guys) plus all the singjays.

That all sounds like I'm complaining but tbc there are a ton of awesome tracks on that mix. Alkaline was especially versatile and consistent--he has like 10 tracks on the mix and they're all fire, even the one about his mom. I find Mavado in 2017 to be kind of a puzzle: it's always nice to hear him pop up in that mix but he's never the best thing on any riddim. OTOH he has really good taste in riddims, unlike say Popcaan who is pretty indiscriminating but there's always a bunch of gems.

Of course the mix is just one crew's take and Large Up's actual lists are to come so there's probably some major blindspots in all that^. I think it's a decent year overview but there are some weird choices (why only one Shenseea track and why that one?).

A couple new to me tunes on that mix. This Popcaan track seems to be some Japan-only thing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsU7ofIkLUs

and then there's this Sizzla:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTI1o-aWigU