DJ Wicz

More 45's Found In Japan . . .

2007-12-21T00:28:36Z

Two big early digital 45's crossed off the wantlist. Both found cheap too, compared to online prices. I guess if you spend dozens of hours in Japanese record shops you're bound to come across a bargain or two (though most of my haul was more in line with going rates). These are personal favorites of mine, take a listen.

45's From Japan

2007-12-20T22:12:34Z

Here are a couple of nice rub a dub tunes from my recent trip to Japan. Nuff reggae shops all over the place there, I'll be posting some more clips and pictures soon . . .

Computer World (And Its Problems)

2007-08-15T23:56:38Z

One good thing about delving into digital tunes is discovering some of the great unheralded singers of reggae. Carl Meeks may be appreciated by soundsystem selectors and hardcore fans, but his talent deserves a bigger audience. Like all good Jamaican singers, he had a really original style to fit with his times. He takes the flattened Waterhouse-type vocal made famous by the likes of Don Carlos and Tenor Saw, and seems to stretch it out. He gives a chilling performance on perhaps his biggest tune, "We Dem Fah". On this "World And Its Problem", he is in a more conscious mode, but still sounds well bleak about the issues facing mankind. Even the scriptural reference is dark - "We're living in a world of Soddom and Gomorr - ow." Which brings us to the powerful Wayne Smith tune, E20. The alpha-numeric title of the tune seems to go right along with the bleeps and blips depicted on the cover of the lp and lacing the album. Wayne Smith of course is most famous for coming up with the first computer riddim with his friend Tiger. Though best known for that achievement, his full-length lp featuring Sleng-Teng has several other wicked tracks to recommend it, including this one. Wayne busily quotes chapters from the good book while fending off heathens and badmen with the help of a frantic and catchy riddim. Here's proof that Wayne Smith deserves to be remembered for more than the one tune, Sleng-Teng, which helped launch the computerized era.

Manhunt

2007-07-25T21:41:47Z

Summer's a good time for a pair of songs about, well, Young Gal Business, as Shaka puts it. I'm putting these up, especially Shabba's and Lovindeer's tune, as a cautionary tale to a certain friend who has recently met an overeager young woman. They also happen to be nice late 80's digi tunes built on heavy riddims (Mud Up in the case of Shaka). Woman a hunt!

Country Reggae Meets Far East Sound

2007-06-04T08:32:25Z

Up this week are selections from two essential reggae albums, Joe Higgs' "Life Of Contradiction" and Tetrack's "Let's Get Started". Higgs labored quite a bit in the 70's in the background of numerous bigger stars, including Bob Marley, singing backup and writing songs. He never got the acclaim of someone like Toots Hibbert, who shares a similar rough-hewn voice and sound. He did manage to release this record in 1975 on Micron which serves as a monument to his talents. Tetrack's "Let's Get Started" is a masterpiece of minor chords and perfect harmonizing over fiery Augustus Pablo riddims. It was released in 1980. It was difficult to choose one track each from these lp's, but these two are among the best from two outstanding collections of tunes.

Sun Is Shining Nowadays

2007-05-29T08:34:36Z

My favorite Prince Allah tune, produced by Bertram Brown of Freedom Sounds. Paired with a wicked Robert Ffrench Tune on Joe Gibbs that I just found. Each on 12" single followed by dubs.

Digital Love/Digital Gun

2007-05-22T03:13:41Z

White Mice comes again with that crazily compelling pre-pubescent voice on a devastating digi cut of Jah Shakey (Tune In). The occasional echos in the mix add just the right touch of hallucinatory charm to the tune. Super Cat follows with "Permit Fi Gun", riding the African Beat riddim with a lyric about the need for reggae stars to pack heat in order to defend themselves. Super Cat says he wrote this tune in the aftermath of the murder of Peter Tosh.

People's Choice

2007-04-23T00:07:13Z

It seems that vinyl is dying again. Record companies stopped pressing vinyl for most genres back when CD's started to take over, but hip hop vinyl survived (though pressed in lesser quantity) and so did reggae on wax. DJ's needed to spin records, after all. That rationale has now disappeared, as DJ's are using digital files to play in small set-ups and even for the largest soundsystems. I was forced to reflect on this when I went to Music Ambassador, a reggae distributor based in Brooklyn, as they were shutting down their shop due mainly to the precipitous decline in demand for records. It's beginning to feel strange picking up 45's, as if they are becoming novelty items. Happily new songs are still being released on 45, though I don't know how long that is going to last, and of course the format isn't the most important thing, it's the music. That said, I was happy to find two new tunes backed by classic riddims, on vinyl. "People's Choice" rides what most people know as I Need A Roof but started out as Larry Marshall's Mean Girl. It's a fine roots song with lyrics and music evoking the past. "Lean With It" is a catchy hit song climbing the charts right now, featuring Vegas starting a new dance, Elephant Man style. It's on Sly & Robbie's Taxi label and it's on one of my favorite riddims, Darker Shade of Black.

Burning Spear and Delroy Wilson

2007-04-16T22:27:17Z

Delroy Wilson's "Keep On Trying" comes from the Music Lab label, an imprint of Studio One which featured a number of releases on the 10" format in the late seventies. They seem to be getting more and more sought after, understandably, as the music on these records is generally excellent. A friend was nice enough to lend me "Keep On Trying", which I knew was a re-done Studio One riddim but couldn't figure out which one. I discovered the answer when I found a 70's copy of Burning Spear's second album "Rocking Time" which is where the riddim first appeared, on "What A Happy Day".

New Roots

2007-04-09T16:26:36Z

Occasionally a new reggae artist will come out that gets people excited about roots music again. Many years ago it was Sizzla, leading a 90's revival of conscious artists. More recently it was Warrior King and more recently still, I Wayne and Turbulence. Ranaco is one of the newest singers out releasing conscious tunes. The terrific Jamrid site (www.jamrid.com) tipped me off about him a few weeks ago, and I've been trying to track down some of his singles. I am about a year late, but I did manage to find two of his bigger tunes, "Nah Run Well" and "Sixty Queens." Had to get them all the way from Japan in fact. "Sixty Queens" proves it is always handy to have a Bible around when listening to reggae. The title is a reference to the Old Testament's Song of Solomon, a chapter which has been mined before by many writers and singers (Sizzla's "Black and Comely" is a title pulled from these chapters). Ranaco nicely takes these lines and turns them into a conscious love song: There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her (Solomon, 6:8) It doesn't require as much Bible study to get that "Nah Run Well" is all about the "wicked ticians" (politicians) turning Kingston into a place of violence and struggle.

This ya sound it a real murdera!

2007-03-21T03:18:58Z

I found a really scratchy copy of "Hold Yu Corner" a couple of weeks ago and was very glad just to know about it from that copy. I lucked into a clean 45 of it today, so now I can enjoy listening to a playable copy. It's from '87, has a passionate singer with the very Jamaican name of "Everton," and is catchy in tune, chorus and verses. The lyrics eloquently take pleasure in the music itself and of course do a fair bit of boasting at the same time. It seems that in this era of JA music, the early digital times of the mid-80's, many of the best tunes have at least a bit of the soundbwoy boast in them. In this case the bragging is well justified, so take a listen.

Juggling

2007-03-14T07:25:18Z

I've decided to feature a number of soundbwoy and heartical digi tunes I've been digging up recently in a mix. Here's a draft of what I'm working on. Pictured below are Pinchers and his computer muse . . . NOTE: Please click the "continue reading" link at the bottom in order to display the soundfiles. We did this since the length of the clip may overburden people's bandwith. 1.Killa Sound — Eccleton Jarrett 2.Dancehall Murda — Banana Man 3.Cowboy MC — Major Worries 4.Idle Jack Horse — Chris Wayne 5.Sitting In Limbo — Yami Bolo & Blacka T 6.Juggling — Thriller U 7.Hot Bubbler — Michael Prophet 8.Red Eye Lover — Carl Meeks 9.Come Follow Me — Conroy Smith 10.Sound Boy — Super Black 11.False Alarm — Nitty Gritty 12.Ghetto Tenement Yard — Michael (Cane Juice) Marsh 13.Pass The Dub Plate — Frankie Paul 14.Jail House — Nut Head 15.Jah Send Me Come — Dignitary Stylish 16.We Dem Fah — Carl Meeks 17.Dangerous — Conroy Smith 18.One Big Family — Half Pint 19.Jah Guide & Protect Us — Tenor Saw 20.Posse Are You Ready — Mighty Diamonds 21.Cool It Off — Derrick Parker 22.Rough Neck Sound Killer — Banana Man 23Step By Step — White Mice 24..Eat Man — Pinchers 25.Uptown Girl — Conroy Smith 26.Pressure We — Robert Ffrench & Michigan 27.It A Worry Dem — Dirtsman ]]>

Digital Digs

2007-03-12T09:02:54Z

Good fortune blessed me recently with access to a collection of 80's dancehall. I was able to grab some hard-to-find tunes over the course of a day of digging. Reputation serves as a guide for some of these, as does the tinny speaker of my portable turntable. I'm learning a lot about an era of reggae with lots of hidden gems, the early digital period from 1985 to 1988. Two of the most sought after tunes are featured above, by the one White Mice and Burro Banton. I can't think of two voices in reggae much more different from one another than these two, White Mice lives in the vocal register of the small rodent he is named after, and Burro has a cavernous rockstone voice.