10.25.12 - Vampires, Duppies & Haunted Riddims

LISTEN TO THE ARCHIVE AT JAMAICAROCK.COM

I have always been a fan of Halloween, there's is something exciting to me about the anonymity and mischief in the air (not into the free candy because I don't have a sweet tooth). For this week's show I decided to pull together some songs about vampires, ghosts and other darkness. I missed last week due to a CMJ preemption (if you tuned in, thanks) and that was also the late great Peter Tosh's birthday. So I included some songs on this tip from him too. Of course, there are the lighter more straightforward vampire tunes like Barnabus Collins by Lone Ranger and then there are the deeper vampire tunes such as the ones by Tosh. Vampires can basically be a metaphor for any evil force sucking the good out of you. For the second hour I decided to play some dark dancehall tunes for you since I have not done a later dancehall set in a while, inspired by one of my favorite riddims, the Haunted riddim. Enjoy... if you dare. Muah ha ha ha...

10.11.12 - Joe Gibbs Hour + Brother Culture LIVE

LISTEN TO THE ARCHIVE AT JAMAICAROCK.COM

Joe Gibbs was born on October 14th, 1942 in Montego Bay and the first hour of this show is dedicated to him as it falls the Thursday before his birthday. One of my favorite producers, he has worked with producers such as Coxsone Dodd, Lee Perry, Niney, Errol T and artists such as Delroy Wilson, Dennis Brown, Jacob Miller, Gregory Isaacs and many many others. Joe Gibbs proved he could adapt his talent during his prolific career, going from big rocksteady and early reggae hits to rockers, dub and beyond. He was also a big influence to the 70s UK scene, probably most notably The Clash. He sadly passed in February of 2008, survived by 12 children - one of whom is Rocky Gibbs who has the label of the same name that has updated and put out some of his father's classic tunes.

Brother Culture is one of UK's most renowned reggae MC's. Based in Brixton, London, he first started chanting on Jah Revelation Muzik Sound System way back in 1982 and spent much of the 80s touring around the UK, the US, Canada and the Caribbean. In the 90s, UK reggae began expanding into the sounds of Drum & Bass and he proved adept at adapting his unique style to an ever-expanding audience which has made him a fixture in the revived UK Dub and Roots scene.

DJ Q-Mastah is part of the Sound Liberation Front crew that promote bass-heavy sound system culture throughout NYC and beyond. This Friday will be the launch of Dub Stuy Records and also the unveiling of Sound Liberation Front'sTower of Sound (a custom built 10,000W Sound System) that will be used to blast the sounds of Brother Culture live alongside members of Dutty Artz, Dub Is A Weapon and others at the Paper Box in Brooklyn.

Check the archive and the video above - vibes!

10.04.12 - Delroy Wilson & Love Songs

LISTEN TO THE ARCHIVE AT JAMAICAROCK.COM

Delroy Wilson

This show goes out to the late great Delroy Wilson, born October 5th 1948. His albums were some of the first ones in my record collection and his voice will always be a special remembrance of those times for me. He recorded his first tune in 1961 for Coxsone Dodd at the age of thirteen and had many of his hits on the Studio One label, but also enjoyed plenty of success throughout the 70s with other legendary producers such as Lloyd Charmers, Keith Hudson, Joe Gibbs, Niney and Harry J. You can check out the killer video above of him doing a take of "Dancing Mood" in Bunny Lee's studio with Jammy at the controls. Since I often play Delroy Wilson tunes on the show, I tried to focus on ones that I may not have played recently or as often as the others, though I did want to play some of his top songs as well. Inspired by his song "True Believer In Love" I also wanted to showcase love songs and lovers rock by some other artists like John Holt, Slim Smith and even Beres Hammond and Super Cat.