Music

I went to the House of Blues Tuesday nigh and saw the Stephen Marley Mind Control Acoustic Tour. It was a very interesting and entertaining show. I have seen a lot of good reggae shows there but this one was different. I slightly different crowd for instance than the Israel Vibrations show but just as big.

This show was acoustic as advertised but it was more than that the instrumentation was more of an In-a-da-yard vein. There was a percussionist as normal but also added was a giant Pope Smasher style Niyabinghi drum that was spot on with the bass notes in certain spots and bigger than any I have ever seen. The bass and this drum filled up the whole club with super low end frequencies. This low end was all balanced with Stephen singing and an older guy singing a high falsetto harmony part. There was a guitarist and a guy that played both the flute and the soprano sax. Stephen played the guitar and a Djembe and a shaker alternating on almost every tune. The percussionist was just awesome. He could hardly be seen from the floor though as he was playing a Repeater type Niyabinghi drum almost the whole time. He stood up and played his beautiful leopard wood congas a few times but most of the time he favored the Kete.

I had read that some shows had a steel guitar and some other stuff and I would have liked to have heard that but believe me when I say that I got my money's worth. Not only did he play a lot of songs but he and the other guys were sitting right at the edge of the stage where they could have touched the people on the front row while they were playing. He also did a four song encore.

He played a lot of his father’s songs too and he did them very well. I guess if anyone can get away with doing Bob Marley covers it is him or his brothers. The audience new almost every word of every song it seemed and he invited people to dance and sing as loud as they wanted just as if they were hanging out with him at the Bob Marley Museum in Kingston. It was beautiful,

I have been cheking out this outfit on Twitter called Controled Substance Labs on Twitter. They have something to do with the Label that the dub band Slightly Stoopid is on. Apperently Stoopid has been getting Air Play lately on the FM Radio in the States and this is a first for the band. They are well known nation wide for their live shows. Click here and listen to a pod cast interview with one of the members of the band from Goldmineradio.com.  There he talks about the success the band is seeing and what is going on with them. They seem like nice humble guys who are blessed and know it. I really like this song and I gives it the BIG UP! from Neworleansreggae.com

Here is a video of that song live from You Tube. Well cool stuff this is. Ruff and Ruffer it is. Rockers!

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I went to Cafe Negrill on Frenchmen St. about 3 weeks ago now I guess and I got to catch Higher Hights. They are one of New Orleans Top Reggae bands recently. I really liked their show and I was very impressed with the singer Mouthpeice (Samatha Farve) and the other people in the band were top notch players and singers. They do a lot of happy music and the crowd really like their approach to the music. Everyone was dancing and having an ire time. They are a pretty big outfit with 3 singers, a keyborad, drummer, bass, guitar. Well nice show they put on. They do a lot of Marley covers but they also do a few not so common songs by other Jamaican Artist. like GANJA FARMER BY MARLON ASHER .

Here is the slide show.  of some pictures I took while I was there. Red Stripe and live Reggae are the best and Cafe Negril has both.

I downloaded a copy of Dubxanne (The Police in Dub) yesterday and I have listened to it a few times now. I heard about it because it came up on my YouTube suggested videos the other day. I saw one of my most favorite vocalist on the Video (Earl 16) so it was a wrap from the point. Plus I put out a version of Walking on the Moon  last year and I wanted to see how much more gold there was to mine.

Well I really like it. I like it more every time I listen to it. It reminds me a bit of Thievery Corporation and there is no harm in that in my book or in my ear. I liked that Big Youth was on a track too. I love that man. It would be a real highlight to meet him. Maybe one day that will come true with Jah guidance. Anyway the dubbing is top notch and I really like the tasty drum tracks on each song. They are all different beats on them but they are true to the police sprit too. Marcos came over and we played along a bit to try out the speed of the tracks and thinking of leads to do and patches needed for the tunes. It's de bomb. I recomend it highly to all dub heads and Natty Dreads. Seen. I give it an 8 of 10. Maybe more if I had the dank but I don't seen?

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