Roots & Culture 218 Items

"Watt" rhythm.

Jr. Thomas & The Volcanos’ sophomore effort Rockstone is more than just a love letter to the roots of Jamaican music. It’s an actual love letter. Tom McDowall aka Jr. Thomas explains, “I could write a musical love letter to all things I loved: my wife, my family, my friends, my band mates. I could write a song to tell me to Chin Up when times got tough. I could give gratitude to the Jamaican artists that paved the way for the beautiful music we now call reggae. I could write a song about what it’s like to lose someone important to you. Or write a song to invigorate me spiritually. Music is healing and that’s the best therapy there is for me.”
Rockstone isn’t just another throwback record to an era gone by. It’s a record that takes risks within the genre, but more importantly it’s a genuinely honest record.
“I called the album Rockstone because true love cannot be defeated. It lives forever. We write tributes on our tombstones because they live on beyond our lives as a remembrance of something special and important to us.”
Recommend for fans of: The Frightnrs, Toots & The Maytals, Jimmy Cliff

The Croatian dub duo Dubble are stepping up with their 4th release on Dub Tunnel Records. For this outing they are travelling the dubwise road with veteran JA vocalist Earl 16. Earl 16 is known worldwide for his work with the entire A to Z of Reggae and beyond, from Augustus Pablo to Zion Train. Dubble are Vanya and Dubolik based in Zagreb, Croatia and will be launching this record at the 2016 Outlook Festival.

Dubble are the latest heavyweight sound to come stepping out of the
thriving Balkan Dub scene. The dangerous Dubble dub duo of Vanya O &
Dubolik were part of Zagreb's legendary Radikal Dub Kolektiv, and now
they take the same DIY dubwise spirit to their new project. Dubble
make tuff UK style dub, but bring in subtle influences of Dubstep and
Trance to create a unique blend of future sound, all played and mixed
live as they combine classic retro dub mixing with analogue synths,
live vocals & melodica.

Time for the 5th Dig This Way Records singles release. One of those releases we are very proud of! Since the beginning of our Dtw adventure we have been working together with Greg Jata Illustrator who designed our logo and made some graphic works for us till to discover around a year ago, he also plays in a roots group: The Royal Horses! As a natural progression of our friendship and working cooperation we decided to try finalize together a couple of riddims they had ready! In the meantime, since around 2005/2006 we've been big fans of Keathus I Jah Dynasty (Milton Samuels) music, Red Hot have always been an hit in our selection. Since a few years we have gladly seen him joining the reggae community on Facebook , bringing on his own productions , sharing his love for Africa , Ethiopia and Rastafari...so we thought could have been a great idea to have him singing on a riddim we got from Greg....a dream coming true to be able work together with a veteran artist involved in some of the best tracks that ever came out of Jamaica. So it was, Keithus I is a nice & easy person, a Talented singer with a deep sensibility to this music and the lyrics and interpretation for the riddim we got from him...it's just perfect! We had the track finalized by Ian Prince Jamo Campbell who worked to Backing vocals and Roberto Sánchez at Lone Ark studios who took the whole raw idea and carved it to perfection on what you will hear impressed on the Dtws005 plastic! We still have a 2nd riddim by Royal Horses ,it's as good as this...and we are working to something special , so hold on! Much more to come out of Dtw stables!

"play ON MR. Music”, one of the legendary songs from the recording scene of the documentary film ‘roots Rock Reggae’, which fascinated reggae fans all over the world, is finally available on record! This is a compilation of recordings from the Black Ark Studios during the heyday of the maverick Lee Perry.

Shaky Norman is a French musician who discovered the melodica through the music of Augustus Pablo.His influences range from classical to Jamaican music as well as punk, Celtic music, French traditional music and jazz. He has collaborated with Mad Professor in 1990 playing melodica on the album Psychedelic Dub.
His new eponymous album features eight original creations. It is set up as a 32 minutes musical journey taking you through different atmospheres kept together as a whole. The collaboration with prestigious Jamaican musicians like the late Ronald Nambo Robinson on trombone, who played with Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Burning Spear, Sly & Robbie and so many others, and Glen Da Costa, the saxophonist of Bob Marley & the Wailers and Zap Pow, add an authentic depth to this album.