Austerity Gospel

Inside Indonesia – Punks, rastas and headbangers: Bali's Generation X a short piece by emma baulch (who recently published a book on the subject) about popular music in contemporary bali, esp alternative, metal, and reggae :: "Although dominated by covers of Bob Marley songs, the Bali reggae scene is much less about the struggle for […]

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Dungeons & Dubstep

Dazed Digital | Hank Shocklee hank shocklee is my hero, for real :: here he talks about dubstep (and offers up his own d-step mixx), his west indian heritage, the reggae album he's working on with his bro (!!), film scoring, and the state of hip-hop and music industry (and laziness) :: dude doesn't mince […]

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Up-to-the-Time, Down-to-the-Minute

It’s hard to keep up with dancehall’s now ting from farin, which is why I’m both grateful to and surprised by the way some London brethren keep up on things. Of course, London’s a very Jamaican place at this point, but so’s Boston, in certain corners, and I guess I just gotta get out more. […]

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What Chew Know About Down in the Hole?

I’m not really a TV watcher. Really. I mean, sure, I’ve watched something like 2000 videos on YouTube over the last couple years (and I don’t think that even counts videos embedded in blogs, etc.). But I probably watch OldTube only a couple hours a week at best — like if, say, a big Bawstin […]

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Globalistas e Baptistas

Not long ago, w/r/t global gobbledecrunk, I referred to an interview I gave recently to a Brazilian journalist. The journo in question is Camilo Rocha, who doubles as a DJ (& has a fab disco mix over @ Spannered). The piece was just published in Folha de Sao Paolo, apparently Brazil’s biggest newspaper. I don’t […]

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Dubious Bredren, Soundcrash, & Otra Trenchant Mixxage

While I’m busy reassembling my laptop&life, ‘low me to point u to some niice mixes of recent vintage — >> Gregzinho, who will be rocking the Beat Research labs this coming Monday, brings some Rio heat for his contribution to the blogariddims series, “A Seleção do Gringo,” which offers a personal(ized), self-consciously “outsider,” but well-informed […]

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Just Call Me Mr. Meme Maker

when i say that ghislain poirier is one of my favorite global ghettotechies®, i think i mean that unsardonically, but i’m not sure where that leaves us ghislain’s music, however, usually leaves me grinning if not spinning keep it blazin, g —

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Book Review: Michael Veal’s Dub

As promised last week, what follows here is my review of Michael Veal’s recently published book on dub. It won’t appear in print for perhaps another year, which is a little silly and unfortunate, but that’s how it goes. I see no reason, at any rate, not to share it now that it’s written, especially […]

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Ethnomusicology Meets King Tubby Inna Barnes&Nobles

Been working on a review of ethnomusicologist Michael Veal’s recently published book on dub (it’s called Dub [BUY!]), which I will share with y’all before too long; meantime, as I jot down some excerpts, I thought I’d share some of my favorite passages — insightful thoughts and neat narratives and such. To wit, a nice […]

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Talkin’ All That Canon: On Hip-hop’s Jazz

Did I say something about “counter” canons? I think I like “loose” canons better. But the gist remains: that is, if we listen to some genre of choice through the ears of another, it can tell us a great deal about both genres (which is to say, about the producers and devotees of both). — […]

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Gungo Peas, Feng Shui, and Zen / Zunguzungunguzung-again!

Thanks to Gabriel from Heatwave (and happy earthday, y’all!) for bringing my attn to yet another iteration of the Zunguzung meme. This time around, Damian Marley and Gwen Stefani add their names to the long list of meme carriers. I’m not really feeling the track (which maybe goes without saying), but I like the way […]

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Horsepower

Redd Man to Wayne :: Sep 11 (1 day ago) Horse, Want you to check this out when you get a chance…this is a sound system of some of my breddren, and one did an excellent dubs-only mix of some of T&T’s reggae/culture artistes: http://dancehallreggae.com/forum/showthread.php?t=127303 Easy, Danish yes iyah, straight fiyah mp3 >> here (& […]

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Tons o’ Tons, or Distributed Reading #5382

I tagged a “raï-ggaeton” video over at my linkythinky a while back. A bit o’ chutney-ton, too. Both seemed interesting to me as rather explicit examples of the localization of global pop (and rton in partic), if not terribly compelling as specific things &, yeah, rather steeped in the odor of novelty. That’s not the […]

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Hear Here

Reppin’ Salone (Sierra Leone), Wisconsin (Milwaukee and Madison!), and the Bay Area, DJ Boima holds down a whirled music dance party in San Fran, moving the massive with a mix of (pan-)African and (pan-)American pop / hip-hop / club / etc. Readers of this here blog might have noticed his name in a flurry of […]

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& It Don’t Stop…

Even in the middle (or, at this point, toward the end) of some well-needed Beach Research, I’m happy to note that several dear interlocutors have been continuing the conversations here — and taking them in interesting directions. E.g., Raquel Rivera weighs in on “No Te Veo” herself, making reference to the vivrant discussion about it […]

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Outsourced Analysis #745639: Kwaito Resonance Reflex

On 8/2/07, Sonjah Stanley-Niaah, Dr wrote: And this one, check this out.. I am interested in your analysis of the dance and music… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKxhKhLhlb0 Sonjah Stanley Niaah, Ph.D. Lecturer, Cultural Studies University of the West Indies, Mona Campus Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference 2008: www.crossroads2008.org Wadabagei: www.lexingtonbooks.com/Journals/wadabagei/Index.shtml To which I replied: This one’s (more) interesting […]

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Duppy or Funman

duppy art head nuh good certainly not when matched with twins of twins’ wckd funny loving acid caricatures (and this one above w/ a mad mad intro to boot ! ticket to my heart book) yellowman part priceless jawbone! heineken star time!! one word for wallace & gromit, california raisins — (via)

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P®AGGAMATIC ?

The Jamaica Observer reports this week that a “recently formed” Rastafarian group known as the Ethio-Africa Diaspora Union Millennium Council “intend[s] to pursue the use of intellectual property protocols to protect and preserve the culture and symbols from misuse” — specifically, the kind of misuse embraced by self-proclaimed “Gangsta Ras” and dancehall flavor-of-the-month (but likely […]

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Poses, Panpipes, and Forbidden Dances

Thanks to Troels (who’s got some nice digi-reggae mixes up over here), who pointed out in a comment that the melody from Red Fox and Screechy Dan’s Drum Song-driven dancehall perennial, “Pose Off” — [audio:http://wayneandwax.com/wp/audio/PoseOff.mp3] — as heard as a background synthline in Wisin y Yandel’s “Pam Pam” (discussed by me here), can be connected […]

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“Jamaica Nice To Raatid!”

said my fren Marvy Marv as we cruised down a dark Kingston slope, post Port Royal escoveitch fishfry (what a welcome!), him commenting on a ‘Chinese’ couple who stunned onlookers recently by getting down onstage at Bembeh only to stun right again by showing up later that night at Asylum, in new outfits. I’m assuming […]

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