L’Entourloop’s Le savoir faire sounds like wow

French beatmakers and reggae-heads L’Entourloop is back with a brand-new set following their stunning debut album Chickens in Your Town released two years ago.

The overall recipe this time is the same – mixing reggae and dancehall with boom rap. They have cultivated a unique, bass-boosted and urban sound using musical textures from a broad variety of genres.

The intense and colorful sonic landscape on Le savoir faire is also spiced with drum & bass, 60s pop and swing jazz. Yes, you read it right. Swing. Check for example Boomblast, Soundbwoy and Mississippi Sleng.

To create the album they have invited more than 15 different vocalists, including Blackout JA, Skarra Mucci, Troy Berkley, Marina P, Soom T, Ras Demo and Tippa Irie. And these are some epic performances. Listen to Soom T’s fierce delivery on Fonk Monk, N’Zeng’s blazing horn on the title track or Ruffian Rugged’s tongue twisting techniques on Le tour the force, a cut where four different vocalists trade verses over a bouncy beat filled with sound system sonic gimmicks.

With Le savoir faire L’Entourloop has created a playful and clever album taking the very best from reggae, dancehall and hip-hop. A bona-fide head-nodder with absolutely zero dull moments.

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Stand High Patrol creates a unique sound on third album The Shift

French quartet Stand High Patrol – led and fronted by vocalist Pupajim – has released their third album The Shift. And on this album they have refined their jazz-oriented sound.

Unique is a well-worn word, but is probably most accurate when describing Stand High Patrol’s sonic identity. It’s a new type of urban groove where they break musical boundaries and create a highly individual sound where reggae singjaying meets 60s jazz and 90s hip-hop. Boom bap reggae rap so to say.

It’s an intelligent and infectious fusion. Highly organic and very dynamic with big beats. And key to Stand Patrol’s sound is trumpet maestro Merry. He graces the cuts with lonesome and distant horn lines.

Stand High Patrol’s sound and Pupajim’s broken English might not be for everyone and The Shift is far from the reggae mainstream. But if you’re in the mood for jazz with a hip-hop and reggae twist, well, then this is the album for you.

Hip-hop meets reggae on Raggamuffin Power

On the compilation Raggamuffin Power Nico from Furybass has teamed up with Inity from Undisputed Records to create a dynamic and explosive set featuring a number of talented deejays and singers from Europe and Jamaica.

The 15 track set is built around five different riddims, hip-hop tinged relicks of classics and lesser known gems. Included are three already released songs along with one remix and six unreleased tracks. The digital version also comes with five riddim instrumentals.

The bouncy and inspired version of Bellyfull – originally recorded by The Gladiators – is murderous and both cuts – a wicked Tippa Irie & Million Stylez & Skarra Mucci combination along with a passionate version by Yami Bolo – are solid as rocks.

Hip-hop and reggae have a strong link and often work well together. And this is certainly the case with Raggamuffin Power.

Wicked combination of reggae and hip-hop on Randy Valentine’s Radio Music

UK’s Randy Valentine is one of the best and hottest contemporary singers around and he has recently put out his fourth project – a blazing mixtape where he has voiced hip-hop beats from the 90s, including Dr Dre’s Xxplosive, Dead Prez’ Hip Hop and Puff Daddy’s Missing You.

Radio Music Raptape collects 19 tracks and is produced by Hemp Higher and Tek-9 Movement. It’s a continuous flow – flavoured with sonic effects – mixed by Straight Sound and presented by Walshy Fire, Bobby Konders, Seani B, Jugglerz, Ninja Crown and King Lagaze.

It also contains only exclusive material and features guest performances from Kabaka Pyramid, Gappy Ranks, Cali P and Big Bullz.

I’ve been a huge fan of Randy Valentine ever since he dropped his first mixtape Bring Back the Love, which has since then been followed by two excellent EPs – Still Pushing and Break the Chain.

Randy Valentine has a unique urgency and energy in his delivery and every word and syllable is sung with passion and love.

Check Radio Music Raptape below and download the full set here.

Confident and powerful debut from LMK

Versatile French singer LMK (pronounced Lmkah) unleashes her debut album Musical Garden, a contemporary set recorded together with seven different producers.

It’s a tasty mix of reggae, dub and hip-hop where LMK showcases her electric flow, rapid-fire delivery and tongue twisting techniques. Just listen to Cry Me a River or So Bad where she effortlessly shifts from sweet singing in the chorus to blazing rhyming in the verses. She’s sounds like a female version of Tippa Irie.

LMK is in the same vein as Marina P and Soom T, two other powerful and very versatile singers that can handle any riddim. Be it slick and soulful or fierce and dread. They always nail it.

Musical Garden is an in your face debut album. The big and bad, and very hip-hip inspired, Best of What You Got with its air horns, pulsating bass line and confident delivery, is a telling example.

The energy is flowing across the first nine tracks, which are followed by three laid-back acoustic joints. Maybe it just got too intense and it needed to be rounded off.

Soom T and Monkey Marc fire bullets on Babylon

Indian-born and Scotland-bred singer, rapper and deejay Soom T has teamed up with Australian producer and beatmaker Monkey Marc on the dark ten track album Bullets over Babylon, a set that crisscrosses boundaries between reggae and dubstep and hip-hop and jazz.

The bass lines are charged to the max and Soom T’s delivery is edgy and she successfully blends fierce deejaying and tongue twisting techniques with airy singing. Monkey Marc’s forward-thinking and multi-layered beats are atmospheric and dystopic with plenty of nods to hip-hop from the early 90s.

And even though Bullets over Babylon is the soundtrack to the apocalypse there’s room for a bit of optimism between all darkness and dystopic views on the world. Drill has a catchy, almost infectious, melody, and The Rebellion has a funky groove and shout-along chorus.

Bullets over Babylon sneaks up on you and demands a few listens before it can be fully appreciated. It’s refreshingly original and will keep your head nodding and thinking for almost an hour.

Yardie hip-hop from France

After an EP and few strong mash-ups French reggae beatmaking duo L’Entourloop – The Architect and Deej’o – is back with a colorful debut album – Chickens in Your Town.

This set combines reggae with razor-sharp beats, clever samples and roaring vocal collaborations with a roster of reggae and hip-hop artists from around the globe; ranging from Jamaica and the U.S. to the UK, Austria, France and Senegal.

The tight relationship between reggae and hip-hop go way back and the two genres have over the years been successfully combined by several artists and producers. And one of the most recent additions is Protoje’s acclaimed third album Ancient Future, an effort that successfully combined reggae with hip-hop creating a smashing soundscape.

There are no rules allowed on Chickens in Your Town. Anything goes as long as it’s positive and uplifting. This makes Chickens in Your Town a playful and creative album. It boils with unexpected influences.

It will probably heat up any dance floor with its multi-layered sound, sweaty grooves and electrifying beats. Definitely a certified head-nodder.

A lethal mix of hip-hop and reggae on Sound Dynamik’s debut album

The French hip-hop scene went global in the 90s thanks to MC Solaar. The French reggae scene hasn’t been as successful on a global level, even though there are several popular local artists, including Pierpoljak and Raggasonic, and to some extent the late Serge Gainbourg with his reggae efforts recorded in Jamaica in the 70s and 80s.

French trio Sound Dynamik manages to successfully combine these two dynamic genres on their solid 18 track debut album Reste a l’ecoute [Still Listening].

Sound Dynamik is more hard and raw a ’la Raggasonic, and less sweet and smooth as Pierpoljak. The beats are powerful and the riddims are militant. Not for the fainthearted.

Sound Dynamik comprises three vocalists – Don Pako, Puppa Nadem and Singa Melody – and they chat and sing their lyrics in French in a raggamuffin style.

Reste a l’ecoute has a high degree of energy and includes several highlights, especially Pour ma soiree, a version of the dread Swing Easy riddim, the dark Ras McBean combination Ghetto People Song and the pulsating Skarra Mucci combination Revolution, where the vocalists aims for the record in fast chatting.

Sets like this is often overlooked outside France since the lyrics is in French and not in English, but I highly suggest you set the language aside here and add Reste a l’ecoute to your playlist.

Wayne Marshall shows his true colors on new EP

Damian Marley is one of the most talented reggae artists today and now it’s also clear that he’s just as gifted as a producer. Last week he showcased his production skills on Christopher Ellis’ vintage flavoured debut EP Better Than Love and now Damian Marley boasts another EP. This one is however a completely different affair.

Wayne Marshall’s five track EP Tru Colors is a rowdy dancehall and hip-hop oriented affair with slamming beats and grinding grooves. Wayne Marshall has previously worked a lot with Bounty Killer and Ward 21 and he certainly knows how to carry the swing, both as a singer and as a deejay.

The set features the bouncy Go Harder, a tough remix of Wayne Marshall’s 2012 hit song Go Hard featuring dancehall star Cham and rappers Ace Hood and Waka Flocka. In addition, the effort also includes the Agent Sasco combination Stupid Money, complete with a driving piano and a children sung chorus, the more reggae oriented I Know and two tracks taken from his older repertoire, To the Bank and Good Ole Wife. The latter is a cut on the popular Matrimony riddim.

On January 21 Wayne Marshall drops his second album in ten years – it carries the same title as the EP – and if that one is anywhere near the EP it will be a certified scorcher.

Kabaka Pyramid has come a long way

Conscious roots reggae is on the rise in Jamaica with top bands such as Raging Fyah and Mystikal Revolution and single artists like Protoje, Chronixx, Dre Island, Jesse Royal, Iba Mahr, Loyal Flames, Jah9, Addis Pablo and Kabaka Pyramid. Over the past years they have helped each other gain worldwide recognition and several of these artists have managed to tour both the U.S. and Europe.

One of those is Kabaka Pyramid, a former rapper who in mid-2011 dropped his ten track Rebel Music EP for free. This project was a fusion of rootsy reggae, dancehall and hip-hop and caused waves all over the world.

Rebel Music EP opened several doors for Kabaka Pyramid and for the past year he has worked with a number of acclaimed producers and singers, including Tarrus Riley and successful European label and production house IrieVibrations.

His latest album is Lead the Way and for some reason this project is also referred to as an EP. To me it’s not since it collects a healthy 13 tracks. This is certainly a worthy long-player. And a great one, even though it’s more or less a compilation of re-mastered previously released singles and cuts taken from one riddim albums.

It offers a several fan favourites, of which the anti-big corporation anthem No Capitalist is one of the best. Here Kabaka Pyramid rails against the Babylonian system with big business plans and empty promises from the UN.

The project features producers from both Jamaica and abroad, but for being a compilation of singles for a broad variety of players it sounds remarkably cohesive and consistent. It’s a tasty cocktail of reggae, dancehall and hip-hop where Kabaka Pyramid both sings and deejays.

Unfortunately a few of the man’s best cuts are left out. I would have liked to have both Foundation, a combination with Jah Sun, and Pon Di Wings, a combination with Italo Skarcha over the Game Theory riddim, included on the set.

Kabaka Pyramid has certainly come a long way since he dropped his debut in 2011 and he’s not a promising talent anymore. He’s a major talent. Period.