Roots Archives Forum

Inyaki,

Thanks for the very interesting and insightful post. I agree with you. I've mentioned before how the new productions sound soft. I think there are exceptions, but that tends to be the rule. And I do like some of the soft sounding stuff if the tune is nice and the vibe is right. I've started to actually like how some of the new live stuff sounds, but it can't compare to the old days, for sure.

Yeah, I've been recording digitally lately and digital clipping is the worst! Listening to those old recordings, I'm blown away at the drum sounds they get. The tuning and the way they're miked is incredible. No one else has ever got that kind of sound in any genre of music. That's what I lament the most. As I've said, I always find something to like about all the periods of Jamaican music to the present, but....

But we've mostly been talking about the music. I also like, and see as a progression, the developments (or maybe just changes) in vocals since the early days. Deejaying has developed quite a lot from U Roy to someone like Vybz Kartel (love him or hate him, he has a way with words). I guess I feel a bit like Sugar Hill Gang is to Wu Tang what U Roy is to Vybz (or Bounty or Ninja, etc.). Gotta love the originators, but his work has definitely been built upon.
And the bobo chanting/singjay style that Sizzla started that inspired so many others to follow his stylistic footsteps I think is a huge development in reggae vocals, and is quite original. No one really sounded like that before. Of course, he's probably the most overexposed artist in history, so there's tons of filler, but when he is on, he's very very on.

I guess I'm just always gonna be interested in the new developments, and hopefully find something to like about it.
I do have my limits though. I can't wait until the Auto-Tune vocals fad goes away!

The best reggae was no doubt around in the 70's and 80's. I still follow it and support it. Us as fans or artists should do everything we can to bring it back to the mainstream!!

marleyhair wrote:The best reggae was no doubt around in the 70's and 80's. I still follow it and support it. Us as fans or artists should do everything we can to bring it back to the mainstream!!

Nah, roots can only thrive underground. Once something's uprooted, and exposed to the mainstream, it withers and dies. If you love it how it is, keep it where it is, because if you polish the grooves out, and market it to the masses, what you loved about it, is no longer there.

Oh, and yes, the Auto-Tune is horrible. It should have began and ended with the Cher song. Not that anybody cares, but even Hawaiian music has fallen prey to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHfaE4OjS6g

DB

Listen to this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzUZKd16 ... re=related

and let me know what do you think.

Respect

John

@maredicorsica: By no means terrible, but the drums sound way too soft and poppy.

The drums sound like most new roots drums. I don't mind them. And I've been noticing that actually lots of original roots drums, like from Joe Gibbs productions for example, have the rim shot that low in the mix too. Like if you think of stuff like Culture, the drum mix isn't that hard a lot of times. They still had a better quality to them, though, which I guess is from the studio sound and analog recording.

Alborosie, though...I kind of like him, but sometimes he sounds like he's trying too hard to sound the way he does, like it's not really his natural voice.