Tags: Jamaican

Review: The always excellently go slow and tropical sounds of Big Crown now look to Bacao Rhythm and Steel Band for covers of two classics. Up first is Grace Jones' nightclub classic "My Jamaican Guy" while on the flip is Erykah Badu's tribute to the legendary J Dilla, "The Healer". Both retain the essence of the original but come with loose hand claps, shimmering steel drums that bring coastal breezes, sand and sun into the equation and leave you laying horizontal. These are fine interpretations of top notch source material.

Review: The hard-digging record fiends at Kalita are back with more brilliance. This one is the first-ever retrospective of work by Jamaican-born artist Desmond Chambers. The first tine is a proudly politically aware tune previously only avialbel on his 1987 album Tiger Born, while the single 'The Morning Show' has before now only been available as the B side of little known single 'I Have Seen Love In Your Eyes.' The two other tracks are mega cult, hugely loved acid-infused dub snakers with boogie-infused rhythms. Original copies will cost you a huge amount so make sure you snap this one up asap.

Review: Hugh Maddo's Pop Style is one of those super rare but cult late 80s reggae and dancehall albums that just hit a perfect sweet spot between styles. Thankfully, Death Is Not The End sub-label 333 has got the rights to this full reissue of the original which was recorded in Jamaica at Byron Lee's Dynamics and Herman Chin-Loy's Aquarius studios in 1987. A wealth of musical talents of the day all feature on it including Winston Wright, Bobby Ellis, and Mikey "Boo" Richards, but the standout is the sublime vocal contribution of Killamanjaro's Hugh Maddo.