R.I.P. Sugar minott

Sadly, this Reggae giant passed away on july the 10th, he will be very missed and is one of the first artists i got into when i started listening to reggae in the early 90ies, my favourite album whit him is "African soldier", an timeless masterpiece. Well, R.I.P., you will be missed by fans worldwide.

Monsterism island

Found this while surfing around the web, always been a fan of animation and i realy like the style of this animation, perhaps even more than the actual story itself but....

Million Stylez - Everyday

While most probably barely knows that Sweden exists and even fewer knows or care about our homegrown Reggae scene it's bigger and better than one might think. Out of all acts there's only one who has really made any noise internationally, the French/Japanese Million Stylez from one of Stockholms many suburbs. Whit one album behind him and countless singles he's back whit his latest album, "Everyday". High of some healthy national pride, who am I to not review it?

Let me start whit letting y'all know this is an album of an more modern, dancehall-esque nature, first song on here is "Love we a deal whit" one of the albums more rootsy songs, an catchy uptempo song, whit a more distinct back beat than some of his songs (and much dancehall in general nowadays). I guess one could call it roots-reggae light (and i don't mean it as an insult) whit a pop sensibility to it. I was positively surprised as i was not amazed by anything i heard on his first album (although I thought it was okay).

Next is the title track, "Everyday" who has an even stronger Roots feel to it but is an dedication to all hustlers and thugs out doin their dirt on the streets, it somehow has more of an positive approach to the subject than your average gangstarap song does. Nowadays words like hustler & thug has transcended their original meaning so perhaps he's not exactly mean to dedicate this song to criminals. He stepped things up a notch whit this song.

Skip one to track 4, "Young gunz" whit fellow Stockholm dancehall artist "Joey Fever" is one of the best songs on the album, it's very, very catchy and has an definite cross-over hit appeal to it while still keeping it 100 % authentic. U feel strong early 90 ies, late 80ies vibes over this track, i absolutely love this song. It has previously been out as an 7" so you might have heard it if you're into buying vinyls or downloading from blogs.

Believe it or not but he follows up whit an almost as good song, "Dancehall nice again" who also easily could be a hit. Were talking big time good vibes on this one, it's a song whit a big heart, the kinda song to play when you're in a crappy mood to get you back on your feet again. I'm starting to be seriously impressed whit this album by now!!!

Im not so sure that things get worse but they def. changes up a little bit as a bunch of songs that feels more contemporary Jamaican dancehall than the previous, u know the type whit autotune singing, no distinct reggae beats etc..... I'd say the arab flavored "Ya habibti" is my favorite of these songs, it's about an steamy night (i mean more steamy on the dancefloor than in the bedroom) "Million Stylez" had whit an Persian dancer. What folks don't know is that there's quite an Persian/Iranian presence in Sweden, esp. in suburbs like the one he comes from.

By the 10th song there is an return to the rootsier vibes with "Born in the system", an "it's tough in Babylon" typa song, a much wellcomed song if u ask me. The way the electric guitar performs in this song kinda reminds me of Bob Marley's "Could you be loved" (well, at least a little bit). More rootsy vibes follows in "World crisis" which gotta be the biggest and most positive surprise on here whit it's guest feature from legendary "Don Carlos", it's far from an obvious colaboration choice and i could easily see this not working but it's a very good song and they match each other good. "Million Stylez" sure proves his artist name is a fitting one, an very versatile artist.

Another big collaboration follows when he teams up whit "Gentleman" on "Help is on the way", not bad at all and whit positive lyrics and a slightly melancholic feel but somehow the chemistry of the previous track is not there. A few more positive and rootsy tracks follows along whit a love song where the melody seems similar at times whit "Damian Marley & Nas" collaboration "Africa wake up". Well, to sum things up, i like this album a lot and is very positive about it. Im not going to deny it's probably partialy due to the fact that this guy is Swedish. It makes me hapy that at least one artist from my country seems to be making a name for himself internationaly.

Million Stylez make singing Reggae and Dancehall seem so natural and effortless, sometimes (even whit artists i like) Swedish Reggae can feel a bit forced, as if it's a pastiche of the Jamaican thing and every Patois word uttered is followed by an effort equal to give birth to a baby. No such things here, Million Stylez does not try to be the real deal, he is the real deal. But let's look at things in a more sober way, this is not the best album ever, not a classic but for sure a very good album, absolutely one to buy, skip the illegal downloads on this one.

Graphic designs

There's so many Reggae/dancehall artists that only releases singles, one really don't get an good idea of how they sounds so i collected a few songs on a cd and designed my own covers. Thought i should share them whit y'all, if u need designs, let me know, im inexpensive but good.

Archie Wonder - What about love

I dunno if I'm supposed to like sappy, romantic loversrock artists like Archie Wonder as a guy but i sure know that I do. I'm a big softie and songs about passionate love is more appealing to me than raunchy ragga full of sexual braggadocio. I don't know much about this guy, my internet search proved quite fruitless but he's Jamaican, 31 yrs. old and lives in the US. I love me some obscure acts but "Archie Wonder" has failed to make any impact on me until now.

The first song, "Stop playing games" reveals that he's an fully developed artist whit an amazing voice and presence in what he sings. The song is about an ungrateful love and the following breakdown of their relation, it's not lyrically breathtaking but the singing is amazing and very emotionally charged. Second up is "Happiness and joy", another great love song, also slightly melancholic although the lyrics are a bit more happy, a song that's perfect for a lazy Sunday spent laying around in bed and taking it easy. Like many other great loversrock artists Archie Wonder is mixing things up whit throwing a few "praising jah" kinda religious tracks, one of these are song 4, "Jah lifted me up" who is sung over an old, well known riddim (i think it's called "Moonlight lover" originally but I'm crappy whit remembering the names of riddims so i dunno). It's about how Jah empowered him to go on and do right despite living in a world full of bad folks and negativity. It's a smooth, easy on your ears song which ads some appreciated dept and variety to this album.

Skipping a few tracks along the way we come to track 7, "Rain" which is one of my favorites on here, it's another song of a romantic nature whit a slightly repetitive loop thrown in to all the other instrumentation. If i where to compare this song to any other artists sound i would probably think of someone like "Sanchez" who Archie sounds kinda familiar to. This song really stands out and should appeal to anyone even remotely into the more romantic side of Reggae. Then we have "Falling in love" on the "Ganja farmer" riddim (or at least elements of it) which is also an amazing cut, just as much thanks to the excellence of the riddim as Archie Wonders performance over it

There's a few more songs on here, some over well known riddims and some not but all are of a high quality and Archie Wonders voice is quite something, he sings his behind of on this album and proves he got what it takes to make it to the big league. An unusual aspect of the album is the lack of features, you would think that he would have 1 or 2 songs whit some bigger artists and perhaps a duet whit some female singer or dj which is almost standard for unknown artists albums. This does however not hurt "What about love" at all and i wish more artists resisted the temptation of cluttering their albums whit other artists. Over all an great album from an talented newcomer i hope we get to hear a lot more from in the future.

Abro Ne Bayie

 For almost as long as i can remember I've been into horror movies, i was a young kid under the video explosion of the early 80ies and looking at all the colorful boxes of movies i was not allowed to see created an lifelong interest.  Years later (while visiting friends in Gambia) i learned that there is an African movie industry and where able to see my first African horror movies. Apparently there is an interest for horror in Ghana which is where this movie I am about to review comes from.

Brother Vincent is an successful and Christian young man, he seems to have everything going for him whit a deep involvement in church, a gorgeous, young fiance and flashy new car at his disposal. His life is soon about to take a turn for the worse though as his mom Dufie (unknown to him) is involved whit spirits from the dark underworld and has promised to deliver them her sons soul. But to penetrate Vincents faith and succeed whit her evil deeds turns out to be much harder than she thought.

It seem as if the only way to get to Vincent is to make him break up whit his fiance and get him involved whit an evil spirit in human shape. Whit her son dating evil but attractive Natasha he should be no match for Dufie and her spirit companions right? Luckily for Vincent this is not the case as his father and the local priest bravely puts up a fight to save his soul.......

This is only the beginning of the story, i saw 2 parts that totaled way over 2 hours and there is more to come, I can only hope that the whole series of films has been released as i found this to be an very enjoyable and fascinating viewing experience. Technically a bit crude and absolutely nothing like the American, Italian and Spanish horror movies I am used to but "Abro Ne Bayie" still managed to deliver. One thing viewers should be aware of is that horror movies from Ghana often is deeply religious whit a strong Christian message being the focal point. Black Metal gorehounds in corpse-paint and leather coats may not be very pleased and if you look at religion as superstitious and dorky you may not like these movies. Sure, it's still a horror movie but whit strong christian undertones.

I found the scenes whit the evil spirits to be very pleasing, they managed to create quite an atmosphere and that little boy in a skeleton dress and facial paint was kinda creepy (but also a bit retarded looking i must admit). I happen to be into graphic design and knows that one of the major Photoshop filter producers, Alien Skin also made an "Adobe Premiere" version of their highly popular "Eye Candy" and the digital "Special FX" scenes in this movie very much reminds me of what you can do in this filter. The flames, lasers and dissolving spirits looks kinda generic but did not bother me too much and in a strange way added to the entertainment value.

What i found a bit weird is how this movies switches back and forth from English and Twi (a local, Ghanian language) and i wish that they would have subtitled larger portions of the dialogue than what they did. It's still enough to make sense of what is going on so i guess im cool.

All in all, i thoroughly enjoyed this movie, it had an good enough tempo, some interesting visuals and an story that appealed to me. I'm however realistic enough to realize that large portions of western horror fans probably wont share my opinions or enthusiasm. If you're open minded and want something different, give this movie a try, you just might end up liking it as much as i did.

Capleton - I-ternal fire

Capleton may be one of the biggest names in modern Reggae but if you ask me he is also one of the most uneven ones. He's capable of doing amazing, modern roots masterpieces but also horribly average "dime a dozen" Ragga.

An general advice would be to skip the singles collections and go for the albums recorded whit the album format in mind. No one in their right mind could argue whit that albums like "Reign of fire" and"Still blazin" is anything but modern masterpieces.

It was a while ago but now he's back whit "I-ternal fire" and an promo has been floating on the Internet for a moment now. Since it's just a promo I am not going to review it as it might have changed once it's officially released but let me tell you, this is one solid album and a must buy.

He may not reinvent the wheel on this new album, it's more of the good ole' "Capleton" we all know and love. The lyrics are intelligent and well thought out, one could argue that everything RastafaraI has already been said but Capleton is not content whit just yellin a stereotype "praise Selassie I, bun fyah, babylon a go down" and settle whit that. He backs things up, give examples and shows he's very aware of what is going on in the world.

All fans of modern roots will love it and while nothing may rank up there whit "Reign of fire" this one comes close. Hurry up and release it, im standing in the line waiting to buy it!

Holding on to Jah

While us Reggae fans sadly lack in magazines dedicated to our genre the same can certainly not be said about documentaries. There's a steady output of movies educating us about soundsystems, artists, dub etc and now the time has come to Roots-reggae. "Holding on to Jah" is the brainchild of "Roger Landon Hall" and Harris Stafford from "Groundation" and tells us about the more religious side of the genre.

It's currently making the festival circuit and will hopefully soon arrive on DVD (although no release is on the horizon at the moment)

http://www.holdingontojah.com/

Spade, the last assignment

Im back whit another Nigerian movie review, last time i had a look at a movie whit a horror theme and now the time has come for a more action oriented movie, "Spade" which is the first in (i believe) a series of movies trying to introduce an African hero styled after the tough guys found in American action movies. I believe this is made by Oliver O Mbamara (and features well known actors like Prince Eke, Ichie Okuko and the director himself as Spade) the movie opens up in New York where a crime syndicate picks up a shipment of fresh Nigerian prostitutes and discusses their advances in the illegal artifact smuggling business.

We quickly moves on to Lagos, Nigeria where the rest of the movie takes place and is introduced to an historic artifact robbery gone wrong. An hostage situation appear and supercop Spade saves the day. It soon appear that there's more to the case than meets the eye though and the gang responsible for the botched robbery are still very much set on getting the artifacts they originally had their eyes on. They rescue the captured thugs and sets out to do their dirty business. This is not Spades business however, he just had his last assignment and has resigned from the force and is about to get married. This quickly changes when the gang kidnaps his "wife-to-be" and forces Spade to once again face them but things has changed, this time it's personal.

I know what you're thinking, this sounds very much like standard B-action fare and in a way i guess it is, Spade pretty much is an typical American action movie whit an strong African touch to it. But i would also like to claim that this is a landmark Nigerian movie and Nollywood takes an huge leap forward whit this movie. It looks way more polished and have a faster tempo than anything I've seen in Nigerian cinema up to now (I have to admit though, i have not seen a lot of Nollywood movies). That is not to say it's a perfect movie, at times it's still a bit hard to hear what they are saying and it's still a bit overlong in places.

But regardless of any minor flaws this movie might have I seriously enjoyed it and was very impressed, Spade raises the bars way up for Nollywood cinema and if future movies uses this as a stepping stone to accomplish even greater films then only the sky is the limit. An must see movie, I look forward to see what the future has in hold for this budding movie franchise, Spade rocks!!!!!!

Jah Melodie

It was a while since i did an "i demand an album" post but I think it's about time, been spending plenty of time on "Jah Melodie's myspace page lately listening to his tunes and this guy is nothing but amazing, i dig his music 100%.

I'm sure most of y'all heard "Thanks and praises" by now, i absolutley love that song but unf. the only song released on cd is "Love jah more" ( on "Roots Tribe Showcase: Love jah more) and i crave more. Im not into vinyl anymore, i have no deck to play vinyl on and don't plan to buy one anytime soon. Unfortunately i can't find any mp3's either (except for "Thanks and praises") to satisfy my cravings until a cd is available so pleeeease release something soooooon............. (i will stand in line to pay for a cd).