SHOK WAVE is your weekly new REGGAE music blog. SHOK WAVE finds music that is out there in the form of Reggae, Dancehall, Soca, Ska, Dub, Reggae Rock & anything else musical with a Caribbean origin and in any language.
Here is what we found this week.......Enjoy!
REGGAE
ETANA "Dimensions"
"Dimensions" is a good title for Grammy nominated reggae singer Etana's new album because it's a first for her to divert from her roots reggae sound. Musically she has expanded and shown her "Dimensions" on this new EP. Etana's themes are love, unity, strength and the opening track 'One Draw' speaks of the good ol' ganja...baby. Etana needs a 'long, good draw' to ease her mind from the pressure. The first single is the second song 'Rock My Body.' It's flirty and excitingly different because of the live horns, upbeat dance groove, and soulful vibe. It cannot be classified as message music yet it clearly has a message of love. The bonus track is that there are two collaborations/versions of the same song. The third song, 'One More Time' is a duet with Beenie Man and track eight is with Pressure, a different version of the same song. Etana couldn’t pick because they both have whole heap of style and flair. A rare feature to have the same song twice. It has a bit of a dancehall/pop feel. Musically the album continues with more variety in the next two tracks. I am not sure what to call the style here, I can say they sound good and are not reggae. A rock guitar solo starts 'The One' and then goes into rockin' reggae sound. She asks can YOU be 'The One for me.' You can't 'Stop It' as the reggae continues as 'The Strong One.'
Soultry Dubs
Soultry Dubs announces her debut album Soultry Sound, featuring a collection of 13 songs of roots, reggae and dub sounds with lyrically conscious driven melodies, heavy bass tones, and eclectic synth layers. The album features an all female line up with special guest appearances by Nattali Rize, Lion Child, Mpress Kandace, Sistren Kim and Ashley Irae. Those who know my musical tastes or read this blog regularly, know that I am not dub's biggest fan. So when any dub comes along that I like, I really try to make it a point to feature it here. Now the beauty of this album is there are tracks that I like better as dubs contrary to its vocal track. It even goes as far as liking the dub so much that I have revisited several vocal tracks because of the dub. This is normally backwards for me. The albums first true track is the one that caught me instantly, it's called 'Soul Journ.' This than turned me on to the 'Soul Journ Dub.' This is the normal process. 'Divine Energy Dub' created the first of the reverse process: liking the dub then going back and liking the vocal of the same track. In this case I definitely like the dub better with it's light hip hop feel. The exact same process happened with 'Age Of Aquarius Dub' and it's vocal counter part. 'Babylon Fyah Dub' & 'Heartbreaker Dub' break the whole mold by being the two tracks that were dub and I liked them way better than the vocal, which is extremely rare. So it makes sense when Soultry says 'Dub exposes all the elements of a song, it breaks it down then puts it back together again. It gives the listener the opportunity to hear what a song is made.' It's so true and she an advocate of dub and at the same time more than that.It's dub that is her passion and it shows on this journey called 'Soultry Sounds.' Much of it was done live and maybe that's the difference in me liking them more. Dub is alive and very well in the hands of Soultry Dub especialy with her first concentrated project "Soultry Sounds."
PicStitch and the Reggaestra 'Don Dadda'
Never heard of PicStitch and the Reggaestra until the release of this song called 'Don Dadda.' The part that caught me in regards to this song was the band's rendition of a reggae standard of the track/riddim 'African Beat.' Their version is as good if not better then most. The topic of 'Don Dadda' fits well too since its an older nickname of a significant person within the community. PicStitch is a 'Don Dadda' as a Grammy nominated roots reggae producer and expanding into the artist/singer side.
KULCHA LATINO
Propaganda (Spanish version) - TianoBless tribute to Vaughn Benjamin
Chile's Tiano Bless has musically paid tribute to Vaughn Benjamin by imitation, the best form of flattery in covering his song 'Propaganda.' The impact of this man and his music is really manifesting worldwide and this is a prime example. This is a great rendition and musically gets just lack of the trait that does not seem to be duplicated is the tone & frequencies of Vaughn's music.
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