Oh dear, what an electronic stomp... well-intentioned, but not smooth at all... uninspired, I personally lack the soul! DigiDub, that's it for me (and yes, I couldn't stand more than the first two tracks).
Arsians' album Exit The Kingdom is completely different. This has a groove and real basslines… so you better listen to it: https://arsians.bandcamp.com/album/exit-the-kingdom
I don't want to contradict you at all, Philipp, but it will definitely feel that way now if I ask, for example, whether electronic stamping in the form of DigiDub, can ever be “well-intentioned”. For me it's digitalDub still as superfluous as synthetic cannabis or a plastic orange. Which doesn't mean that it always and fundamentally feels strange or bad to me. But it is and remains a cheap version and especially doesn't do justice to our favorite music.
I think your tip about the Arsians is much better, but you probably won't like what I can say about it.
I just can't handle it. I inevitably have to compare “new” reggae with what helped me become the reggae fan I think I am today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olKYO1fladk
This is just one example of many, albeit a very strong one.
I don't want to offend you or the Arsians, but compared to my favorites they just seem like a school band, which seems particularly true to me live. Somehow weak and weak.
I don't need any new reggae if "he" doesn't manage to step it up or at least build on the power of yesteryear.
However, the bands of yesteryear can no longer do that either. They are all, for more or less understandable reasons, just a shadow of their former selves.
I'm a bit of a sleepy person myself. I'm not up for challenges and a career and especially not under pressure to perform. I like to enjoy it but it has to be “spicy”.
I don't like it slack, because that's me. So I need the most power I can get. And for me that only exists in the reggae of days gone by, or by reggae musicians who discovered this reggae or, for my sake, invented it.
Oh, I'll tell you a little more:
It may be boring, but hopefully it will also serve to explain my inner contradictions a little.
Mind you, I didn't become a musician but I barely missed it, so to speak. And yes, I admit it, when I'm on my deathbed I'll regret this. I regret it almost every day now.
I don't know if I would ever have had enough talent to actually play drums in a band. I played my first bars in elementary school with welding rods for oxyfuel welding on a metalworker's table. Until someone said, “Hey, you can do that.” He also knew where a real drum kit was located and the die was cast. Of course, I immediately tried to follow in the footsteps of Sly Dunbar and Style Scott, since I hardly knew any other drumming styles. I also had a real bass and without any prior knowledge I always played the “None A JAH JAH Children” BiassLine, which is simply very simple and, above all, brilliant. Maybe just because it's so simple.
And so one day we even played with people who really understood music and “jammed” the “Non A JAH JAH Children version” up and down, so to speak. For me it was one of the greatest moments of my life, especially since one of my best friends said I almost sounded like Sly Dunbar. Almost … ;-)
Long story short. It was clear to me back then that if I played music with anyone, then it MUST (!) be reggae. “Cultural appropriation” from me too. What else ?! It wasn't out of malice, but out of pure enthusiasm for this music.
I'm trying to explain why there are always new reggae bands, because the fascination for them remains unbroken if you have a real understanding of music.
Oh yes, I've drifted off a bit... I wanted to say that over the course of my life I've had a lot more to do with welding rods than with drumsticks. It's a shame, but perhaps a good thing, because humanity has most likely been spared another weak reggae band. There is only one Sly Dunbar and he comes from Jamaica and not from Göttingen…………..
So I completely understand why new bands keep trying, but the deep magic that lies in reggae is apparently based not only on good bias lines and crisp drum patterns and riddims but also on “you have it or you don’t”.
Who actually wanted to know all that exactly?
Regardless, I just wanted to tell you and no one stopped me.
Until …………………. lemmi
Master lemmi, thank you for your comments... and you're by no means stepping on my toes with your comment... I'm not freaking out about the Arsians either, but just listened to theirs last night after the above album and it felt like a revelation in comparison ... all in all, of course, you're absolutely right... I don't need Arsians either to hear and feel good, powerful and groovy reggae... an addendum to Simon Nyabinghi: if a name isn't an omen, then it's with him... Nyabinghi stands (at least in... my understanding) for handmade, traditionally Rasta and acoustic, drum and choir-heavy, maybe an acoustic guitar and a bass, voilà (like Prophet Michael and the sons of negus for example)… I have to admit, I secretly have big ones like that I had expectations of Simon's sound that the disappointment was even greater when I heard what I heard!
dubblog
3 replies to “Simon Nyabinghi: Days of Dub"
Oh dear, what an electronic stomp... well-intentioned, but not smooth at all... uninspired, I personally lack the soul! DigiDub, that's it for me (and yes, I couldn't stand more than the first two tracks).
Arsians' album Exit The Kingdom is completely different. This has a groove and real basslines… so you better listen to it: https://arsians.bandcamp.com/album/exit-the-kingdom
I don't want to contradict you at all, Philipp, but it will definitely feel that way now if I ask, for example, whether electronic stamping in the form of DigiDub, can ever be “well-intentioned”. For me it's digitalDub still as superfluous as synthetic cannabis or a plastic orange. Which doesn't mean that it always and fundamentally feels strange or bad to me. But it is and remains a cheap version and especially doesn't do justice to our favorite music.
I think your tip about the Arsians is much better, but you probably won't like what I can say about it.
I just can't handle it. I inevitably have to compare “new” reggae with what helped me become the reggae fan I think I am today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olKYO1fladk
This is just one example of many, albeit a very strong one.
I don't want to offend you or the Arsians, but compared to my favorites they just seem like a school band, which seems particularly true to me live. Somehow weak and weak.
I don't need any new reggae if "he" doesn't manage to step it up or at least build on the power of yesteryear.
However, the bands of yesteryear can no longer do that either. They are all, for more or less understandable reasons, just a shadow of their former selves.
I'm a bit of a sleepy person myself. I'm not up for challenges and a career and especially not under pressure to perform. I like to enjoy it but it has to be “spicy”.
I don't like it slack, because that's me. So I need the most power I can get. And for me that only exists in the reggae of days gone by, or by reggae musicians who discovered this reggae or, for my sake, invented it.
Oh, I'll tell you a little more:
It may be boring, but hopefully it will also serve to explain my inner contradictions a little.
Mind you, I didn't become a musician but I barely missed it, so to speak. And yes, I admit it, when I'm on my deathbed I'll regret this. I regret it almost every day now.
I don't know if I would ever have had enough talent to actually play drums in a band. I played my first bars in elementary school with welding rods for oxyfuel welding on a metalworker's table. Until someone said, “Hey, you can do that.” He also knew where a real drum kit was located and the die was cast. Of course, I immediately tried to follow in the footsteps of Sly Dunbar and Style Scott, since I hardly knew any other drumming styles. I also had a real bass and without any prior knowledge I always played the “None A JAH JAH Children” BiassLine, which is simply very simple and, above all, brilliant. Maybe just because it's so simple.
And so one day we even played with people who really understood music and “jammed” the “Non A JAH JAH Children version” up and down, so to speak. For me it was one of the greatest moments of my life, especially since one of my best friends said I almost sounded like Sly Dunbar. Almost … ;-)
Long story short. It was clear to me back then that if I played music with anyone, then it MUST (!) be reggae. “Cultural appropriation” from me too. What else ?! It wasn't out of malice, but out of pure enthusiasm for this music.
I'm trying to explain why there are always new reggae bands, because the fascination for them remains unbroken if you have a real understanding of music.
Oh yes, I've drifted off a bit... I wanted to say that over the course of my life I've had a lot more to do with welding rods than with drumsticks. It's a shame, but perhaps a good thing, because humanity has most likely been spared another weak reggae band. There is only one Sly Dunbar and he comes from Jamaica and not from Göttingen…………..
So I completely understand why new bands keep trying, but the deep magic that lies in reggae is apparently based not only on good bias lines and crisp drum patterns and riddims but also on “you have it or you don’t”.
Who actually wanted to know all that exactly?
Regardless, I just wanted to tell you and no one stopped me.
Until …………………. lemmi
Master lemmi, thank you for your comments... and you're by no means stepping on my toes with your comment... I'm not freaking out about the Arsians either, but just listened to theirs last night after the above album and it felt like a revelation in comparison ... all in all, of course, you're absolutely right... I don't need Arsians either to hear and feel good, powerful and groovy reggae... an addendum to Simon Nyabinghi: if a name isn't an omen, then it's with him... Nyabinghi stands (at least in... my understanding) for handmade, traditionally Rasta and acoustic, drum and choir-heavy, maybe an acoustic guitar and a bass, voilà (like Prophet Michael and the sons of negus for example)… I have to admit, I secretly have big ones like that I had expectations of Simon's sound that the disappointment was even greater when I heard what I heard!