#40 years of Soca

[galleryyuhself]

Machel Montano x Destra - Shake the Place (Official Music Video) | Soca ...

[izatrini]

‘King Of Soca’ Explores The 40-Year Career Of Machel Montano - Essence

‘King Of Soca’ Explores The 40-Year Career Of Machel Montano  Essence http://dlvr.it/TDn8cm

[dtba]

SECOND ANNUAL CARIBBEAN MUSIC AWARDS ANNOUNCED FOR AUGUST 29TH IN BROOKLYN, NEW YORK

OVER 150 NOMINEES AND OVER 40 CATEGORIES CELEBRATING THE BEST IN CARIBBEAN MUSIC UNVEILED

TICKETS ON SALE NOW AT CARIBMUSICAWARDS.COM

#CaribMusicAwards   #CaribMA

New York, NY (May 28, 2024) Prepare for the most diverse music event of the year as Caribbean Elite Group proudly presents the nominees for the highly anticipated Caribbean Music Awards! With over 150 nominees and over 40 categories spanning a diverse range of islands and genres, this year's awards promise to celebrate Caribbean music's finest talents. Check out the official recap of last year's inaugural event HERE. 

Carefully chosen through a rigorous selection process, the nominees represent the pinnacle of Caribbean music excellence. From the infectious rhythms of Reggae and Soca to the pulsating beats of Dancehall and beyond, these artists embody the rich tapestry of the Caribbean musical landscape. This year, we're thrilled to introduce exciting new categories such as International DJ, French Caribbean Artist, Latin Caribbean Artist, and Bouyon Artist of the Year, alongside Chutney, Calypso, and Konpa Honors.

Voting is underway and will conclude on Thursday, June 30th, 2024, so be sure to cast your vote and make your voice heard! The celebration of the nominees will reach its peak at a star-studded event on Thursday, August 29th, at King Theatre, where music enthusiasts and industry insiders alike will come together to honor the extraordinary talents and tracks that have graced this prestigious list.

Leading the nominations this year are the sensational Dexta Daps with eight nominations, the energetic Skinny Fabulous with six nominations, and the dynamic Masicka, Yung Bredda, Bounty Killer, and Machel Montano with five nominations each. Also receiving noteworthy nominations are Asa Bantan, Tee Jay, Cham, Byron Messia, Patrice Roberts, Rajah Wild, Nailah Blackman, and Problem Child, each with four nominations.

Don't miss your chance to have a say in the 2024 Caribbean Music Awards! Nominees, including self-nominations and peer acknowledgments, can vote through the official Caribbean Music Awards website at caribmusicawards.com. Fans will also have the opportunity to vote, ensuring that the awards truly reflect the vibrant and diverse voice of the Caribbean music community.

For the latest updates and information about the 2024 Caribbean Music Awards, visit CaribMusicAwards.com and/or follow the platform on IG @CaribMusicAwards @CaribbeanEliteMagazine. 

Join us in the excitement as we celebrate the vibrant music culture of the Caribbean region and recognize the remarkable talents that define it. Caribbean Elite Group is dedicated to showcasing the best of the Caribbean music scene, and we can't wait to see you at the Caribbean Music Awards.

The complete list of nominees for "Caribbean Music Awards" 2024 are:

Album of the Year (Reggae)

Buju Banton- Born For Greatness

Collie Buddz – Take It Easy

Marcia Griffiths - Golden

Morgan Heritage - The Homeland

Stephen Marley - Old Soul

Sizzla - The I-Grade

Julian Marley & Antaeus -Colors of Royal

Album of the Year (Dancehall)

Masicka - Generation of Kings

Popcaan- Great Is He

Valiant - 4:14

Beenie Man- Simma

Byron Messia - No Love

Bounty Killer & Baby Cham - Time Bomb

Aidonia- Occupied Mind

Song of the Year (Dancehall)

Tee Jay - Drift

Byron Messia – Talibans

Valiant – Mad Out

450 – Wild n Rich

Rajah Wild - Wild Out

Baby Cham, Bounty Killer & Dexta Daps - Slow Motion 

Masicka - Tyrant

Song of the Year (Soca)

Nailah Blackman & Skinny Fabulous - Come Home

Problem Child, Jus Jay King, Nelieux - Holiday

Olatunji - Engine room

Machel Montano & Patrice Roberts - Like Yuh Self 

Bunji Garlin - Hard Fete

Nadia Batson- Market

Lyrikal - Look Back

Artist of the Year - Male (Dancehall)

Masicka

Dexta Daps

Valiant

Tee Jay

Popcaan

450

Byron Messia

Artist of the Year - Male (Reggae)

Beres Hammond

Romain Virgo

Tarrus Riley

Christopher Martin

Shaggy

Protoje

Artist of the Year - Male (Soca)

Skinny Fabulous

Problem Child

Asa Banton

Machel Montano

Voice The Artiste

Bunji Garlin

Lyrikal

Artist of the Year (Latin Caribbean)

Lyz Martin

La Pana

Romeo Santos

Gaza Fish

AKIM

El Alfa

Artist of the Year - Female (Dancehall)

Jada Kingdom

Shenseea

Spice

Shaneil Muir

Stefflon Don

Tina (Hood Celebrity)

Artist of the Year - Female (Reggae)

Koffee

Etana

Alaine

Lila Iké

Naomi Cowan

Artist of the Year - Female (Soca)

Patrice Roberts

Nailah Blackman

Nadia Batson

Destra Garcia

Fay-Ann Lyons

Alison Hinds

Nessa Preppy

Artist of the Year (Bouyon)

Asa Bantan

Triple K

Mr Ridge

Nice

Kenny G

Carlyn Xp

Reo

Artist of the Year (French Caribbean)

Kalash

Kassav’

Michael Robinson

Phyllisia Ross

Blaiz Fayah

DJ Chinwax

Bamby

Best New Artist (Dancehall)

Byron Messia

Nigy Boy

Rajah Wild

Stalk Ashley

Kraff

Malie Donn

Best New Artist (Soca)

Yung Bredda

Rae

Rane

Empress J

Star Martin

Faith Callender

Best New Artist (Reggae)

Aiesha

Mortimer

Royal Blu

Blvk H3ro

Ras I

Joby Jay

Kxng Izem

Konpa Band of the Year

T VICE

Klass

KAI

Vayb

Nu Look

Zafem

K-Dilak and Bedjine

Performer of the Year (Dancehall)

Dexta Daps

Tee Jay 

Shenseea

Spice

Ding Dong

Masicka

Skeng

Performer of the Year (Soca)

Patrice Roberts

Skinny Fabulous

Asa Bantan

Kes

Problem Child

Machel Montano

Voice The Artiste

Mr Killa 

Collaboration of the Year (Soca)

Nailah Blackman & Skinny Fabulous - Come Home

Skinny Fabulous & Mr Killa & Asa Bantan- Do What Yuh Want

Machel Montano & Patrice Roberts- Like Yuh Self

College Boy & Yung Bredda- Juk On The Junction

Ricardo Dru & Viking Ding Dong- Tornado

Lead Pipe & Just Jay - Brain Freeze

Collaboration of the Year (Reggae)

Shaggy, Kes - Mood

Sean Paul, Beres Hammond- Rebel Time

Alaine, Dexta Daps- Seh It Yah

Morgan Heritage, Baby Cham, Bounty Killer, Stonebwoy-  Who Deh Like You

Marlon Asher, Tarrus Riley, Capleton - Diamonds and Gold

Julian Marley & Antaeus - Inna Mood

Collaboration of the Year (Dancehall)

Burna Boy, Byron Messia - Talibans II 

The 9ine, Jada Kingdom – Turn Me On

450, Shaneil Muir – Crawsis

Popcaan, Drake – We Caan Done

Baby Cham, Bounty Killer, Dexta Daps - Slow Motion

Masicka, Lila Iké, Chronic Law - Triumph

Mavado, Jay A, Dexta Daps - Pain

Video of the Year (Reggae/Dancehall)

Tee Jay - Drift

Valiant- Mad Out

Baby Cham, Bounty Killer & Dexta Daps - Slow Motion 

Alkaline - Boss

Mavado, Jay-A, Dexta Daps - Pain 

DJ Cassidy & Shaggy feat. Rayvon - If You Like Pina Coladas

Video of the Year (Soca)

Nailah Blackman & Skinny Fabulous- Come Home

Problem Child, Jus Jay & Nelieux- Holiday

Nadia Batson- Market

Machel Montano & Patrice - Like Yuh Self

Bunji Garlin - Hard Fete

Lyrikal & Lil Natty & Thunder- The Ambush

Mical Teja - DNA 

2023 Impact Award - (Dancehall)

Byron Messia

Rajah Wild

Chronic Law

Jah Vinci

Stalk Ashley

Prince Swanny

Kraff

2023 Impact Award - (Soca)

Yung Bredda

Mical Teja

Pumpa

Terra D Governor

V’ghn

Rae

DJ Cheem

2023 Impact Award - (Reggae)

Naomi Cowan

Mortimer

Jah 9

Samora

Sevana

Jaz Elise

Irie Souljah

People's Choice Award 

Kes

Skinny Fabulous

Patrice Roberts

Asa Banton

Dexta Daps

Shenseea

Yung Bredda

International DJ of the Year

Private Ryan

DJ Puffy

Travis World

DJ Young Chow

DJ Riggo Suave

DJ Kevin Crown

DJ Osocity

DJ Stakz

Entertainer of the Year

Maya Fairy 

Julie Mango 

Jr Lee So Crazy 

Majah Hype 

White Yardie 

Yung Bredda 

Dale Elliott

Music Event of the Year

Brunch and Soca

Dominica World Creole Music Festival

I Love Soca

Soca Brainwash

Stink and Dutty

Reggae Sumfest 

St Kitts Music Festival

BRT WKND

Cruise Event of the Year

Uber Soca

Welcome To Jam Rock

Love And Harmony

FeteTopia

Epic

About the Caribbean Music Awards The Caribbean Music Awards is an event that celebrates the excep8onal talent, crea8vity, and impact of Caribbean music. It recognizes outstanding ar8sts, producers, and industry professionals who have significantly contributed to the Caribbean music landscape.  About the Caribbean Elite Group Caribbean Elite Group aims to amplify the people, stories and talent that for generations, has fueled the rich culture of the Caribbean.   As part of the portfolio, Caribbean Elite Group produces Caribbean Elite Magazine - a print and digital publication which highlights Caribbean entertainers, artists, producers, promoters, cuisine, travel, fashion, entrepreneurs and more, while engaging in an array of topics that are of special interest to the community.

[lindsaywesker]

Good morning! I hope you slept well and feel rested? Currently sitting in my study, attired only in my blue towelling robe, enjoying my first cuppa of the day. Welcome to the working week although, for those of you working in the NHS, welcome to just another day.

R.I.P. Cynthia Weil. With her partner Barry Mann, she co-wrote many beautiful songs including ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling’ by The Righteous Brothers and ‘Don’t Know Much’ by Aaron Neville & Linda Ronstadt.

The weekend got off to a great start! Friday night at The Tabernacle! They’ve got one turntable, a huge sound system and the DJs play seven-inch vinyl to a very appreciative crowd. Good vibes! Good to see legendary DJ Smokey Joe, who I first met at The Palm Tree Club on Fore Street, Edmonton 40 years ago, and good to meet drummer Richard Bailey, who has been part of British black music since day one (playing on albums by Linda Lewis, Sharon Forrester, Osibisa, Billy Ocean, Gonzalez, Incognito, The Breakfast Band, Morrissey Mullen and now Cymande.)

We were at The Tabernacle to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Metronomes Steel Orchestra, an integral part of UK culture for decades. Our great-nephew Elijah-Pops is part of the band. He’s one of those beautiful kids at the top of my Facebook page. I’ve known him since the day he was born. When he cried, they gave him to me, and I would walk around the house saying to him, “There’s no crying in baseball!”

Metronomes is as much a social club and family as anything else. Parents send their kids to Metronomes to join the Mini-Metros, as they grow up, they graduate to the group you will see at Carnival, and then there is another line-up for virtuoso musicians. I’ve got into soca later in life and, having listened to SO much music over the last 62 years, I am very appreciative of people generating imaginative rhythmic arrangements (as opposed to the simplistic thud of flaccid house!)

During the show, I clicked on Facebook Live and captured a few minutes as it happened. Listening back to the video, it made me realise how noisy the audience was! Really hate it when people talk through a musical performance! Go and do your second-rate flirting somewhere else!

Also on Friday, I discovered that my mate Northolt Paul has just contracted Covid! This is a man I hugged last Sunday at The White Lion but, thankfully, I’m fine! And this is why I still wear my mask on public transport and in shops!

Many thanks to everyone that listened to the show live and to everyone that will listen to the show on MixCloud. The Letter N (Part One) next Saturday at 1.00 p.m.

We were going to spend Saturday night with one beautiful friend but she cancelled, so we thought we’d spend Saturday night with Lady Wesker instead but she cancelled too! The one person who was very happy about all this was The Mighty Josiah (he hates it when we go away), which meant we were suddenly on grandparent duty!

On Sunday, I was a man. I mean, obviously, I’m a man but, on Sunday, I was very manly. I attempted and achieved a fairly sacred set of manly tasks. 1) weekly grocery shop at Sainsbury’s, 2) washed the car (and my son’s car as well) with help from son and grandson, 3) took grandson to local park (played football in a cage with kids 50 years younger than me in 80 degree heat), and 4) came home to help prepare brunch. Still got it.

Have a marvellous and momentous Monday. I love you all.

[kaisokonnaisseur]

REVIEW OF CALYPSO FIESTA: NATIONAL CALYPSO MONARCH SEMIFINALS, SKINNER PARK, SAN FERNANDO, TRINIDAD, 11 FEBRUARY 2023

By Eugene McGuinness

Nobody will read this review if I cover all 40 of the calypsonians who performed in the semifinals, but I will try to comment on a) the 9 calypsonians I included in my who’s who, b) the 11 finalists and 1 reserve selected by the judges and their songs, and c) other things that struck me as I viewed the performances.

Of the 11 finalists chosen through the semifinal, 3 have won the title of Calypso Monarch before: Karene Asche, Helon Francis, and Roderick “Chucky” Gordon. All finalists must compete against the reigning Calypso Monarch, Terri Lyons.

There were multiple themes evident in the semifinalists’ songs, but the biggest song topics were national pride, paying tribute to living and dead Calypso legends, and the COVID pandemic’s impact on life and Carnival.

Terri Lyons - appeared in last year’s Calypso final - Terri Lyons won the Calypso Crown for the 2nd year in a row in 2022, with a song entitled simply “Calypso” - the song was a deconstruction of the contemporary issues facing the genre, with a strong emphasis for people to respect the art form. At some point in the middle of the song she gave a speech (the judges love that). While I think it was a good song, a well written song, and an important song, the number of deaths of famous calypsonians later on in 2022 really changed the style and tone of the songs relevant to the topic of Calypso. In 2022, a generic song about Calypso could win, but in 2023 it was a more challenging song to write on a more specific topic; you wouldn’t win without naming multiple famous calypsonians who had died in 2022 Explainer, Black Stalin, Singing Francine etc. Terri Lyons comes from a family of calypsonians: she is the daughter of the legendary Calypso and Soca artist Super Blue, and her sister Fay-Ann Lyons is also a well-established Soca singer.

Karene Asche - appeared 3rd - I was rooting for her in the beginning because I really liked her song, but then I found out she had a songwriter for it. Her song “Oasis” was catchy and well-written, a song about longing for Carnival throughout the pandemic. My enthusiasm for her kind of died off when I saw how good the other performances were. She advanced to the finals, but I feel like there were some better performances.

Tameika Darius - appeared 4th - Her song, “Jahaji Bash,” was a powerful protest of racism that started out with a soundbyte of something racially offensive that was said by a prominent Indian political figure. The song “Jahaji Bash” really conveys the spirit of indignance in the face of racist offence, and it is quite designed to make the listener feel a strong sense of outrage. This song will definitely have Trinis talking about the woman who made the offensive remark. She advanced to the finals and I think this was definitely a rightful pick by the judges.

Carlos James - appeared 8th - His song, “The New Normal” had to do with the COVID pandemic. There was a strong religious theme with some biblical phrasing, not uncommon through the competition but I am a little more biased toward Calypso with secular themes. I don't think this song was exceptional enough to be in the final, it is a little duller than the others, but he said "God is a Trini" and the judges really really liked that I guess.

Ezekiel Yorke - appeared 10th - His song, “Being Human,” was a thoughtful observation of human behavior and morality and what makes us who we are. Also starts with a religious theme reminding us that God created us in his own likeness and image. He advanced to the finals, and it’s a great song, but you know, for me, I like a funny, angry, or dirty song, and these poignant moral ones bore me a little bit. Can I say the man doesn’t deserve to sing at the final on Dimanche Gras? Maybe no. Good song, strong message that we all need to be more human, but that kind of stuff isn’t very entertaining for me. 

Maria Bhola - Appeared 11th - Her song, “People Man,” conveyed a strong message and had a lot of humour to it. Basically, the song demands that the side chicks and the mistresses show some more respect for the wives, and come help with the chores and minutia of running a household, and if they can’t do that, then maybe they should find men of their own, and find a next home to wreck. She then goes on to point out that the married women in the audience are going to be the ones who really want to cheer her on the most. It was bold, funny, and feminist. Maria Bhola represents the all-women Divas International Cabaret calypso tent. She advanced to the finals, and I would say the judges were also super-right here. I must also add, that calypsonians struggle to advance to the finals with humourous songs.

Mark Eastman - Appeared 12th - His submission “Pride,” was a another stirring national pride song. I had seen him perform this multiple times on Youtube tent videos. He really brought his A-game, and had a good dance arrangement. His stage presence was solid, his singing was excellent, and the lyrics of the song were really strong. I say he definitely deserves to go to finals and he may even win the whole damn thing, to be honest. (I would only say this about two other performances).

Kerine Williams-Figaro - Appeared 18th - Her performance, “To You With Love” was a song of appreciation for the great Calypso pioneers who have passed on and the ones who are still with us today. She sang a really solid song and multiple songs came in with this theme. Did she wow me? Not hugely, but she was very good. Was it the best of the tribute songs, I don’t know, maybe not. It’s ironic that she sang of her appreciation for fellow calypsonian Mighty Chalkdust, and she advanced to the finals with this song, whereas Chalkie didn’t make it.

Caston Cupid - Appeared 19th - His song “The Saga of Truth” was just a jab at the judges, and I don’t know what he sang to make them choose him for this. He ended up on stage with actors portraying the judges holding up big placards with ‘0’s on them as he sang “some judges can’t judge, plenty of them can’t judge!” - attacking or criticizing or otherwise expressing frustration with the judges is somehow a notable thing in Calypso, but yeah, he didn’t make it.

Aaron Duncan - Appeared 20th - His song “The Mother of All Carnivals” was another celebration of a return to Carnival after COVID, and he had one of the most vibrant and involved dance performances, including stilt walkers. Aaron Duncan is a decorated junior calypsonian who is now 19 years old. He got the reserve spot in the finals, and I think if the judges wanted to say he’s good enough for that, they should just give him a spot in finals and let one of the other eleven sit in reserve. This song was catchier, and the dances were impressive, but the lyrics didn’t stir me as much as the others.

Lester Salandy - Appeared 21st - His song “Tribute to the Icons” was a very solid submission, paying homage to the legacies of Calypso legends who had passed on. It was full of references to famous calypsonians and their songs and themes. I don’t know if it was better than Kerine, who advanced, but this is a close alternative, comparably leading the pack among the tribute songs; but he did not advance.

Kurt Allen - Appeared 22nd - “We Are One” was a song celebrating the Chinese community and Chinatown in Trinidad and Tobago, with a strong theme of racial tolerance, national unity, and apparently a tribute to someone named Chinee Patrick. Kurt Allen was Calypso Monarch in 2011, and I thought this song was a contender for the finals, the theme was a little bit unique, but he also did not advance.

Helon Francis - Appeared 23rd - “Mighty” was the song about national pride that I liked the most after Mark Eastman’s “Pride.” And, in reality, this song may have the better lyrics. The two songs are extremely similar, they even both mention Trinidadian Marxist historian C.L.R. James. Helon’s song is also really inspiring, if you are Trinidadian it makes you reflect on all the greatness that’s come out of Trinidad, and it has a strong message for young scholars, musicians, even influencers to rise and take their place in the world. This song advanced to the finals, and I would also say Helon Francis, one of the competing former Monarchs, is one of the top three contenders for the Calypso Crown this year as well.

Philip Murray “Blacksage” - Appeared 30th - Extempo veteran Blacksage’s song, “Aggie’s Story” was one of nostalgia, about a dead comedian that I had to look up (Ramdeen Ramjattan aka John Agitation), but this song was also full of great jokes. Blacksage is always good for a humourous song, but unfortunately he didn’t make it to the final, either. 

Chuck Gordon - Appeared 31st - Chucky’s song “Maths Ain’t Mathsin’” was the first song I heard out of the 40 before competition, basically a searing indictment on the cost of living: very strong message, good lyrics. This is the song I’ve started memorizing and singing myself. Chucky can also go all the way, he’s a former Monarch, he’s now a finalist, certainly deserving of it, and the song is a catchy one. 

Duane O’Connor - Appeared 32nd - His song “D Ting Fix” is another song that swipes at judges, but it also goes global, he says everything is basically fixed, rigged, and corrupted, from these Calypso semifinals, to the finals, the Panorama, and the FIFA World Cup, like he has a whole verse suspecting that was rigged “to let Messi go out on top” - so this one was a fun one, but not very practical for winning, and no, he did not advance.

Michael Osouna “Sugar Aloes” - Appeared 33rd - His song “Hands of Mercy” was contemplative, and very pious, dealing significantly with the recent crises in Trinidad and Tobago. This song was not the only incidence of religious themes in the competition, but as I've said, generally the heavily religious songs don’t do it for me. Aloes has been to the finals a record consecutive 22 times, winning Calypso Monarch twice. He didn’t make it this year, and I can’t say I blame the judges. Lots of talented up-and-coming calypsonians in the field.

Ta’zyah O’Connor - Appeared 34th - His song “Sing Hallelujah” was another song about national pride. This song was happy and uplifting, similar to the others, slight religious hinting, even if I liked two of the other national pride songs more than his I can see why he was chosen, he sang very well and had great stage presence. Good to see him advance to the final.d

Hollis Liverpool “Mighty Chalkdust” - Appeared 36th - His song “The New Trend” wasn’t very spectacular, but seeing as Chalkdust is 81, the same age as Black Stalin, who just passed away two months ago, it’s good to see him in such good health. Chalkdust, as I mentioned in the who’s who is a university professor. He’s a 9-time Calypso Monarch, so it’s a real shock likewise as with Aloes to see him not advance to the finals.

Heaven Charles - Appeared 38th - His song “What Yuh Need Again Trinbago” was the weakest of the 4 national pride songs selected for the finals, in my opinion. The judges must have really liked the part where he said the Almighty put Trinidad’s reserves deep within the ground…He pointed out the the steel pan is the only acoustic instrument invented in the last century, that was a cool tidbit. Helon Francis also mentioned the pan.

Nichole Thomas - Appeared 39th - Her song “Carnival is We” was same theme as Karene Asche’s song, and won her the Tobago Monarch crown in October last year. I liked it, even though it wasn’t my favourite in the contest. So I was sort of surprised that she didn’t make the finals. Almost like these judges wanted to send a message that what the Tobago judges think doesn’t matter. I also think performing near to dead last in a ten-hour competition is probably a disadvantage.

I gave myself at least a day before starting to write my reactions down on the performances, so I guess I’ll close this with some overarching thoughts: most of the finalists deserved to advance, and there is a lot of talent, especially from the young former junior calypsonians. I think Aaron Duncan was unfairly relegated to the reserve spot, and the judges didn’t need the fourth national pride song. I agree with the judges the most about Mark Eastman, Chuck Gordon, Helon Francis, Maria Bhola, Tameika Darius, Ta’zyah O’Connor, and Kerine Williams-Figaro. I’m iffy about Karene Asche, and not so crazy about Carlos James and Heaven Charles.

The performances on Dimanche Gras this coming Sunday are going to be truly something to behold, and as the Grand Master of Calypso, Lord Kitchener said on Dimanche Gras 1988, “the result will surprise you.”

[havatabanca]

Is Eddie Grant the true inventor of Soca?

by Jo-Ann Greene

 Eddy Grant stands among an elite group of artists as one who has not just merely moved successfully across the musical spectrum, but has actually been at the forefront of genres and even created one of his own. From pop star to reggae radical, musical entrepreneur to the inventor of ringbang, the artist has cut a swath through the world of music and made it his own.

Born in Plaisance, Guyana, on March 5, 1948, the young Edmond Grant grew up on the sound of his homeland, tan singing, an Indo-Caribbean vocal style whose roots lay in South Asia and are the backbone of modern chutney. Then in 1960, the Grant family emigrated to England, taking up residence in the working-class Stoke Newington area of London. The young teen's musical horizons swiftly expanded, embracing the R&B, blues, and rock that percolated across his new island home.

In 1965, Grant formed his first band, the Equals, and long before the days of 2-Tone, the group was unique in being the first of Britain's multi-racial bands to receive any recognition. The West Indian contingent comprised Jamaican-born singer Lincoln Gordon, with his twin brother Derv and Grant both on guitar, while the rhythm section of bassist Patrick Lloyd and drummer John Hall were native-born white Englishmen. Like most of the teenaged bands roaming the capital at the time, the Equals cut their teeth on the club and pub circuit and finally inked a label deal with President Records in early 1967. Their debut single, "I Won't Be There," didn't crack the charts but did receive major radio support. This, alongside an expanding fan base wowed by their live shows, pushed their first album, Unequaled Equals, into the U.K. Top Ten. At the request of his label, Grant had also been working with the Pyramids, the British group who had backed Prince Buster on his recent U.K. tour. Besides composing songs for the band (and one for Buster himself, the rude classic "Rough Rider"), Grant also produced several tracks, including the band's debut single and sole hit, "Train to Rainbow City." In 1968, the Equals scored their own hit with "I Get So Excited," the group's debut into the Top 50. Although their follow-up album, Equals Explosion, proved less successful than its predecessor, as did the next single, the quintet's career was indeed about to explode. "Hold Me Closer" may have disappointed in the U.K., where it stalled at a lowly number 50, but in Germany, the single was flipped over and "Baby Come Back" released as the A-side. It swiftly soared to the top of the German charts, a feat repeated across Europe. Later that spring, a reissued British single finally received its just due and reached number one. Even the U.S. took notice, sending the single into the lower reaches of the Top 40. Sadly, this turned out to be a flash in the pan. The Equals' follow-up single, "Laurel and Hardy" died at number 35; its successor did even worse, while their new album, Sensational Equals, didn't even make the charts. New hope arrived when "Viva Bobby Joe" shot into the Top Ten in the summer of 1969, but its follow-up, "Rub a Dub Dub," just scraped into the Top 35. Understandable, considering the Equals' roller coaster of ups and downs, Grant now turned his attention elsewhere.

In 1970, he started up his own specialty record label, Torpedo, concentrating on British reggae artists. He also utilized the label as a home for a brief solo career under the alias Little Grant, releasing the single "Let's Do It Together." But the artist hadn't given up on the Equals yet, and good thing too. Later that year, their new 45, "Black Skinned Blue Eyed Boys," slammed the group back into the Top Ten. And then, the unimaginable happened. On New Year's day in 1971, Grant, all of 23 years old, suffered a heart attack and a collapsed lung. If lifestyle played a part, it wasn't because he drank, took drugs, smoked, or ate meat; it was due to Grant's only vice -- a hectic schedule. He quit the group at this point and the Equals soldiered on into the shadows without him. He sold Torpedo as well and with the proceeds opened up his own recording studio, The Coach House, in 1972. Grant continued to produce other artists and release their records through his newly launched Ice label, but his own musical talents were seemingly left behind. It wasn't until 1977 when Grant finally released a record of his own, the Message Man album. It was three years in the making and a stunning about-face from his previous pop persona, even if "Black Skinned Blue Eyed Boys" had suggested a change was imminent. Tracks like "Cockney Black," "Race Hate," and "Curfew" were politicized dark masterpieces laced with aggression and anger.

But the album also included some lighter moments, including "Hello Africa," which featured a sound that the media hadn't even invented a word for yet. Grant dubbed it "kaisoul," an amalgamation of kaiso (the traditional word for calypso) and soul. Caribbean legend Lord Shorty, the acknowledged inventor of this new crossover hybrid, labeled it solka. Neither term stuck, however, once the Trinidad and Tobago press came up with their own label: soca. But regardless of what it was called, the style was just one of many hybrids that Grant was entertaining.

Message Man may have proved a commercial failure, but that didn't dim the artist's vision for one second.

Two more years passed while Grant wrestled with its follow-up in the studio, composing, producing, and performing virtually the entire album himself. The end result was 1979's Walking on Sunshine, one of the greatest albums of the decade. While the B-side featured a clutch of seminal musical hybrids, the centerpiece of the album's A-side was "Living on the Frontline," a dancefloor classic that blended tough lyrics with an electronic sheen, a sense of optimism, and a funk-fired sound. Released as a single, the song roared up the British chart, while becoming a cult hit in U.K. clubs. Inexplicably, the album itself didn't chart at all, nor did its follow-up, 1980's Love in Exile. However, in the next year, Grant finally cracked the market wide open with Can't Get Enough, which finally breached the Top 40. His singles' success had continued uninterrupted across "Do You Feel My Love," "Can't Get Enough of You," and "I Love You, Yes I Love You." A phenomenal live album, Live at Notting Hill, was recorded in August 1981 during London's Notting Hill Carnival. The following year's Killer on the Rampage slew its way into both the British and American charts, where it landed at number ten. The album spun off "I Don't Wanna Dance," which topped the chart in the U.K., while the exhilarating "Electric Avenue," from his next album, Going for Broke, landed at number two on both sides of the Atlantic.

Nothing else would equal these dizzying heights. Three more singles followed by the end of 1984, but none managed to break into the Top 40. In the U.S., only one, "Romancing the Stone," actually made the chart, charming its way into a respectable berth just outside the Top 25. That was his final showing in the U.S. On both sides of the Atlantic, 1987's Born Tuff and the following year's File Under Rock were passed over by the record-buying public. However, the British gave the artist one last Top Ten hit in 1988 with "Gimme Hope Jo'anna," a highlight of his 1990 Barefoot Soldier album. Unfortunately, its 1992 follow-up, Painting of the Soul, went the way of its last few predecessors. 

By then, the artist had long ago left the U.K., having emigrated to Barbados a decade earlier. Even as his own career had taken off back in England, Grant was spending much of his time mentoring a new generation of soca talent. He opened a new studio, Blue Wave, and lavished most of his attention on it, which explains the gap in his output between 1984 and 1987. By the time "Jo'anna" had fallen off the chart, Grant was well on the way to creating his own mini-empire. Besides giving new stars-to-be a helping hand, Grant also moved into music publishing, specializing in calypso's legends. Over the years, Ice has thrilled the world by making the back catalog of multitudes of stars available: Lord Kitchener, Roaring Lion, and Mighty Sparrow, to name a few. And almost uniquely among Caribbean artists, Grant has maintained control over his own music, and Ice, of course, has kept it available. Across Grant's solo career, the artist has continued to experiment with different styles in ever-changing combinations. Pop, funk, new wave, reggae, Caribbean, African, and even country have all been melded into his sound. 1992's Painting of the Soul was heavy with island influences, while the next year's Soca Baptism is a collection of covers, from hits to obscurities, all dosed with a modern sound.

By this time, Grant was hard at work in the evolution of yet another hybrid style: ringbang. Many of the genre's elements are easily found in the artist's earlier recordings, from African rhythms to military tattoos, alongside soca itself and dancehall rhythms, many of the latter influenced by Grant's own previous work. The new style debuted in 1994 at the Barbados Crop Over festival. Since then, the style has continued to intrigue, but has yet to create the international success that it's always threatened. Much of this can be laid at Grant's own door, through a simmering dispute with other artists and the legal ramifications of the genre's trademark. A vociferous supporter of artists' rights, Grant first ran into trouble in 1996 when he demanded his label's artists receive adequate copyright fees from Trinidad and Tobabgo's Carnival. A heroic stance that infuriated the festival's organizers, this was quickly overshadowed by the public outcry over soca itself. As far as T&T was concerned, the inventor of soca was island native Lord Shorty, who announced its birth in 1978 with the Soca Explosion album. However, Grant insists otherwise, crediting his own "Black Skinned Blue Eyed Boys" as the first-ever soca record. Needless to say, his public proclamations of this fact continue to infuriate T&T and other Shorty supporters. But politics aside, the greater factor may be in ringbang's trademark. Once Grant filed it, the word could no longer be used by other artists without express permission. A perusal of any soca, calypso, or chutney hits collection shows the importance of the use of the genre term to the actual song, and just how many titles feature the term. By preventing artists from using the word ringbang, few outside the Ice stable were willing to explore the genre.

Even so, Grant managed to organize the Ringbang Celebration 2000 as part of T&T's millennium festivities. The event, which went off without a hitch, created further ill will due to its price tag, a whopping 41 million (6.5 million dollars in U.S. currency). The artist himself performed two songs at the event.

In the new year, he recorded a new version of one of them, "East Dry River," while in Jamaica, appropriately enough in a ska style. The previous year, the artist released the Hearts & Diamonds album, with Reparation following in 2006. Grant continues to make an impact on both sides of the studio, with his music always an intriguing concoction of sound and his studio work equally innovative. Ice itself is equally instrumental in the music world, both in its preservation of past legacies and its attention to new artists.

via island mix backchat http://www.islandmix.com/backchat/threads/is-eddie-grant-the-true-creator-inventor-of-soca.247725/

[jezfletcher]

1000 Albums, 2020: The Big Lists

Hey folks, I’ve written up my top albums and my top tracks of 2020, but there’s so much music released in a year, and restricting myself to just 30 albums, and 50 tracks is a difficult task.

As a result, I’ve compiled a longer list of my top tracks and albums (without write-ups), for your perusal. This is obviously more for the sake of completeness, but are here in case you’re interested in finding out if I at all rated something you liked this year (or, if you’re Sam, if you want to actually do a detailed comparison).

Want playlists? I’ve got playlists for you too:

My Top 50 Countdown - which I posted yesterday. This provides a sorted countdown of my top tracks from #1 to #50. (50 tracks)

My Top Tracks - a longer list of all the tracks I really rated highly this year. This accounts for a much larger number of artists, and includes most of the tracks I’ve listed below. (169 tracks)

My Top Tracks & Albums - a playlist containing all my top tracks, plus selections from all of my favourite albums of the year. (216 tracks)

My Top Tracks, Albums + Much, Much More - Are you game? Contains a huge, varied collection of music that we listened to this year. I really enjoyed all these tracks, and they provide a much broader collection of albums, artists and genres. (1,014 tracks)

Anyway, without further ado here’s my Top 200 Tracks, and Top 100 Albums:

Top Albums of 2020

100. Winnetka Bowling League - Congratulations (power pop)

99. Locate S, 1 - Personalia (art pop)

98. Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia (pop)

97. LukHash - Transient Offworld (synthwave)

96. The Drowns - Under Tension (street punk)

95. The Mystic Underground - Wrapped in Riddles (electro disco)

94. Jonathan Wilson - Dixie Blur (Americana noir folk)

93. Mighty Oaks - All Things Go (indie folk rock)

92. Kiesza - Crave (synthpop)

91. Dance Gavin Dance - Afterburner (post hardcore)

90. The O’Reillys and the Paddyhats - Dogs on the Leash (Celtic punk)

89. Warm Digits - Flight of Ideas (krautrock)

88. Dandelion Wine - Le Cœur (Australio dreamfolktronica)

87. Marc Scibilia - Seed of Joy (indie singer-songwriter)

86. Biffy Clyro - A Celebration of Endings (Scottish indie rock)

85. Savant - Void (complextro)

84. Cordovas - Destiny Hotel (Americana folk)

83. TTRRUUCES - TTRRUUCES (wonky pop)

82. The Claudettes - High Times in the Dark (Chicago piano blues)

81. Dustbowl Revival - Is It You, Is It Me (post country)

80. Sea Wolf - Through a Dark Wood (indie folk rock)

79. Cory Wong - The Striped Album (funk rock)

78. Someone - ORBIT II (psych pop)

77. Days N’ Daze - Show Me The Blueprints (H-town thrashgrass)

76. Blossoms - Foolish Loving Spaces (indie pop)

75. Kyros - Celexa Dreams (prog synth rock)

74. Dub Pistols - Addict (dub)

73. Grimes - Miss Anthropocene (dreampop)

72. The Hanging Stars - A New Kind of Sky (psychedelic folk)

71. Neon Trees - I Can Feel You Forgetting Me (indie pop)

70. The Corner Laughers - Temescal Telegraph (folk pop)

69. 3D Stas - Eleven (soiltronica)

68. Pantayo - Pantayo (kulingtang gong pop)

67. The National Parks - Wildflower (folk rock)

66. Pigeon John - Gotta Good Feeling (underground rap)

65. Novo Amor - Cannot Be, Whatsover (indie folk rock)

64. The Explorers Club - The Explorers Club (sunshine pop)

63. Poppy - I Disagree (bubblegum metal)

62. Overcoats - The Fight (indie pop)

61. Chemtrails - The Peculiar Smell of the Inevitable (psychedelic garage pop)

60. Joywave - Possession (indie pop)

59. Heart Bones - Hot Dish (indie pop)

58. Mitochondrial Sun - Mitochondrial Sun (darktronica)

57. L.A. Salami - The Cause of Doubt & A Reason To Have Faith (post blues)

56. Car Seat Headrest - Making a Door Less Open (alt rock)

55. Tunng - Dead Club (folktronica)

54. Butch Walker - American Love Story (glam rock)

53. Polly Scattergood - In This Moment (experimental pop)

52. The Beautiful Fear - The Waltz of the Moonshine Blind (prog rock)

51. The Altogether - Silo (acoustic pop rock)

50. KES - We Home (Trinidadian soca)

49. Man Man - Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between (experimental rock)

48. Creeper - Sex, Death & The Infinite Void (horror punk)

47. Darlingside - Fish Pond Fish (indie folk)

46. Enter Shikari - Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible (electronicore)

45. Trixie Mattel - Barbara (drag country)

44. City Mouth - Coping Machine (indie pop rock)

43. Bright Eyes - Down In The Weeds Where The World Once Was (indie rock)

42. The Texas Gentlemen - Floor It!!! (heartland rock)

41. Will Wood - The Normal Album (cabaret rock)

40. Maeve Gilchrist - The Harpweaver (harp folk)

39. rook&nomie - me&you (experimental pop)

38. Steep Canyon Rangers & Asheville Symphony - Be Still Moses (orchestral bluegrass)

37. Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters (art pop)

36. Sea Girls - Open Up Your Head (indie pop rock)

35. Michael Franti & Spearhead - Work Hard & Be Nice (reggae fusion)

34. Oneohtrix Point Never - Magic Oneohtrix Point Never (experimental electronica)

33. Ultrahappyalarm - Critical Daydream (happy hardcore)

32. The Living Tombstone - zero_one (Israeli electro rock)

31. The Flaming Lips - American Head (psychedelic rock)

30. Saint Saviour - Tomorrow Again (experimental folk)

29. Post Animal - Forward Motion Godyssey (psychedelic rock)

28. The Jerry Cans - Echoes (Inuit neo-folk)

27. Aloud - Sprezzaturra (blues rock)

26. The Phenomenal Handclap Band - PHB (psychedelic soul)

25. Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - Reunions (alt country)

24. Badly Drawn Boy - Banana Skin Shoes

23. MOBS - Cinema Paradiso (80s pastiche pop)

22. Jason Wilson - Sumach Roots (eclectic folk)

21. DMA’s - The Glow (Australio indie rock)

20. Cornershop - England Is A Garden (chamber psych)

19. Igorrr - Spirituality and Distortion (baroque breakcore)

18. Eleventyseven - Basic Glitches (synthpunk)

17. Kate Rusby - Hand Me Down (indie folk)

16. Indigo Girls - Look Long (folk rock)

15. Another Sky - I Slept On The Floor (indie rock)

14. Courteeners - More. Again. Forever (post britpop)

13. Dutty Moonshine Big Band - City of Sin (jazztronica)

12. Nelson Kempf - Family Dollar (art folk)

11. Beans on Toast - The Inevitable Train Wreck (drunken folk rock)

10. Joe Wong - Nite Creatures (baroque pop)

9. Luis Pestana - Rosa Pano (experimental electronica)

8. Sufjan Stevens - The Ascension (art pop)

7. MisterWives - Superbloom (indie pop)

6. Lola Marsh - Someday Tomorrow Maybe (Israeli noir pop)

5. Dyble Longdon - Between a Breath and a Breath (chamber folk)

4. Hugo Kant - Far From Home (downtempo nu-jazz)

3. The Lemon Twigs - Songs For The General Public (alt rock)

2. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - K.G. (microtonal psychedelic rock)

1. Ada Rook - 2,020 Knives (electropop concrète)

Top Tracks of 2020

200. Sea Wolf - Forever Nevermore (indie rock) 199. Steep Canyon Rangers & The Asheville Symphony - Easy to Love (orchestral bluegrass) 198. Dandelion Wine - Too Late She Cried (experimental pop) 197. Aloud - Oh Danny (blues rock) 196. Car Seat Headrest - Weightlifters (anti-folk) 195. Michael Franti & Spearhead - I Can Still Feel You (reggae fusion) 194. Dance Gavin Dance - Lyrics Lie (post hardcore) 193. Post Animal - Post Animal (psychedelic rock) 192. La Oreja de Van Gogh - Menos Tú (Spanish indie folk) 191. The Hanging Stars - Heavy Blue (cosmic country) 190. Oneohtrix Point Never - Long Road Home (experimental electronica) 189. Will Wood - I / Me / Myself (cabaret rock) 188. Butch Walker - You Gotta Be Just Who You Are (glam rock) 187. Brothers Osborne - Muskrat Greene (country) 186. Tycho - Easy (downtempo IDM) 185. The Altogether - Brown of Gold (acoustic pop rock) 184. Dua Lipa - Cool (pop) 183. Circa Waves - Jacqueline (indie dance rock) 182. Sangatsu No Phantasia - Rendezvous (Japanese pop rock) 181. Moonchild Sanelly - Bashiri (South African future ghetto punk) 180. Needshes - Love (Uzbek indie pop) 179. The Explorers Club - Ruby (sunshine pop) 178. Osi & the Jupiter - Appalachia (pagan folk) 177. Thievery Corporation - The Forgotten People (Symphonik Version) (orchestral world triphop) 176. Enter Shikari - Marionettes (I. The Discover of Strings) (electronicore) 175. Zuzu - How It Feels (pop rock) 174. Los Mocosos - Viva Los Mocosos (latin funk) 173. DJ Plead - Going For It (mahraganat) 172. Igorrr - Camel Dancefloor (baroque breakcore) 171. Someone - Pull It Together (psych pop) 170. Dizzee Rascal - You Don’t Know (grime) 169. The Corner Laughers - The Accepted Time (power pop) 168. The Claudettes - 24/5 (rock and/or roll) 167. The Ballroom Thieves - Tenebrist (neo Americana) 166. Joe Wong - Day After Day (baroque pop) 165. Porter Robinson - Something Comforting (complextro) 164. Jason Wilson - Happy Little Sisyphus (indie folk) 163. Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit - Be Afraid (alt country) 162. Hayley Williams - Dead Horse (indie pop) 161. Badly Drawn Boy - I Need Somebody to Trust (indie pop rock) 160. Bleached - Stupid Boys (bubblegrunge) 159. Man Man - Lonely Beuys (experimental rock) 158. Dustbowl Revival - Dreaming (neo Americana) 157. The Texas Gentlemen - Easy St. (neo Americana) 156. Maeve Gilchrist - The Storm (harp folk) 155. The Drowns - Them Rats (street punk) 154. Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer - Frolicholic (chap hop) 153. Zutomayo - Obenkyou Shitoiteyo (Japanese jazz rock) 152. Jonathan Wilson feat. Mark O’Connor - ‘69 Corvette (Americana noir folk) 151. Dub Pistols feat. Natty Campbell - Sound Sweet (dub DnB) 150. Cordovas - I’ma Be Me (Americana folk) 149. The Birthday Massacre - Enter (gothic darkwave) 148. KIDS - The Mourn (indie rock) 147. Kyros - Rumour (prog synth rock) 146. Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott - A Good Day Is Hard To Find (pop rock) 145. The O’Reillys and the Paddyhats - James Brian (Celtic punk) 144. The Fizz - The World We Left Behind (MOR pop) 143. Beans on Toast - World Gone Crazy (indie folk) 142. Liraz - Shab Gerye (arab groove) 141. 47 Soul feat. Shadia Mansour & Fedzilla - Border Ctrl (Palestinian shamstep) 140. 3D Stas - Dislocated Minds (soiltronica) 139. Bright Eyes - Tilt-A-Whirl (indie folk rock) 138. Darlingside - Ocean Bed (indie folk) 137. Once and Future Band - Freaks (psych pop) 136. Prizm - We Were Young (synthpop) 135. Z Berg - To Forget You (dreamfolk) 134. L.A. Salami - Things Ain’t Changed (post blues) 133. Kero Kero Bonito - It’s Bugsnax! (hyperpop) 132. Days N’ Daze - Addvice (thrashgrass) 131. Sufjan Stevens - Tell Me You Love Me (art pop) 130. Fiona Apple - Shameika (art rock) 129. Dutty Moonshine Big Band feat. HypeMan Sage - Big Band Fam (jazztronica) 128. Five Finger Death Punch - Leave It All Behind (nu metal) 127. Sundara Karma - Artifice (art pop) 126. TTRRUUCES - Lost Boy (wonky pop) 125. Theory of a Deadman - Ted Bundy (post grunge) 124. The National Parks - I Can Feel It (folk pop) 123. The Innocence Mission - John As Well (ambient folk) 122. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - The Hungry Wolf of Fate (microtonal indie rock) 121. The Jerry Cans - Atauttikkut (Inuit folk rock) 120. Sufjan Stevens - Lamentations (art pop) 119. Pigeon John - They Don’t Make Em Like Me (jazz hip hop) 118. Michael Franti & Spearhead - Lay It All Down (reggae fusion) 117. ARASHI - Party Starters (J-pop) 116. Neon Trees - Used To Like (indie pop) 115. Savant feat. Jahari Medina - Zealot (complextro) 114. Alestorm - Tortuga (pirate metal) 113. MisterWives - Valentine’s Day (indie pop) 112. Alex the Astronaut - Happy Song (indie folk pop) 111. Big Freedia feat. Kesha - Chasing Rainbows (bounce) 110. Cory Wong feat. The Hornheads - Click Bait (instrumental funk) 109. Suzzy Roche & Lucy Wainwright Roche - I Think I Am a Soul (neo Americana) 108. Victoria Anthony - Temporary Tattoo (synthpop) 107. Novo Amor - I Feel Better (indie folk rock) 106. Harper Bloom - Walk My Way (indie folk pop) 105. Badly Drawn Boy - Is This a Dream? (indie pop rock) 104. Bywater Call - Arizona (blues rock) 103. Mitochondrial Sun - Chronotopes (voidgaze) 102. Kronkel Dom - Giftig (Deutsch rap house) 101. The Phenomenal Handclap Band - Riot (nu disco) 100. Woodlock - Collateral (indie folk rock) 99. SKIES - It’s Alright (pop rock) 98. Pinguini Tattici Nucleari - Ringo Starr (Italian indie pop) 97. Warm Digits - False Positive (neo-krautrock) 96. Winnetka Bowling League - Come To The Beach (power pop) 95. ViVii - Whistle (folk pop) 94. Fame on Fire - Roxanne (post-screamo) 93. Tunng - Death Is The New Sex (folktronica) 92. Feuerschwanz feat. Melissa Bonny - Ding (neue Deutsche härte) 91. Jamie Cullum - Don’t Give Up On Me (jazz pop) 90. The Living Tombstone - What I Want (Israeli electro rock) 89. Walk Off The Earth - What’s Love Got To Do With It? (indie pop cover) 88. Hildegard von Blingin’ & Cornelius Link feat. Friar Funk - Pumped Up Kicks (bardcore) 87. Loma - Don’t Shy Away (ambient rock) 86. Pantayo - Heto Na (kulingang gong pop) 85. Gin Wigmore - H B I C (indie rock) 84. Dyble Longdon - Crossbones (chamber folk) 83. DMA’s - Never Before (Australian indie rock) 82. Mighty Oaks - Tell Me What You’re Thinking (indie folk rock) 81. Circles Around the Sun - Landline Memories (instrumental prog rock) 80. Blossoms - Your Girlfriend (indie pop rock) 79. Grimes - 4ÆM (industrial pop) 78. Ada Rook - 2,020 Knives (electropop concrète) 77. Walk Off The Earth - Oh What A Feeling (indie pop) 76. AWOLNATION - Radical (stomp pop) 75. Little Big Town - Bluebird (alt country) 74. Dutty Moonshine Big Band feat. HypeMan Sage - Outlaws (jazztronica) 73. Hugo Kant - Everything Is Transformed (downtempo nu-jazz) 72. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Intrasport (microtonal indie pop) 71. Stuck On Planet Earth - Higher Than The Drugs (dance rock) 70. Kesha - Potato Song (Cuz I Want To) (pop) 69. joan - want u back (indie pop) 68. MisterWives - Love Me True (indie pop) 67. Butch Walker - Fuck It (I Don’t Like Love) (glam rock) 66. Heart Bones - This Time It’s Different (indie pop) 65. Anamanaguchi feat. meesh - Pop It (glitchhop) 64. Poppy - Concrete (bubblegum metal) 63. Creeper - Cyanide (alt rock) 62. The Lemon Twigs - Only a Fool (alt rock) 61. Purity Ring - stardew (dreampop) 60. Curt Cannabis - Falling Sensation (indie rock) 59. Custard - Funky Again (Bluey’s dad rock) 58. Ryan Hamilton and the Harlequin Ghosts - Newcastle Charm (power pop) 57. Indigo Girls - Howl at the Moon (ectofolk) 56. Cornershop - Highly Amplified (chamber psych) 55. ShockOne - Follow Me (drum n bass) 54. Yelle - Karaté (French hip hop) 53. Ultrahappyalarm - Wanna Cam??? (hyperpop) 52. Biffy Clyro - Tiny Indoor Fireworks (Scottish alt rock) 51. Heaven Pegasus feat. rook&nomie - Nomi (pop rock) 50. L.E.J. - Pas Peur (French chamber folk) 49. Avec Sans - Altitude (vapor pop) 48. Trixie Mattel - Malibu (pop rock) 47. Beans on Toast - Logic Bomb (jazz folk) 46. Nelson Kempf - Family Dollar (art folk) 45. Marcelyn - Guilloteens (experimental folk rock) 44. Little Big - Hypnodancer (funeral rave) 43. Walk Off The Earth feat. Harm & Ease - Toxic (eclectic pop cover) 42. Stormzy feat. Aitch - Pop Boy (grime) 41. The Fratellis - Six Days in June (pop rock) 40. MOBS - Big World (80s pastiche pop) 39. The Lemon Twigs - The One (alt rock) 38. The Cuckoos - Weekend Lover (glam rock) 37. MisterWives - It’s My Turn (indie pop) 36. Sammy Brue - Pendulum Thieves (alt country) 35. TheFatRat feat. Laura Brehm - We’ll Meet Again (pop EDM) 34. Starbenders - Holy Mother (glam rock) 33. Minh Beta - Let’s Fight COVID! (Vietnamese coronavirus pop) 32. Kiesza feat. Lick Drop, Cocanina & Shan Vincent De Paul - Dance With Your Best Friend (pop) 31. Ultrahappyalarm - Messy Gyaru (happy hardcore) 30. Saint Saviour - Taurus (chamber folk) 29. Kate Rusby - Love of the Common People (indie folk cover) 28. Seazoo - Honey Bee (indie pop rock) 27. City Mouth - Sanity For Summer (indie pop rock) 26. Cory Wong & Chris Thile - Bluebird (jazz-bluegrass crossover) 25. rook&nomie - soft atrocity (hyperpop) 24. Will Joseph Cook - Something To Feel Good About (indie pop) 23. Courteeners - Better Man (britpop) 22. MOBS - School’s Out (80s pastiche pop) 21. Luis Pestana - Sangra (experimental electronica) 20. Hugo Kant - High Gravity (downtempo nu-jazz) 19. The Flaming Lips - Mother I’ve Taken LSD (psychedelic rock) 18. eleventyseven - Battlecats (synthpop punk) 17. Igorrr - Lost in Introspection (baroque breakcore) 16. Polly Scattergood - In This Moment (spoken word triphop) 15. Dent May - Hotel Stationery (indie fuzzpop) 14. Another Sky - Fell In Love With The City (indie prog rock) 13. Lola Marsh - Like In The Movies (Israeli pop rock) 12. Ada Rook - Reverie (JH Ligation Experiment 1) (breakbeat electropop) 11. Trixie Mattel - Video Games (country folk cover) 10. KES - Na let go / (when ah) Jamdong / (with d) Boss Lady (soca) 9. Emerson Hart - Lucky One (heartland rock) 8. Uncanny Valley - Beautiful the World (AI dance pop) 7. Villagers - Did You Know? (indie folk) 6. Chemtrails - Uncanny Valley (psychedelic garage pop) 5. Andy Shauf - Try Again (indie pop) 4. Lola Marsh - Echoes (Israeli pop rock) 3. Sea Girls - Do You Really Want To Know? (indie pop rock) 2. Kishi Bashi - Never Ending Dream (indie pop) 1. Dyble Longdon - Obedience (chamber folk)

[curvesandcorners]

SLOVENIA

Slovenia 5/12/19 – 5/19/19 Republika Slovenija. The country is about the size of New Jersey but ever since I first visited in 2006, it left a big impression on me and I have always wanted to return. And especially with a bicycle. After a trip to Norway didn’t pan out I had committed myself to the idea of another bicycle trip and after a short think, Slovenia was it. Quite a bit of flight itinerary option analysis later, I had a free flight via American Airlines miles to Venice. I had about a month to plan out the trip so wasn’t too stressed. Then work got crazy, then I ended up in LA for the week before the trip, and then all of a sudden I was leaving the next day and I still had a route to plan and accommodations to book. That all somehow comes together no matter how unprepared I am and it would this time as well. So a long flight to Madrid, a short flight to Venice, and a 2 hour train ride later I was at the border town of Gorizia, Italy where I had the day before booked a hotel for the start and end of the trip. The hotel room turned into a bike shop and I re-assembled the Rick Jones that night and would leave the travel case with the hotel for the week. The following morning I pedaled across the border to Nova Gorica in Slovenia and started on my clockwise loop around western Slovenia.

The first day was grey and a little wet, which would prove to be a theme for the trip, but the riding started out pretty good, riding over one Italian hill before unknowingly crossing the official border at some unmarked spot and onto a bunch of small Slovenian farm roads.

Just before the town of Plave I hit a ripper of a descent and satisfied myself with my brakes ability to stop me, and then the Soca River first came into view. I had been waiting to see this river for 13 years, and it did not disappoint with amazingly clear turquoise blue water.

My route for the day would follow small roads along the Soca River valley, hitting small towns, and transitioning between perfect pavement, gravel, and jeep track. The weather shifted from threatening to very threatening but luckily never rained more than a spitting.  But what the weather lacked in rain it made up for in gusting wind, and blowing the wrong direction. I stopped for a picnic of leftover pizza from the night before, and though I was exhausted from the travels and jetlag, and despite the wind, made it to the town of Bovec to check in to the friendly hostel I booked. A good meal of trout, in the somewhat humorous and cartoonish Bovec style, and a couple glasses of local wine and I was out like a light.

The next morning my body still wanted to wake up on NY time so I got a late start but when I got intel on the route I had planned I found out my intended one-way foray up to the Mangart Saddle was not going to be possible as the road was closed because of snow. I thought about trying it out anyway, but it is a one way road 30 miles out and back, with 5000’ of climbing, and I’d have to return right back to where I started in order to continue on the overall route. So it was not hard to decide to skip that part and I now had a short 20 mile day. This worked out swimmingly as these 20 miles were stunning and provided reason to stop and take photos almost every 50 feet. The wind was back and working against me and I cursed not following the general advice of doing this route in counter-clockwise direction.  I took a wrong turn somewhere and then coming back for a ½ mile with the wind sent me sailing along at 30 mph without a pedal stroke. The Soca cut through a limestone gorge and my path followed more small roads and easy mountain bike trails, with a few river crossings over these lovely bridges.

The mountains I had been pedaling towards started getting closer and closer and pretty soon I found myself at my destination of the Koča pri izviru Soče mountain hut.

The hut is part of the Planinska Zveza Slovenije aka the Alpine Association of Slovenia and I had become a card carrying member the day before my trip, which meant I could sleep in the hut dormitory for a friendly 10 euro fee. It was early so I went on a rainy hike for the afternoon and I was glad I had packed my non-cycling shoes as the hike had me scaling some vertical faces before finding the source of the Soca river, a fissure in the mountain with a bottomless blue hole. The host of the hut fixed me up nicely with a wild mushroom stew, a delicious cottage cheese struklji, and a glass of wine. I climbed up the ladder into the loft dormitory and tucked in with my kindle for a good night of rest.

On the morning of Day 3 I breakfasted with my host again and discussed my cycling plans. She did not like my plan to continue up and over the Vrsic pass. The same snow that had closed the Mangart Saddle had apparently unofficially closed the road over Vrsic, unless your vehicle was equipped with snow chains. My bike was not. She called a hut-friend up on the mountain who confirmed her fears and told me I should not make an attempt. The detour was just not an option I would consider and I had been daydreaming about this pass for weeks so I thanked them both for their worry, but I’d be going up, and walking the bike if I needed to. As I stepped outside in the morning it was cold and grey again but I started pedaling and immediately climbing. Not 30 minutes later I was blessed with bright blue sunny skies that came out of nowhere and I knew I had made the right decision. The Vrsic Pass road is a military road built by Russian prisoners of war during World War I and has 50 numbered hairpin switchbacks, 26 going up on Trenta side and 24 (cobblestoned!) descending on the Kranska Gora side. The road was also absolutely stunning and a pleasure cycling up. The feeling was incredible. I looked behind me to see the valley from where I had just came, the sharp bends of the road getting smaller and smaller as I climbed higher and higher, and the surrounding mountains getting closer and closer and just could not believe this was reality.

Somewhere around switchback 20 or so, I was nearly at the summit and the warnings came true. The temperature plummeted and the road surface was covered with a few inches of snow over a sheet of ice. I ran into an older Austrian couple I had spoken with the day before in their SUV as they were turning around because their vehicle couldn’t make it up the road. Despite the snow we shared this moment of excitement because of the beauty of the mountain peaks and the encouraging sunshine.  They asked how it was cycling in the snow and I replied “it doesn’t matter. it’s beautiful” to which they replied in charming Austrian accents “IT IS SO BYOOTTEEEFULLLL”.  I pedaled when I could and pushed the bike when I couldn’t and put on all my layers and both pairs of gloves and made my way across the 4 or 5 km of snow covered summit. A well placed hut provided a hot tea to warm myself back up before making the descent. The north side has cobblestones on each of the 24 hairpins which was not ideal for a bicycle moving way too fast, but maybe that extra caution kept me from flying off the road and off the mountain. In any case, the descent was over before I knew it and I paused at Lake Jasna to admire the morning’s accomplishment.

From here I would enjoy 25 miles of picture perfect solitary riding along a tiny perfectly paved road/path through the Triglavski National Park, all the way to Lake Bled.

And somehow this cycling utopia of a road provided me with my only puncture of the trip.

A quick lunch in Bled and a lap around the lake and I continued on my way. After a few km I turned off the paved road and onto a mountain bike trail and started on the 2nd big climb for the day. A much smaller one at 580 m, but a much harder one thanks to the dirt and varying 8 – 15% grade.

But the top would reward me well with this alpine meadow and a view the whole way down the other side of the mountain to Bohinjsko Jezero.

I was further rewarded with freshly paved and absolutely perfect tarmac which allowed me let the bike sing down the swoopy descent. There were a few shouts of excitement as I was having so much fun and my bike felt so good. A few minutes later I was down at the lake (Bohinjsko Jezero).

A quick pedal to look around town and then I had a 5 or 6 km ride back up into the woods to another Alpine Association hut where I planned to stay. I approached a closed looking hut but was happy to see there was a woman doing some work around the back. But unluckily she informed the hut was closed until the weekend. The day was too good to let this setback annoy me so I quickly turned around and another trip back down to town and I managed to find a lovely little hotel lodge to call home for the night with an excellent “Foksner” burger and great selection of Slovenian craft beers. I toasted to an unforgettable day on the bike and was drunk in one pint and asleep in two. The next morning I woke up high on the euphoria of such a good previous day. I didn’t have any epic alpine passes planned for the day but overall it was the biggest day of the trip I had planned. I looked out the window and saw a miserably grey sky and rain pouring down. I checked the forecast and it did not look good.

I reviewed my planned route and saw I had quite a bit of climbing and a lot of it was on mtb trails. This just did not sound fun in 40 degrees and rain all day so I decided to call an audible and re-routed myself to a more direct route on mostly pavement. This cut the day down to a more manageable 95 km. The rain never stopped aside from one hour of respite, and it was indeed cold, but I layered up, put some house music on my Bluetooth speaker on my handlebars, and got into a groove with my cadence and pedaled instinctively. It was great and miserable at the same time. The route would take me along some beautiful roads and some average ones, and eventually I reached my somewhat arbitrarily selected destination of Trojane.

From Trojane I had picked out another Alpine hut for my accommodation. This was about 10 km outside of town and seemed doable from my review of the maps. My confidence was shaken though, by the previous day’s surprise closed hut. I continued out of town towards the woods and the hut. I got to the last remnants of a village before entering the woods and saw a woman outside and asked if she had any idea if it would be open or not. She didn’t speak a lick of English but grabbed her son who did and he knew the hut and was fairly confident it was only open on weekends so would be closed. I knew that would be a pretty terrible thing to trudge up to this hut only to come right back down, all in the cold pouring rain, at the end of a long day, and I also really liked the idea of a hot shower at that point (no showers at the Alpine huts) so I accepted defeat and headed back to Trojane for a hot tea and to figure out accommodation for the night. I met Melita in the Trojane café and we made friends and she was thrilled that I chose Slovenia for my cycling trip. We took a photo on her ancient digital camera. I took advantage of the wifi and successfully booked another cheap room at the wonderfully Soviet-esque meets mid-century modern Hotel Trojane. The hot shower made it worth every single euro (not that many!) and I cranked the heat and used my bike as a drying rack to try to dry off my thoroughly soaked clothing.

After an excellent night’s rest, I had an easy route planned from Trojane to Ljubljana for two day’s in the city. But I wanted more bikes so I planned a big epic murderous ride up to the Austrian border, across three mountain passes, and then back down to Ljubljana. Then I checked on road closure conditions and two of the passes were closed because of snow so I settled for something in the middle with one mountain pass. But before that I had to go see Hut Dom dr. Franca Goloba na Čemšeniški planini, which was supposed to be my destination the night before. I headed back out of town, passed the woman and son whom I had spoken to the day before, and then started to climb up into the woods. I soon realized I had very much made the right choice as the roads up to the hut went from

to

to

And they got stupid steep. But eventually, after a couple miles that felt like an a couple hundred, I came to the hut.

What an amazing place. The host was there doing some sprucing up and though she spoke no English I was at least able to confirm she was there the night before. I didn’t regret my decision but I sure was glad I still came to see the hut. The view off the mountain and across the valley below was breathtaking and the grounds of the hut were charming as possible. Picnic tables covered in snow with the sun shining and an incredible view meant I had to enjoy a morning beer.

I enjoyed my beer and went back in the direction I had came but took another trail I thought might be more bike and less hike. It was not. But it eventually spit me out onto another dirt road which was a very fast way back down off the mountain.

I passed through Trojane one last time, grabbed a few snacks, and then quickly turned off the pavement and onto a forest road which was one of my favorite sections of the whole trip. I had the whole forest to myself and enjoyed beautiful and tranquil dirt roads in great shape as I climbed up and down the undulating hills. This heavenly dirt road brought me to another secondary paved road, a small mountain pass, and through a few small villages. I made a friend, enjoyed the rolling hills and perfect pavement, and soon found myself at the base of the Trobelkski Vrh climb. At 460 meters the climb was not insignificant but with grade hovering around 15% it was a worthy challenge, especially on my loaded bike. Luckily it rewarded my effort with another set of amazing views of my surroundings.

At the summit I turned onto a paved main road and had a thrilling 7 mile long descent back down to the Kamnik River. The asphalt was freshly laid and I raced a Subaru WRX down the hairpin turns. Towards the bottom there was a section of road work and the roadworkers were working on laying more of that sweet glass smooth asphalt. I yelled as I passed :chef kissing fingers: “IT’S BYOOTIFULLL” pointing the asphalt and they loved the appreciation and cheered me on with a round of ALLEZ ALLEZ ALLEZ. It was a great moment and made my already ear to ear smile stretch even bigger. I followed my route on into Ljubljana and easily found my hotel and settled in for two days of espresso, beer, and great food. Ljubljana is a lovely little European gem. The River Ljubljanica runs right through it with beautiful buildings and cafes running along it. The food is good, the beer is good and cheap and plentiful, the good espresso is really good, and everyone seems to be happy and friendly. It was a lovely little rest off the bike for two days.

After two days of relaxing, eating, and drinking, it was time to get back on the bike. I called ahead this time to make sure the Alpine hut was open and promised the host I would be there by late afternoon. Then I loaded all my belongings back onto the Rick Jones and headed west out of the city.

After 25 km of flat, boring riding I turned onto a dirt road and climbed a few hundred feet. Then another stretch of flat riding before I started up a really great 400 meter climb to the village of Podkraj. It started to rain along the way which put a bit of a damper on the long and fast descent, especially the -17% portion. I managed that ok but wished for disc brakes and cursed my luddite-ness. I entered into Slovenian wine country and cycled up and down and alongside numerous vineyards.

And then shortly after the village of Dolenje I was gingerly descending around a series of hairpin turns and all of a sudden I was on the pavement with a painful thud. I’m not sure what happened but my tire slipped out from under me as I was making my way around the curve, even though I was doing so really slowly. I crawled off the road and lay out in the grass moaning and groaning. I checked my bike and had to push the brake lever back into position and do my best to re-align the bent derailleur hanger. As I was laying there a car or two passed by, veeerryyyy very slowly and both checked to see that I was ok. A couple came cycling by on mountain bikes in the opposite direction as me and stopped to check on me and we chatted for a while. They were locals and told me everyone knows that road and especially that turn are dangerous and extremely slick.

Once I collected myself I had no choice but to continue on. From there I had 25 km to get to my hut. Luckily my bike worked well enough, even without perfect shifting. The rain started to come down hard with about 20 km to go so I gritted my teeth and pushed on, up into the woods again. The last 8 km or so were really gorgeous but there was no time for photos with the rain so I pressed ahead, anxious to make it to the hut and looking forward to a hot meal and a drink. Some time around 4 pm I got to the Hut Stjenkova koča na Trstelju and looked forward to drying off and going to sleep very early.

As I entered dripping wet I saw two men and a beautiful but terrifying German Shepherd. Then a third man bolted up from behind a table. He was the host, Bostjan, and I had just woken him up from his afternoon nap. “YOU! NEW YORK!?” he yelled out and I confirmed. He commanded I sit down and placed a beer in front of me straight away. From there it would turn into absolutely the most fun night of the trip. Bostjan, and his friends Dragan the casino craps dealer and Miha the former motocross champion of Yugoslavia and the beautiful blue-blooded lineage purebred German Shepherd called Siri welcomed me into their Saturday night party. The beer flowed non-stop, I fortified myself mid-way with a hearty stew, and then again with a late night pancetta party, Bostjan brought out home-made grappa from his fellow communist (“NO, SOCIALIST”) comrades, Dragan brought out his homegrown Slovenian mountain kishkish, we toasted to Tito’s portrait multiple times, and some time around 1 am we had drunken 20 L of Laško beer and the keg was kicked. I couldn’t have asked for a better last night in Slovenia. I will never forget those guys and the fun time we shared.

I woke up the next morning in a haze and hurting just as much from the crash the day before as from the drinking.  Bostjan stumbled to the kitchen and prepared me a breakfast of scrambled eggs with beer, along with more pancetta and then I had a short last day to finish out the trip and return to Gorizia.

I was able to enjoy the mountain roads without so much rain this time and after a quick 50 km I was back in Italy and the whole town was closed since it was Sunday. I checked back into the hotel I had started the trip at, went through the tedious process of disassembling and packing my bike back into the s&s case, wandered aimlessly on foot until I eventually found something open ending up back at the same pizza place I had visited 7 days previous (very good pizza!), and got a night of rest before waking up early for the long travel journey of a train to Venezia, bus to the airport, 13 hour flight to Philadelphia, 6 hour layover which worked out perfectly for a happy hour reunion with friends, and then a one hour flight back to LaGuardia where I and thousands of other people would deal with the hell that is LaGuardia construction and transportation. At 2 am I walked back in the door of my Brooklyn apartment, dropped all my things at the front door, and collapsed into bed for a few quick hours of sleep before waking up for work and re-entrance into the real world.

Before I sign off, what sort of bike nerd would I be if I didn’t nerd out on my bike and gear selected for the trip. I wanted this to be a non-camping inn-to-inn or hut-to-hut in this case tour to keep the bike relatively lightweight and make the riding more fun. My Rick Jones has served me well for 7 years now and did not fail on this trip.

-Even with the front rando bag, frame bag, and saddle bag adding on about 15 or so lbs, the bike was spry and handles like a dream.

-Braking is, well…its as good as you can expect from cantilevers I suppose. Pretty decent when dry and alarmingly inadequate when wet, which happened to be most of the trip.

-I refreshed the drivetrain a couple months ago with new 11 speed Ultegra which proved as reliable as expected. I changed out the compact gearing for 46/30 sub-compact chainrings mounted onto my White Industries VBC cranks and really appreciated that choice at many times throughout the trip, both going up the alpine passes in the 30 tooth and cruising along on the flats and downhills in the 46. 

-The way-too-complicated electrical system, yes electrical system, consists of the SonDelux dynamo hub powering an IQ-X front headlight, as well as a taillight, and a Sinewave Revolution usb charger. The setup got complicated when I had to make it demountable for packing into the S&S case with quick-disconnects all over the place. One ripped out as I was taking the bike apart, requiring a last minute solder and leaving me not all that confident in the system holding up to the travel and the trip. But it turned out to not be an issue and worked the entire time and survived the disassembly and trip home with no problems or re-soldering required. 

-Tire selection was the do-it-all goldilocks of a tire Compass aka Rene Herse Bon Jon Pass 700c x 35 mm. Everything is tubeless compatible but I ran tubes due to the packing wheels tightly into a suitcase a little smaller than the wheels are round. Aside from that sudden crash which probably can’t be blamed on the tire, they were great and gave me the road and gravel performance I wanted, while still being able to handle some rough stuff when the route turned more towards mtb trail. 

-Navigation was handled with my Hammerhead Karoo which is enormous but works very well and a great tool for touring and especially good when re-routing on the fly becomes necessary. Between my trip to Oaxaca in December and this trip to Slovenia, I have confidence in the Hammerhead to get me wherever I want to go. 

-Bags consisted of a Swift Ozette rando bag out front, a Porcelain Rocket frame bag, and an Oveja Negra saddle bag. It looks like a generous amount of storage but it fills up pretty quickly and I needed all the space they provided for this trip. -Inside the bags I packed: (1) pair bibs + jersey + socks (rotated daily between the set I was wearing), an insulated Rapha gilet, a Search & State rain jacket, arm warmers, knee warmers, toe covers, a pair of full finger riding gloves, a pair of glove liners, and a merino wool neck gaiter. I was very glad to have every last piece of riding gear that I did as the temps and constant rain necessitated wearing everything on several occasions. I treated myself to the luxury of a pair of pants, a pair of shorts, a t-shirt, and a light wool sweater. Being able to change into dry normal clothes and the end of each long, wet day was a treat. And the most luxurious item packed was a pair of sneakers, which although they took up more than half the saddle bag they were also a god-send at the end of the day when I just wanted to take off the cycling shoes and for the couple of short hikes and the two days spent walking Ljubljana. Add in my Fuji XT1, a Kindle, a Bluetooth speaker, a headlamp, two water bottles, phone/wallet/passport, framepump, two tubes, tools, and a daily supply of snacks and that was the bike packed. I was happy with everything packed, and there was not a single item I regretted lugging around by bicycle for a few hundred km.

If anyone has actually read this far. Thank you for reading and now go visit Slovenia. Tell them I sent you and say hello. I am already scheming on a return trip next year with cycling and fly fishing combined.

Nasvidenje!

[mistavybe]

Go-to drink order 🍺🍸🍾🥂

If i’m having a beer, then it’s almost always a Stag - usually at a Carnival fête (for you foreigners, that’s what we call our outdoor Carnival parties / Soca concerts). Just FYI, Satg is my personal preference of the of two locally brewed Trini beers: Carib and Stag. Most Trinis will debate Carib vs Stag heatedly until their dying breath lol)

Back in the day my go to hard liquor was Hennessy... usually with an energy drink as the chaser. Hennesy and Monster or Hennessy and Red Bull etc.

But then I had an unfortunate incident that led to me projectile vomiting what seemed like gallons of Hennessy, Puncheon Rum, Red Bull and whatever I had for lunch that day all over the all white leather interior of an acquantiance’s Escalade in Brooklyn, NY circa 2003 lol. So now I can’t even stand the smell of Hennesy without getting nauseous. 🤷🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️

So nowadays, my go to hard liquor is vodka. Preferably Grey Goose or Ciroc. Never ever Smirnoff (swore it off forever after a super bad experience following a performance in St. Vincent circa 1998 ��). I’m over Absolut now too, having drank wayyy too much of it back in the very early ‘oughts lol. 🙄🙈

I also had a brief Hpnotiq dalliance somwhere in the late 90’s / early ‘oughts before the Hennessy thing even began. ☺️

Oh, and I nearly forgot to include the year or two in the early 90’s when all my boys and I drank was gin and orange juice, thanks to Snoop Dog 🤣 🍊 🥃

Overall though I have to say my absolute top choices for drinks right now: a good pinot grigio, white zinfandel, rosé or just classic champagne. 🍾🥂

Moët is my go to champagne and rosé. And if I start to list white wines I like, we’ll be here all day lmao.

Me coming to this point in my late 40’s is kind of full circle really, given that wines and champagne were the first alcohols I was allowed to imbibe back when my parents threw their now-infamous dinner parties and house “limes” back in the day. (“lime” = Trini slang for “hanging out”).

Bartender... lemme have a bottle of rosé and two champagne flutes!

[tricess85-blog]

LINK FOR DISCOUT TIX AND BOTTLE SERVICE☝️

TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

When it's lit...its Unapologetic!

Bring ya A-1 turn up! Bring ya A-1 twerk! Bring your A-1 whine!

SATURDAY JANUARY 5

UNAPOLOGETIC VII:

#SINFUL7 #PBS105

Hudson Terrace

**EARLY BIRD TICKETS** ON SALE NOW STARTING @ $15

***EARLY BIRD VIP PASS*** STARTING @ $40

WWW.UNAPOLOGETICNYC.COM

UNAPOLOGETIC6 WAS EPIC

OVER 1100 ATTENDEES! OVER 200 BOTTLES POPPED S0 RESERVE YOUR SECTION TODAY!

This year the whole building will be unapologetic! It ain't safe! Hip hop & trap in the main room and dancehall, soca and afro beats in level 3!

Dress code: Fly shit only. Blazers preferred. Heels preferred.

WWW.UNAPOLOGETICNYC.COM

MUSIC BY

@DJSELF @DJYOUNGCHOW

#DJSELF #DJYOUNGCHOW

@ITSANASTYWORLD @DJMAL_1L

Capricorns free with rsvp

VIP BOTTLE SERVICE

2 FOR 600 ADD 2 BLUE JUICE CARAFE FOR $50 W/DEPOSIT

WWW.UNAPOLOGETICNYC.COM

347.559.1160

#UNAPOLOGETICVII #LNHHNY

#unapologeticnyc #mabstas #itaintsafe #STAGE48NYC #POWER105 #HOT97 #spaceibizany #rooftop760 #vanitynyc #vandalnyc #taodowntown #theatticnyc #milkriver #hennypalooza #afropolitan #curlfest #baefest #blackandeducated #phibetasigma #j9 #deltasigmatheta #zetaphibeta #sigmagammarho #alphakappaalpha

[julianspromos]

MM 40 MIAMI Machel Montano | Miami Carnival Week | Fri Oct 7th

MM 40 MIAMI Machel Montano | Miami Carnival Week | Fri Oct 7th

  ***⭐️ MM 40 MIAMI ⭐️*** Machel Montano – The Soca King   * 40 years in the entertainment business   * Come celebrate this historic event   * One Night Only #MM40   * Plenty Vibes Energy ️   * The Monk Band   * Many Guest Artist   * International DJ Cast   MIAMI CARNIVAL FRIDAY NIGHT   October 7th, 2022   8:00pm – 2:00am   Outdoor Venue: @ Lauderhill Festival Grounds 1400 State Rd 7,…

[simply-shakera]

Toronto Carnival Guide 2022

In case your wondering - yes that’s me in the photo above! It was captured moments before I hit the stage with Kes The Band at one of their Toronto shows. Caribbean carnival “mas” costumes is such a work of art - I am so excited that thousands of us will get to where one again soon! WHY? Well, in 40 days Toronto will be hitting the lakeshore for the first time in 2 years for Toronto Caribbean Carnival.

This is a huge deal for the Caribbean community! What seems like just a “street party” to some, to others, is a cultural celebration, a source of pride, a display of months of work such as glue gun burns, feather placement etc. a place to feel free and liberated, a meeting ground for you to connect with others and a showcase of ones talent and skill. The city is buzzing with excitement - so much so that costumes are selling out left, right and center! As a result I am releasing my annual Toronto Carnival guide one month early.

Below you will find a list of Caribbean Carnival - related business and brands in the GTA that may help you, the masquerader, get ready for the road. Back in the day most of these companies were unheard of leaving masqueraders to fend for themselves - so I am proud to see how the carnival world is evolving.

To the artists and business owners listed - I see you! Keep doing what you love and keeping the culture alive where you can. To the readers, if you enjoy this post, please leave a comment below and share and be sure to let the vendors know Simply Shakera sent ya! Xo

Fitness

@ele.vated.fitness Soca and Dancehall Indoor & Outdoor Step Fitness Class in Toronto

@clubenhergy a Black owned fitness club empowering women through health & fitness

Socacize offering classes soca dances globally to positively impact social, physical & mental health through their F.L.A.U.N.T. philosophy.

Werk Dat - Dance Fitness offers virtual dance fitness and more via YouTube.

@CarnivalSpice offers Caribbean Dance Fitness virtually through the Spice On Demand program as well as corporate and private workshops throughout the year. Be sure to also visit carnivalspice.com to learn about their Caribbean Carnival entertainment services and child youth programs.

Accessories

Carnival Kicks has a wide selection of carnival boots, sneakers, hosiery & more! Use code: “SIMPLYSPICE” for 5% off your purchase.

@jaynenicolehosiery offers skin-tone tights for women and men of all colour.

@carnivalpacks offers a collection of waist packs to hold your carnival day essentials.

@matchedforme is a Carnival Tights company based out of Toronto Canada. They also distribute Micles Tights.

A few of the bands have accessory pop-ups at their mas camps too.***

Make Up Artists:

Disclaimer, I have not used these artists myself - so be sure to look at their portfolios to see if they are the right fit:

@facesbypureness

@facesbytatiana

@glowbyyj

@/glam.rush_

@nymkjthemua

Products & Services:

@CarnivalMakeUpKits (CMK)

Provide professionally-selected carnival makeup designed to match your costume in a compact kit!

Each kit is customized to your costume and includes:

Glitter (x2 jars)

Jewels (x2 sheets)

Waterproof Cellphone Pouch

Lash + Glue OR Glitter Primer

@SocaSitters The 3 Day Caribana Long Weekend Day Camp Experience - for those looking for childcare.

Brown Sugar Spray Tanz Specialist in POC Spray Tanning

5 Accounts To Follow For Carnival Updates:

@torontocarnival.ca The official account account for Toronto Caribbean Carnival

@everybodyplayahmas

A body positive movement to showcase and celebrate diversity in Caribbean Carnivals. @ceeforcarnival The Face of The Festival for Toronto Carnival 2022. @socaprince A pioneer deejay for the Toronto Soca scene @fetenet Events, carnival news and more  

If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment below and share. 

If tagging, you can find me on social @simplyshakera 

… and definitely let the vendors know Simply Shakera sent ya! Xo

xo

[izatrini]

‘King Of Soca’ Explores The 40-Year Career Of Machel Montano - Essence

‘King Of Soca’ Explores The 40-Year Career Of Machel Montano  Essence http://dlvr.it/T6dmwk

[ticketgatewaycanada]

Champagne & Shine New Years Event Get tickets on https://www.ticketgateway.com/champagne-shine 🍾🍾Champagne & Shine 🍾🍾            New Years Eve Party              Friday Dec 31st Musically Entertained by Suppa Natty | Soul Vibes |   Jr Scorcha  | Dj Wiseguy Playing the best in hip hop, dancehall, Soca , Old Skool , top 40 Hosted by: The Kidz | Suppa DJs Shadow Eagle 1801 Dundas st East , Whitby Book tickets on ticketgateway.com

[proof80]

Meukow Arima Cognac (70cl/40%)

Brand: Meukow

Origin: Cognac, France

Age: Unspecified

SKU: MKW2202

Stock: In stock

Description: Meukow Arima is created as the signature blend of soca superstar Bunji Garlin. Aged for over four years in French oak.

Price: RM338 [boxless]

ADD ITEM

[haitilegends]

HAITI☆LEGENDS OCHAN FOR OUR LEGENDS & PHENOMENAL ARTIST! JOIN US, SHARE & INVITE FRIENDS! 10/04/2015 #Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/HaitiLegends/ TO SUBMIT BIOGRAPHIES, VIDEOS AND PHOTOS AND EVENTS $$$ FOR CONSIDERATION : #EMAIL: HaitiLegends@gmail.com #Photo Album Archives: (All photographs contain information.) https://www.facebook.com/groups/HaitiLegends/photos #Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haitilegends #Twitter: https://twitter.com/HaitiLegends #Tumblr: http://haitilegends.tumblr.com THE TEAM: Sandra Gabriel, Hugo Valcin Fabrice Rouzier, Gashford Guillaume, Jean Jean-Pierre, Mario DeVolcy, Carole Hollant, Frankie Morone Wilson Décembre, Jean-Claude Gabriel -------------------------------------------------- English: A movement to bring global awareness of Haiti's diverse music, past & present. The advancement of Haiti's culture through Arts, Media & Events. We aim to provide information about our music, provide support and events information of the phenomenal Artist, entertainers, bands, and musicians. We observe the "Golden Years" of Haitian music from the 40's, 50’s 60’s, and 70’s, to the superb Classic Haitian Artists of today and our favorite Hit makers. We give tribute to the "Compas Nouvelle Generation" hits of the 80's 90's, 2000+, Mini-jazz, kontredans, Compas Direct, the Haitian Jazz Movement to the Contemporary Jazz Artist of today, Vodou Jazz, Folklore Music, Roots music/Mizik Rasin, Cadence-lypso, World Beats and all the various Afro-drum Rhythms that come from Haiti of African descent, Twoubadou, Rara, Raboday, Latin Style Konpa, Méringue,Haitian Funk, Haitian rock, Bolero, Romance/Love songs, Chants D'Esperance, Haitian Gospel Music, Haitian Gospel Jazz, Classical Music, Méringue-compas or cadence and its derivatives : Zouk, Kizomba, Coladeira, Cadence-lypso, Soca and Kizomba. We analyze and share information about various topics in HMI and feature artist weekly! We also Pay Homage to the non- Haitian people who have performed with legendary Haitian Bands or have been influenced by the richness and diversity of the music of Haiti. French: Un mouvement qui se donne pour mission de vulgariser la richesse de la musique haïtienne d'hier à aujourd'hui. Nous faisons la promotion d'Haïti à travers ses diverses manifestations culturelles. Notre objectif est de promouvoir la musique , diffuser des informations sur les évènements culturels, artistes, groupes et musiciens. Nous célébrons l'âge d'or de la musique haïtienne qui s'étend des années 40 à 70, sans oublier nos extraordinaires artistes contemporains. Nous soulignons aussi les différentes facettes de l'évolution notre musique: Compas nouvelle génération qui nous a émerveillé avec leurs tubes durant les dernières décennies (80,90 et 2000), Mini-jazz, Contredanse, Compas direct, Jazz Haïtien contemporain, Jazz vaudou, musique folklorique, Racines, Cadences, Calypso, Rythme Afro-caraïbes (héritage de nos racines africaines), Twoubadou, Rara, Raboday, Compas à influence latine, Meringue, Funk, Rock Haïtien, Boléro, chants d'espérance, musique gospel haïtienne et toute autre musique dérivée du compas: Zouk, Kizomba, Coladeira, Cadence. Finalement, nous saluons tous les artistes étrangers qui ont collaboré avec nos légendaires formations ou contribué à la richesse et la diversité de la musique haïtienne. Kreyol: Yon mouvman ki kreyé pou konsyans mondyal ak divèsite nan mizik, nan Ayiti, pasé ak prezan an. Pwomosyon kilti ayisyen nan atizay, medya yo ak evènman yo. Objektif nou se bay enfòmasyon sou mizik nou an, bay sipò ak enfòmasyon evènman fenomenn atis yo, Gwoup Mizik yo ak mizisyen. Spanish: Un movimiento para crear conciencia mundial de la diversidad musical de Haití, el pasado y el presente. La promoción de la cultura de Haití a través de las artes, los medios de comunicación y eventos. Nuestro objetivo es proporcionar información acerca de nuestra música, que proporciona apoyo e información de eventos fenomenales artista, artistas, bandas y músicos. ------------------------------- VIDEO ARCHIVE LIBRARY Watch "Discovering Haiti. (Short Film)" https://youtu.be/pwbDoryfk4A What is Compas? - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compas Watch "Konpa Evolution Mix (Classical 1950's to 2000) Dj Irv" on YouTube https://youtu.be/TUpThknPUCA Watch "Hommage aux musiciens Haitiens" https://youtu.be/eySRpPymWyU Watch "Balade à Port-au-Prince [Haïti 1940]"https://youtu.be/D8m8dupkwyM Watch "Sòti nan Mereng rive nan Konpa Dirèk (extrait)" on YouTube - https://youtu.be/GuWx8vFe1Yo Watch "Haiti 1950 (le centre d'art)" https://youtu.be/5Mr1USFY3mY Watch "Port-au-prince Haiti dans les annees 50" https://youtu.be/cDwAFYns7BM Watch "Super Jazz des Jeunes et Gerard Dupervil - Machan Cassave" on YouTube - https://youtu.be/wU5-9eJmbV0 Watch "Nemours Jean Baptiste-1955" https://youtu.be/siSz9dd6E-o Herby, Jazz and Haitian Music | Arnold Antonin Films -http://arnoldantoninfilms.com/collections/documentaries/products/herby-jazz-and-haitian-music Watch "MAESTRO ISSA SAIEH - FRANTZ VOLTAIRE - LA MUSIQUE HAITIENNE PART # 1" on YouTube -https://youtu.be/KnOa1bQmKgs Watch "MAESTRO ISSA SAIEH - FRANTZ VOLTAIRE - LA MUSIQUE HAITIENNE PART # 2" https://youtu.be/wLlsvcaJDEA Watch "MAESTRO ISSA SAIEH - FRANTZ VOLTAIRE - LA MUSIQUE HAITIENNE PART # 3" on YouTube - https://youtu.be/Nz1z6q2DDIg Watch "LUMANE CASIMIR"" on YouTube -https://youtu.be/dmgtbPj-sF8 Watch "Radio Mega - The life of Lumane Casimir - (Kreyol/Haitian Creole)" https://youtu.be/3z84dnx7Zs0 Watch "DeVolcy 4: Cadence Rampa vs Compas" on YouTube https://youtu.be/bzjZ5sgWb3M PEPE BAYARD https://www.facebook.com/CotemporaryHaitianArt/videos/880682431993662/ Watch "Nemours Jean Baptiste -Documentary Part I" on -https://youtu.be/wscIq5NUeKI Watch "Nemours Jean Baptiste Documentary Part 2" on YouTu https://youtu.be/oM1I3CGqYCE Watch "Nemours Jean Baptiste Documentary Part 3" on YouTube https://youtu.be/v9eXlnY7S3o Watch "Nemours Jean Baptiste Documentary Part 4" on YouTube https://youtu.be/4o0A6luJiLA Watch "NEMOURS JEAN BAPTISTE:JUNIOR MENGUAL AYITI OWNER TAN LONTAN" https://youtu.be/MBZwRQYM2jQ Watch "WOMEN IMAGE - BIOGRAPHIE MARTHA JEAN CLAUDE" https://youtu.be/sr-GKzFnpos Watch "Vivianne Gauthier, la flamme" https://youtu.be/u-P5DdBHjy0 Watch "Nemours Jean-Baptiste, Webert Sicot, Joe Trouillot" on YouTube -https://youtu.be/Jx5d-XZY5b4 Une idee du bon vieux temps musical" Post shared by Emmanuel Louis-Charles https://www.facebook.com/edgard.louis.9/videos/10200801323211425 #Istwasinemaayisyenan #Histoireducinémahaïtien https://www.facebook.com/CotemporaryHaitianArt/videos/870788122983093/ Yon ti kout je sou istwa sinema ayisyen an Arnold Antonin, Historique sommaire du cinéma haïtien, 2011. Voix et montage : Moïse Kharméliaud. Texte et réalisation : Arnold Antonin. Mèsi anpil Nouvèlpam @Haiti: then and Now Source : https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=417639055078933&set=vb.321503011359205&type=2&theater Haiti the old days. The old Haiti is fascinating."https://www.facebook.com/wilner.nau/videos/10205708553263185/' " Wilner Nau Watch "Haiti in 1942" https://youtu.be/gQZ-gk_S8jo Watch "CIDIHCA, Port-au-Prince : histoire d'une ville 1749 - 2010 https://youtu.be/oaHflLMpz0k Watch "Haitian Music 1920 1955 https://youtu.be/D8tb4OFzKEg Watch "Haiti in 1942 www.djlakay.com" on YouTube https://youtu.be/gQZ-gk_S8jo Haiti In The 1950's" https://youtu.be/gaWlMbprLMk The Old Haiti." https://youtu.be/WGdvBGp7ojs Watch "Port -au -prince Haiti dans les annees 50" https://youtu.be/E8P3Y0247WQ Watch "1980's Port-Au-Prince Haiti" https://youtu.be/ijjLnAjuvOM Tour of Downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti (January, 9th, 2010) https://youtu.be/Z13FvUAZekM TRAINS EN HAITI FIN 19 ième début 20 ième siècle" o https://youtu.be/YS5YsBDS83I Watch "Haiti, du temps de la présidence de Sudre Dartiguenave (1915-1922) !" https://youtu.be/r3dkNy8M0CI Watch "Balade à Port-au-Prince [Haïti 1940] https://youtu.be/D8m8dupkwyM Watch "Place des Héros de l'Indépendance - Haiti 1959" https://youtu.be/9xi258uT6gw Listen to Ensemble Nemours Jean-Baptiste Carnaval STEP OVER SHOES. (1964 ) by Hugo Valcin https://soundcloud.com/hugo-valcin/ensemble-nemours-jean-baptiste-carnaval-step-over-shoes-1964 Fabrice Rouzier Pour votre edification, un survol sur les soixante ans du konpa, par le docteur Gage Averill, offert par ...le Conseil Départemental de la Guadeloupe ! Comme quoi, "nul n'est prophète en son pays." http://www.lameca.org/dossiers/Konpa!_Haitian_popular_music/fr/ Watch "1980's Port-Au-Prince Haiti" https://youtu.be/ijjLnAjuvOM Watch "Bob Lemoine: Festival avec Joe Trouillot et Guy Durosier" https://youtu.be/8E4YLrimMt4 Watch "Joe Trouillot 2012 05 03. in the basement of MARTIN DEDE (montreal, CA)" on YouTube -https://youtu.be/LGkCxLvriug Listen to Bob Lemoine on Ricot Jean Baptiste (My Interview) by radiohaitipublicite https://soundcloud.com/radiohaitipublicite/bob-lemoine-on-ricot-jean Watch "Boulo Valcourt - Coup de Coeur Interview" https://youtu.be/X282UV0ylHI Watch "Hommage à BOULO VALCOURT" on YouTube - https://youtu.be/15I3L5SCO7s "Télé Pacific : Hommage à Boulo Valcourt. Parmi les invités : Edgar "Gaguy" Depestre et Lionel Benjamin (Caribbean Sextet)" WD Manno Charlemagne, Haiti’s Iconic Troubadour: 1948-2017 | Haiti Liberte https://haitiliberte.com/manno-charlemagne-haitis-iconic-troubadour-1948-2017/ Watch *Manno Charlemagne Konviksyon Interview - © MINI RECORDS - CIDIHCA " Documentaire sur la vie du musicien haïtien et auteur-compositeur, Emmanuel Charlemagne. https://youtu.be/-EfNtb0uJlE Documentary about the life of Haitian musician and song writer, Emmanuel Charlemagne. https://youtu.be/-EfNtb0uJlE TABOU COMBO http://www.taboucombo.com/ BOUKMAN EKSPERYANS http://www.boukmaneksperyans.com ORCHESTRE SEPTENTRIONAL D’HAÏTI http://caracoli-haiti.com/category/orchestre-septentrional-dhaiti/ ____________ EMERANTE DE PRADINES Singer/ Dancer/Actress Chanteuse, danseuse, actrice https://haitilegends.tumblr.com/post/132321976518/emerante-de-pradines-singer-danceractress Coucou Magazine & Trépidations d'un Cœur en Tumulte - ENT-Vocal de Pradines, Emerante | COUCOU MAGAZINE http://bit.ly/1Fv8G4Q Tele Image - Docu Arnold Anthonin sur Emerante de Pradines - YouTube http://bit.ly/1IF5RDE Femmes d'Haiti : Emerantes de Pradines http://bit.ly/1Fv7hvh Emerante de Pradines : Max Sam Part 2 - YouTube http://bit.ly/1Fv7XRj Emerante de Pradines : Max Sam Part 3 - YouTube http://bit.ly/1Fv82Vd Emerante, la grâce - YouTube http://bit.ly/1Fv8hzi Watch "Maestro Gerard Daniel Jet X Live @ Randevou konpa" https://youtu.be/X0wNE-DU5J8 --------------------- THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS January 1st is not just the start of the new year, but it is Haiti's Independence day! "On January 1st 1804, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, an African-born ex-slave could declare Haiti independent. It was the first black republic in the world and the first country in the Western hemisphere to abolish slavery completely." ALL PEOPLE AGAINST SLAVERY SHOULD CELEBRATE THIS DAY! HAITI☆LEGENDS Read and watch videos about our history: https://www.facebook.com/groups/HaitiLegends/permalink/1401756236613481/ July 25, 2018 *Journée d’activités culturelles dédiée au Centenaire de Nemours Jean Baptiste au Ciné Triomphe (Champ de Mars) https://www.facebook.com/MCHaiti/videos/1610753409051415/ July 25, 2018 Mario De Volcy Musicien historien sur la Commémoration du Centenaire de Némours Jean-Baptiste en Haiti et les 63 ans du Compas. Source : https://www.facebook.com/GUYWEWERADIO/videos/2259121674184356/ HAITI⭐LEGENDS #GuyWewe #MariodeVolcy #Compas #NémoursJeanBaptiste ------------------------- HELP HAITI NOW 💖 Urgent Cause For The Kids www.forthekidsofhaiti.com The Clermont Center for Homeless Children - Jacmel, Haiti - http://www.clermontfoundation.org/ Project St. Anne - http://projectstanne.org Fleur De Vie http://www.fleurdevieonline.org PDI Website Info: http://www.paradisdesindiens.org/ Rescue One Child http://www.484web.com/rescueonechild/ --------------- #HAITILEGENDS #PinPost #Music #History #Birthdays #RisingStars #Informative #Haiti #Gospel #SundayPost #Jazz #Racine #Compas #Konpa #Bolero #Charanga #Twoubadou #VodouJazz #MizikLAkay #LittleHaiti #Musicians #TheArts #Sports #Comedy #Arts #Culture #VideoArchiveLibrary