There are times I go through my phase of listening to The English Beat/Madness. Nothing but sweet love for the fringe pop/reggae acts.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...43828540,d.aWM

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...YL._SX300_.jpg

Not sure if this has been mentioned yet. Still Standing is an excellent various artists ska compilation on Jump Up records. All sorts of ska styles are represented here. It's available cheap on Amazon and I imagine still on the Jump Up Records site. Definitely worthwhile.

check out the Easy Star All Stars album "Dub Side of the Moon". It's one of my favorite reggae/dub albums!

Love Easy Star!

Jack Johnson without Singing
 

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for an instrumental band that's acoustic with bongos or simple drums, with an island/reggae/chill feel to them. Just imagine Jack Johnson without the singing or something along the lines of slightly stoopid's instrumental stuff.

Thank you!

I recently came across an interesting reggae/dub/ska band named Pama International. Among Pama members are veterans of such notable U.K. bands as Special Beat, the Specials, Madness, Galliano, Steel Pulse, and Pop Will Eat Itself.

Their albums are hard to find in the United States and I've only been able to find two of the eight albums they've recorded since 2005, Their latest album Rewired in Dub is a collection of dub music with the Mad Professor at the soundboard controls.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...ed--in-dub.jpg

The embedded YouTube video is a performance of I Love You Too Much To Ever Stop Lying from their self titled 2005 album.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41HCRRA323L.jpg

V/A Punky Reggae Party

One of the better Trojan label reggae comps. Many of the songs here don't duplicate on other Trojan collections. A good selection of socially conscious songs as well as some fine dub tracks. The usual suspects are featured here: Marley, Ken Boothe, Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown, Sugar Minott plus some not-so-familiar names. Worth hunting down.

Naphy
 

You heard of Naphy Naphy bro?

Nimefika
 

Nimefika is one of his big hits

Nimefika- Kenyan prodigy
 

Naphy Naphy or Naftali is a 20 year old Kenyan guy whose Mum earns £1.50 a day picking tea. Despite his humble background, Naf has saved to produce this music video. Take a look- it's suprisingly catchy!



Naphy Naphy: Nimefika - YouTube

Very decent comp.

As for my recent listening this is phenomenal but it does incorporate Old school Jungle and Dub but it's a sign that Reggae music wants to reclaim back it's authority since Dubstep has all but obliterated it's roots.
http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...mKu5aLPHzIRS1m
Skip to 1:40 if ya like for the start.

Thanks for the post of the amazing Naftali. Kenya is the mother lode of talented African musicians... most of whom are still working their day jobs as farm laborers or fishermen.

Most of the music of Kenya has yet to fall on the ears of Westerners because very few international record labels are scouting this relatively remote region of Eastern Africa. It's a pretty dangerous assignment in a very volatile region of the world. Kenya is a functioning democracy but Western tourists frequently get kidnapped for ransom by tribal gangs.

I'd volunteer to do field recordings of Kenyan artists in a matter of a minute, but no record label will underwrite the trip to Africa.

I've really become obsessed with the London rapper Ghostpoet who uses elements of reggae, dubstep, jazz and trip hop. His new album Some Say I So I Say Light is my favorite release of 2013.



Did you notice any resemblance to Linton Kwesi Johnson in his vocals? I sure did.... I also noticed an eerie physical resemblance of Ghostpoet to LKJ in photos of him. (See below photos)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...t_live-dmn.jpg
Ghostpoet

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...ngel_13338.jpg
Linton Kwesi Johnson

The YT vid didn't work over here but navigated to a few tunes and me likey. Going to check him out for sure and yes LKJ is a definite influence.

Ghostpoet goes acoustic on this Mahogany video session version of Us Against Whatever. The guy has a heartful of soul.

One of the finest Reggae bands ever with the best rhythm section ever- of course!

Black Uhuru is still touring with founding member Derrick "Duckie" Simpson, along with two recruited vocalists, Andrew Bees, Kaye Starr. In August they played a half a dozen festivals in England, Spain and Ireland. Sly and Robbie are no longer with the band but I've read positive reviews of their shows.

In their prime Black Uhuru was a beast of a band. I saw them at the Boston Convention Center with King Sunny Ade in 1984 when the album Anthem was released. The lineup included Michael Rose, Puma Jones, Duckie with Sly and Robbie.

It was too bad for King Sunny that Black Uhuru opened because Uhuru blew everyone away. A lot of people left the show when King Sunny's band failed to establish a vibe with audience members who were completely exhausted after Black Uhuru's sledgehammer set. Under ordinary circumstances, I probably would have loved King Sunny's live show but he choose an opening act that made him sound anemic by comparison.

The Skints!

All Reggae fans (or just music fans in general) should listen to these guys. Really great collective of musicians with one of the coolest and unique sounds in the world.

Check out Ken & Keith. They're awesome. Also, The Blues Busters. There's a great selection of playlists littered throughout YouTube.

Can anyone recommend any new Reggae or Ska Bands/Artists?
 

Hello, Was wondering if anyone could recommend any good new or up and coming Reggae or Ska Bands or artists? I am always on the look out for something new to listen too..

Any British Reggae or Ska Bands worth Listening to at the moment?
 

Hey does anyone know of any British Reggae or Ska bands worth listening to at the moment?

Cheers.:finger:

I'm looking for Protoje's 'The 8 Year Affair' (on Don Corleon Records) album but can't find it on CD anywhere, just the MP3 version. Anyone know of any UK music stores which might stock it? Cheers.

If you like more electronica dub reggae gotta check out Dr 8 bit, this stuff its so trippy. Picture if Super Mario and the toads made a reggae group this is probably what it would sound like.

https://soundcloud.com/drremix/dr-re...ator-dub-8-bit

https://soundcloud.com/drremix/dr-re...ufaktari-8-bit

You may want to check out The Slits? They're more punk than reggae, but if you enjoy The Clash then I think you might appreciate them.

Hope that helps. :)

I saw the Slits in 1981 and they were a lot better than their early recordings. Ari Up formed the Slits when she was just 14 years old and by the time I saw them she was around 20 years old. She was a very charismatic performer and the Slits had improved greatly since 1976.

The Slits were really the first London punk band to explore reggae music and they did a killer version of the Dennis Brown song The Man Next Door. Here's a live version of that song from that 1981 tour. BTW that's Nenah Cherry in the video singing background and do all those wild dances with Ari Up.



I was sad to hear that Ari Up died in 2010. She inspired many female British musicians like Polly Styrene, Alison Statton, Leslie Woods, Siouxsie Sioux, Lara Logic and Nenah Cherry.

http://blogs.babble.com/famecrawler/...ari-up-rip.jpg

ska & reggae night any recommendations?
 

I am hosting a ska and reggae night in four weeks time, I am a dj but normally play trance I have always been into the two tone side of ska and commercial reggae. Anyone got any recommendations of other type's of ska and reggae they think would go down well? The night is in the uk and in an east coast bar.

Cheers...

The Slackers, The Specials, Burning Spear, Black Uhuru, Junior Murvin

Thats a good starting point

junior murvin - police & thieves
junior byles - fade away
john holt - a love I can feel
johnny osbourne - Jah promise
desmond dekker - 007 (shanty town)
toots & the maytals - pressure drop
demond dekker - israelites
black uhuru - guess who's coming to dinner
bob marley & the wailers - exodus
max romeo & the upsetters - i chase the devil
cornell campbell - Jah me no born yah
...
...

check out the London international Ska festival site, plenty of British bands appear at that every year. This year for example, there'll be Top Cats who play the original ska style and Dirty Revolution who play a more modern style

Even if you aren't a big reggae fan, everyone can jam to Augustus Pablo. One of the all time greats in dub and a pioneer for the melodica.

Definitely one of those guys that transcends merely being a reggae artist. I can't recall an artist that made me feel so good just sitting around on a Sunday afternoon doing nothing.

Well I'm totally new to the genre, but after conquering a small area of country recently, I'm goin down the list of music I don't listen to enough of :pimp:

I like some Sublime, aside from that though, and a few Skindred (reggae metal) songs, don't really have much to work off for what kind of recs I'd enjoy. Can anyone suggest a wide variety of sub-styles with examples?

Absolutely Fred! His music is very soothing and the melodica riffs are so trippy. I can put his music on any time of the day and just space out.

My friend has a melodica and it's a lot harder to play than I thought it would be, especially for a smoker haha.

It's been three days and I feel justified in 'bumping'.

You should definitely check out Gavin Bs extremely informative thread http://www.musicbanter.com/reggae-sk...ge-reggae.html
It'll def give you a great start on the genre and even give you a cool little history lesson! haha

As far as recs if you're just getting into reggae, I would def suggest checking out guys like Junior Murvin, Gregory Isaacs, Burning Spear, The Wailers, etc. These are roots reggae artists with their own distinct flavors, they will give you a feel and respect for the genre.

If you're looking for more instrumental/spaced out reggae stuff check out some of the original dub artists like Augustus Pablo, King Tubby and Scientist. These are really laid back and and mellow reggae jams for lazy afternoons.

If you're looking for more stuff like Sublime check out Ballyhoo!, Slightly Stoopid and Rebelution. These guys are more reggae/rock as well as other influences. They all have a heavy Sublime vibe though.

Hope that helps!

Right on, thanks! Exactly the recommendation format I was looking for :)

Woord no probs! Happy to help :thumb:

Here is a pretty creative reggae song I bet no one here has heard:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dbv1B74aeTc
^Classical Dub by Sci Fi
They are a psychedelic genre blending band that is very unkown and quite talented. They Don't play much reggae though, mostly psych rock/ trance. I hate trance but even some of their trancy stuff is creative enough I can dig it.

Searching for good songs :)
 

Hey there, im looking for good music - i call it : go with the flow :D
Its like, you hear that song and you know from the first moment, this song is gonna be great. Its hard to discribe but , you will know what i mean when you here this examples.
I hope you can help me :)

Martin Jondo: Lonesome feeling
Ambrosia: Herbalist
Micheal Franti Ganja Babe

Thanks :)
( cant post links yet :P )