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German ska and reggae with Grover Records

July 3rd 2006 13:17

Germany and Europe at large have an extremely strong ska and reggae scene. In a way I suppose the larger population [than Australia] contributes to how strong the scene is, but there also seems certain characters really have a strong passion for Jamaican music, pushing it forward through concert promotion and record production. The strength of the German and European music scene has allowed many Jamaican performers to tour more consistently than if they were limited to their traditional markets of Jamaica, the UK and North America.

Grover Records have long been a stalwart in the German reggae and ska scene, releasing records from local acts and international acts alike. Alongside labels such as Porkpie and Mad Butcher, they have provided a service for bands to get their music out to a receptive public.

Grover Records have a diverse artist roster, but focus mainly on traditional forms of Jamaican music. They have released records from local German bands such as Alpha Boys School, Dr. Ring Ding and . Jamican legends on the label include the wonderful Doreen Schaffer (who performs with the Skatalites), Derrick Morgan, Rico and the late Laurel Aitken. They are also responsible for releasing other bands such as Intensified, the Hotknives, Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra and Eastern Standard Time to name just a few, giving them a definite international mix to their music output.

Not only do the folk behind Grover release a huge chunk of ska and reggae on CD, but they also have a vinyl subsidiary and a promotion company that is responsible for many of the tours Germany sees. For those with a northern soul tickle, they are doing that as well! Grover really is doing it all.

To learn all about the German label, head over to: http://www.grover.de

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Roots Reggae

June 30th 2006 09:00

A review I did of an album a few days ago received a comment from an anonomous party criticising my view of it. This does not worry me because I still think it was quite a boring album and the comment was from someone not willing to leave their name. Coincidentally it was also shortly after I’d emailed the artist thanking them for sending me their CD for review and pointing them to the review. I also don’t believe any of my regular readers would have heard this album, for whatever reason.

I am not concerned about criticism of a critical review. I don’t want everyone to agree with me. I do wonder whether the genre of this music is actually widely loved. Is roots reggae adored by many? If so I wonder whether I am missing something. The thing is I love Bob Marley, who I think perfect roots reggae, but he didn’t play his music in a style that was monotonous as I think many roots bands do. You can play reggae, but I think you still have to do interesting things and you have to make you music danceable. Reggae music is for dancing. Marley was so successful because he maintained this even when he went more and more conscious.

You look at Steel Pulse as another fine example of roots reggae. It was upbeat and danceable. Though their music spreads a message, they didn’t forget when producing their albums that they had to make people dance too.

Too many roots bands forget this. Many roots bands also forget that not all reggae is good reggae. Just look at the downfall of many a legend’s career. I have no doubt also that many roots artists receive a very good reception from their live performances, but this does not automatically transform into a well received album. People want a good time when they go out so of course they don’t dwell on the negatives, but when I am sitting here analysing an album, I am not always dancing around my home, I want to be impressed. So what am I saying? I know you are (all) trying to imitate Marley but still roots bands – make it interesting!

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Mozilla Firefox is reggae friendly

June 29th 2006 12:22

Okay so today’s post is not going to be strictly on reggae. I say strictly because it could possibly help your reggae experience.

I was first introduced to the Mozilla Firefox web browser but a couple of months ago. I always had used Internet Explorer previously as most people do I suppose. It isn’t a bad browser and as many web designers don’t test their site in anything more than Explorer you aren’t faced with tables all over the place when you go to certain websites.

Is this reason enough not to try a new web browser? I think not. I took the gamble and it paid off. Mozilla Firefox is brilliant. The main benefit is the tabbing system they have introduced. You can have a number of websites open within the same browser. This greatly improves what you had to do in the past. If you wanted to follow a link and yet keep that page open in IE, you had to right click and choose Open Link In New Window. Well you can still do that, but you can also choose Open Link In New Tab. Much more easily organized browsing. In the newest version of Firefox you can even drag tabs to keep related pages close to one another.

Another enhancement to your browsing is how they have added to the home page concept. In IE, as most of you know, you can set a home page to open when you open a new browser window. In Firefox, you can set a series of pages to open in tabs when you open a new browser. For example, say I open a new browser, I can have Google open in one tab, Reggae.net.au open in another, Dizzybeat.com in another and so on. Awesome.

There are other benefits, but tabbed browsing is by far the best and the reason you need to get Firefox. Small download too.

Download it from: http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/

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reggae and ska on ebay

June 27th 2006 14:11

I am increasingly becoming addicted to EBAY. As I am into the skinhead/mod thing quite heavily, I love clothes. When I have money I will go to a tailor or buy from a shop, but as I am pretty skint of late, I’ve had to look elsewhere because these options, though usually quite successful, are very expensive.

Ben Sherman and Fred Perry gear is everywhere on EBAY – there is heaps more of a range than the companies offer down here. But enough on that because we are talking reggae. I won’t link to all items because it is easy to search for them.

Reggae-wise, EBAY can be pretty good too. Beginning at reggae/ska 45s, you can see that Dr. Kitch by Lord Kitchener, as referred to a few days ago here, can be had for $US 15 sent to Australia (less if you are in the US). You can also have Andy Capp’s The Law for 1 pound plus postage or The Bleechers/Upsetters 45 for the same price. Both are rare in Australia and if I was selling them it would be for more than that.

Looking into reggae books and I found an awesome document of the famous Studio One’s singles and albums. Owned by Coxsone Dodd, this discography illustrates a very important part of reggae history. Check it out here.

If you love you dancehall dancing and why wouldn’t you? - look at the DVDs. As well as the usual Dancehall Queen DVD, you’ll also find DVDs made of dancehall boat parties, which pretty much just consists of women trying out their dancehall moves to some heavy reggae. This is a little bizarre to me but highly popular and a good way of learning some new moves I suppose.

Remember to always check out a seller’s history. It is easy to be stuffed around, but don’t risk too much money and you won’t get burnt too badly.

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Reggae Boyz - not at the world cup?

June 22nd 2006 16:36

Though cricket was once THE sport in the West Indies - we all know the success the West Indian cricket team has had in the past, the sport that is number one is definitely football or soccer or whatever, in Jamaican and the Carribean. That and basketball.

The Jamaican national team are aptly named The Reggae Boyz and were the first English speaking team from the region to qualify for the world cup. Hello France 98. They unfortunately lost their opening game to Croatia and got destroyed by Argentina 5 zip, but they regained respect with a win over Japan in their final game. They played with the flair few Euro countries can claim.
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Reggae night Dancefloor

June 16th 2006 06:34

As 45 RPM is on tonight (Dimitris Cleveland St, Surry Hills Sydney), I thought I would suggest ten songs I want to hear to get me out on the dancefloor. Keeping in mind the DJs don’t go obscure on us at this club, playing to a pretty broad Sydney crowd, so the songs here will be pretty well known. In no particular order:

Toots and the Maytals
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Reggae Guest House Thailand

May 19th 2006 05:12

I haven’t been to Thailand for years, but if I was to go back I would consider staying that the Reggae Guest House at Had Mae Rampeung Beach, between Rayong and Ko Samet which is 2-3 hrs from Bangkok (depending on your driver I suppose!)

From what I can draw you are going to pay at most 12 bucks a night to stay in some pretty nice looking rooms right on the beach. They’ve even got a reggaefied pub.
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white man reggae

May 17th 2006 07:43

Reggae sounds and looks best black. I really think there is quite a large support for this notion and it extends to the image reggae should have and where it began. Of course it isn’t debatable that Jamaican started reggae music. There were Chinese Jamaicans involved in the industries and white musicians (including Australians) in bands during the formulation of Jamaican ska music, but the for me it is a music for indigenous Jamaicans.

The Jamaicans responsible for the development of ska, rocksteady and reggae were tough – ex-bouncers, boxers, policeman were choosing music as a career. They were cool – you just have to look at Jackie Mittoo at his prime or any Jamaican rudeboy of the day to see they looked extremely smart in three button slim fitting suits. Even though Bob Marley’s image doesn’t appeal to me, I can’t deny him a very cool tag. Jamaican voices are strong and soulful and the wealth of talent is amazing
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Reggae Perfection

May 16th 2006 09:30

As far as my taste in music goes, I have been cast as a close minded elitist by many a friend and acquaintance. I will admit that I was once open to many a new band doing anything with passion and gusto had me interested. When I first got into ska and punk music, I was particularly enthusiastic about any group that was heading in that direction. As I got older, my tastes shifted towards early Jamaican music predominantly. I still enjoy other bands in different genres, but I would say 75% of what I listen to is a band either from pre 1972 or a band playing in the style from that era. Most people I know experience a shift in music taste regularly and people have suggested mine will too. This used to happen to me, but I haven’t seen much of change for the last three years. I have perhaps enjoyed more mod, soul and Irish folk music, but still the Jamaican music has stood the test of time.

Why is this and why do many people have the same thing happen to them when it comes to reggae music? I know people like me exist all over Australia and all over the world. We aren’t the majority by any means, but there are plenty of us about. A genre where bands work off what is quite a simple core would tire with many, but there are others where it will never get stale, never start to bore.
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Moon Ska Europe

May 11th 2006 11:39

Thought I might continue taking a look at a few reggae and ska record labels, particularly ones I think are releasing some good stuff. I mentioned Trojan Records – Kings of the reissue, but of course there are others.

For a mix of genres, Moon Ska Europe seems to offer a good range of releases. They put out records by bands playing new slants on ska and reggae while satisfying traditionalists. The name Moon Ska has a long history, first starting in New York City. Though they went under, Moon Ska Europe continues to make an impact. So much so they are changing their name to Moon Ska World. This is to reflect moving towards bands like Dub City Rockers and Chris Murray.
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Is it Madness or just craziness?

May 3rd 2006 13:01

Right across the music world you get bands reforming or returning for another tour, trying new material on old and new fans who just want to hear the classics. You get one member reforming a band with the old name, playing the old songs, but presenting an act with little resemblance to the band that saw success. Then you throw tribute bands and cover bands into the mix.

In reggae it is no different. One major example is the current Wailers. The bloke up front’s job is to attempt to mimic Bob Marley joined by only one or two original members in the band. The Skatalites just played here and although the band was awesome, many of the original members have either passed on or were not part of the line-up that came to Australia.
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Reggae Radio and Podcasts

April 29th 2006 07:39

There are a number of good reggae and ska radio shows accessible both online or if you are lucky enough, on a local radio station. Seeing as the audience here is on the internet, I’ll start with some decent online radio/podcasts then move on to some Australian radio shows.

For those not in the know, podcasts are radio shows you can download (usually as an mp3) and listen any time on your computer or mp3 player.
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