Early digi reggae

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droid

Guest
Yeah, I dunno. As mentioned in that thread, it all overlaps. For me its about the sound and the structure of the music more so than when it was produced. A lot of purist reggae heads are into the digi roots end of things, an area that is barely touched on if you only look at the more well known end of things like Nitty Gritty etc...

Like everything in reggae 90% of it is under the surface and not well documented at all.
 

routes

we can delay.ay.ay...
What a Wonderful Feeling - Errol Bellot

randomly came on my portable mp3 player this morning. incredible song! that melody shoots right through you, the lyrics so bittersweet. the riddim is just pure ole timey lopsided digiskank, poppin anna squeezin. my ears are happy. WOYOY!
 

padro1982

Well-known member

sufi

lala
well steve is kicking up some proper kontentious kontroversy over on the blog today
Released in 1985 (just before 'Sleng Teng'), 'Tempo' was the first proper digital tune, and is still my favourite even after all these years. The rhythm is close to 'Stalag 17', and the lyrics are a proper anthem to all sound systems.
surely that's against the received wisdom as far as i understood it anyway
 

crackerjack

Well-known member
well steve is kicking up some proper kontentious kontroversy over on the blog today

surely that's against the received wisdom as far as i understood it anyway

I've heard something similar before, though that involved Tempo being made before Sleng-Teng but released afterwards. Certainly Tempo and Ring the Alarm were well-established by autumn 85. My memory is that Sleng-Teng was around longer than that, but...
 

Client Eastwood

Well-known member
Tempo is indeed earlier by a year or so as far I know. But Sleng Teng gets the credit most of the time cos Jammy says so.

edit : Furthermore Tempo is a King Tubby rydim . . . hmmm
 
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crackerjack

Well-known member
Tempo is indeed earlier by a year or so as far I know. But Sleng Teng gets the credit most of the time cos Jammy says so.

It also gets the credit because there were 10 zillion versions of it within about 30 minutes of its release, which is pretty much the template for dancehall ever since. In that sense, it was wway more pivotal than Tempo.
 

Client Eastwood

Well-known member
Yeah, some people are fickle like that! :slanted:

RIP Steely also: http://www.uncarved.org/blog/2009/09/steely-r-i-p/

On their red bull music academy interview they mention that Bob Marley used a "riddim box" on "So Jah Say" in 1973...

reeeeewwwwwiiiiinnnnnndddddd

http://web.archive.org/web/20040401055519/http://searchanddelete.com/

(Press play and its about half way down the page. What did we do in the days of pre internet)

Or

"
Ten of the Best: Sleng Teng

When Wayne Smith unleashed "Under Me Sleng Teng" at the Waltham Park Road soundclash between King Jammy and Black Scorpio, it wasn't the first time that the digital sound had been flexed in Jamaica - Prince Jazzbo, Sly & Robbie and Paul Blake & The Blood Fire Possee had all got there first. But it was the first digital reggae, or ragga, riddim to blow up in such spectacular fashion. Starting life as a slowed down version of the "Rock" demo preset on a Casio Music Box, and re-recorded at Jammy's studio by session musician Tony Asher, it quickly became one of the most influential pieces of music in Jamaican history. But frankly, the background is nothing compared to the actual sound of the record - the bouncy, elastic bassline and cheap reverbed snares just have such an amazing smile-factor that no riddim since has really managed to recapture.

1. Wayne Smith - Under Me Sleng Teng

The original classic version. Wayne Smiths distinctive vocals complement the riddim perfectly and the lines: "I said me smoke it and me pass it thru de windah / an me give it to my nex door neighba" always makes me grin.

2. Johnny Osbourne - Buddy Bye

Much more dubby than the original, and some excellent toasting including lyrics from "Frere Jaques" and call-and-response. "Whoa!" "Yeah!"

3. Wayne Smith - Under Mi Sleng Teng (Muggs Remix)

Eh.. kinda in two mind about this. It's cool to hear the Under Mi Sleng Teng vocals over a new beat, but was Cypress Hill's DJ Muggs really the best choice? Good, if only for the novelty value.

4. Cocoa Tea - Hey Bobby

Just a straight version over the Sleng Teng riddim but the vocal melody is so joyful I can't help but love it.

5. Egyptian - X-Rated

The beats get toughened up and the riddim gets the cut-up treatment, with extra keyboard flourishes. The vocals aren't much to write home about though, fairly monotonous.

6. Bunny Lee - Metal Sleng Teng

Odd one this. Recently brought to my attention by fellow Sleng Teng fan and Optimo DJ, Twitch. His description was "If Sigue Sigue Sputnik had come from Jamaica" and I can't really argue with that. Being a SSS fan (yes, there are some SSS fans..), I love this.

7. SL2 - Way In My Brain

Ah the memories! The Sleng Teng made up the bulk of this old-skool rave anthem, lifting the riddim and the "Way In My Brain" vocal refrain. One for the whistle crew.

8. Yellowman - Under Mi Fat Thing

Unlike the also excellent version by Anthony Red Rose, this reproduced the Sleng Teng riddim with bass guitar and piano, rather than sampling the original.

9. Kid 606 - Catstep, My Kitten (Catnip Vatstep DSP remix by Hrvatski)

Sandwiched between sheets of screeching noise lies two fantastic Sleng Teng sampling sections, with synthesized speech bigging up the Kid and advising the "ganja man" to "put out ya spliff". Personally I think that if these sections had been expanded and the extraneous noise-nikery dropped then this would be 100% perfect.

10. Eddie Cochran - Something Else

The track that the "Rock" preset on that Casio Music Box was based on. Without it there would be no Sleng Teng, and as such this is classic, regardless of whether or not you like Eddie Cochran.

Of course, there are dozens of other great versions, but I think these give the best overview of the many different takes on the Sleng Teng.

// posted by don @ 9:28 PM
"
 
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D

droid

Guest
I was thinking about doing a Sleng Teng round up... discovered so many more cuts over the last few years: Rebel Teng, Computer Seh So, Revenge of Sleng Teng, Godfather, The John John soundclash version, Main street, various cuts from Bunny Lee and Tubbys... it just goes on and on.

John - here's that Peter Metro I meant to play at hot wuk:

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baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
I know it's been mentioned before, but this is astonishing:

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value=""></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
 

benjybars

village elder.
I was thinking about doing a Sleng Teng round up... discovered so many more cuts over the last few years: Rebel Teng, Computer Seh So, Revenge of Sleng Teng, Godfather, The John John soundclash version, Main street, various cuts from Bunny Lee and Tubbys... it just goes on and on.

John - here's that Peter Metro I meant to play at hot wuk:

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value=""></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

driod that version is QUALITY!

"the capital of England is a London
the capital of the US is a Washington
the capital of the Holland is a Amsterdam
and if there is a group of stars it called a constellation"

WHEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!
 

boyalive

looking for a good cowboy
Love this one, from the same album as sleng teng:
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picked up the dub version of Computerised the other day, great song titles.
Prince+Jammy+-+Computerised+Dub+(1986).jpg
 
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