stelfox? in the guardian? writing about reggae? with his reputation?

matt b

matt b

Indexing all opinion
about bloody time, its ages since he's had a one page spread


"Vinyl has been eliminated


In Jamaica, seven-inch singles are completely extinct; DJs have ditched their turntables. Will the digital revolution mean the end of traditional reggae? Dave Stelfox reports"

http://music.guardian.co.uk/urban/story/0,,2242297,00.html


(nice picture of aba shanti in the paper edition)
 
L

labrat

hot on the heels of love
just read it now...very interesting
i always suspected that the 7"'s were usally for the europian market and wondered who bought the greensleeves riddim albums(turns out no-one)
 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
labrat said:
just read it now...very interesting
i always suspected that the 7"'s were usally for the europian market and wondered who bought the greensleeves riddim albums(turns out no-one)
Click to expand...

Presumably they sold for a while though....I could never figure them out either. They came too late for any self-respecting DJ and were too monotonous for a punter. Very odd.
 
matt b

matt b

Indexing all opinion
i'd guess they sold loads in comparison to artist lps up until the roots revival.

pre-internet they were a cheap and easy way of getting hold of a good rhythm without trawling round for 7"s
 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
Must admit to being hopelessly out of touch dancehall. Do Greensleves still do their Samplers or Ragga Ragga Ragga comps? Any particularly strong recommendations from the past couple of years?
 
STN

STN

sou'wester
I'd buy the odd one rhythm LP as a curio or if I loved the rhythm (stalag, Joyride, Diwali). Sometimes you'd get a split riddim LP too (Clappa/Lightning Bolt was one, I think).
 
matt b

matt b

Indexing all opinion
crackerjack said:
Must admit to being hopelessly out of touch dancehall. Do Greensleves still do their Samplers or Ragga Ragga Ragga comps? Any particularly strong recommendations from the past couple of years?
Click to expand...

this is supposed to be good:


"From now on, we will see music makers looking into alternative revenue streams, investing more heavily in individual performers, building ongoing relationships with them, and crossing over into management roles."

this could be either fantastic or awful. does anyone in the USA know anything about what happened with the sizzla / puffy deal that foreshadows this development?
 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
matt b said:
this is supposed to be good:
Click to expand...

Thanks Matt.

this could be either fantastic or awful. does anyone in the USA know anything about what happened with the sizzla / puffy deal that foreshadows this development?
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Christ, what a combination. Didn't the Capleton/Def Jam thing go sour because he refused to reinvent himself as a ghetto gangsta? Hard to see how Sizzla would fare better under Diddy's aegis - he's often talked a conscious game (rumours of signing Dead Prez etc etc), but really he wouldn't know what to do with him.
 
matt b

matt b

Indexing all opinion
therein lies the problem of artists being 'managed'- they aim to become a brand etc. sizzla is the biggest hypocrite in reggae btw, by all accounts.

i'll miss 7"s greatly.

btw the recent maximum sound comp 'bobo revolution' would be a good purchase- the blackboard rhythm (an update of the lee perry version) is on it, so would be worth the price alone, although i don't know which cuts are featured.
 
john eden

john eden

male pale and stale
great piece by Dave - I've been waiting on it finally coming out!

Greensleeves still do comps - check http://www.greensleeves.net

Their bashment anthems 2007 is a bit of a return to form I think. Plus it comes with a DVD. Check the soundsamples on the site...

There seemed to be a few DJs who bought the riddim albums for a while, the impression I got is that not everyone could grab all the good sevens when they came out so the albums were a cheaper way of getting a load of cuts to mess about with.

It all tailed off quite badly after a while, though.
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
matt b said:
i've just realised where i stole the title for this thread from, john.
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13face.jpg
 
S

stelfox

Beast of Burden
Cheers dudes. Glad you all liked it. I'm pleased that there have been so many positive comments about this so far.
The strap kind of overstated the case a little, as vinyl is still being pressed in Jamaica, just a hell of a lot less than before, as anyone who has tried to buy 45s lately will have noticed, and it's definitely no longer the industry standard format - in fact the industry standard format is no format at all these days.
BTW, not to split hairs, but Sizzla's deal was with Damon Dash, not Diddy. Elephant Man is the one who is signed to Bad Boy.
Sizzla's deal didn't seem to do too much for him as far as I can see. Dancehall artists never break into the US hip-hop market without several big singles and a lot of feature work to their previous credit, and Sizzla just didn't have this.
I think The Overstanding (the album that came out of the DDMG deal) was expecting way too much too soon.
Ele's deal with Puffy may be different, but I doubt it and don't care anywhere near as much about it because Ele's not made a decent record since Bun Bad Mind.
 
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C

Clubberlang

Well-known member
I can't say I care much about the Ele album either, but I'm shocked that it's taken so long for him to get something together. Clearly the time to release this album was on the heels of the Lil Jon remixes and the Puma commercials and Sean Paul's success, etc, not three+ years later when the crossover market is dead (dying.)
 
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