Riddim is the Jamaican Patois pronunciation of the English word "rhythm". In the context of reggae and dancehall it refers to the instrumental accompaniment to a song and is synonymous with the rhythm section. Jamaican music genres that use the term consist of the riddim plus the voicing sung by the deejay. The resulting song structure is distinctive in many ways. A given riddim, if popular, may be used in dozens—or even hundreds—of songs, not only in recordings but also in live performances.
The music of Jamaica includes Jamaican folk music and many popular genres, such as mento, ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub music, dancehall, reggae fusion and related styles.
Jungle is a genre of dance music that developed out of the UK rave scene and sound system culture in the 1990s. Emerging from breakbeat hardcore, the style is characterised by rapid breakbeats, heavily syncopated percussive loops, samples, and synthesised effects, combined with the deep basslines, melodies, and vocal samples found in dub, reggae and dancehall, as well as hip hop and funk. Many producers frequently sampled the "Amen break" or other breakbeats from funk and jazz recordings. Jungle was a direct precursor to the drum and bass genre which emerged in the mid-1990s.
Thievery Corporation is an American electronic music duo consisting of Rob Garza and Eric Hilton. Their musical style mixes elements of dub, acid jazz, reggae, Indian classical, Middle Eastern music, hip hop, electronica, and Brazilian music, including bossa nova.
There are several subgenres of reggae music including various predecessors to the form.
Twilight Circus is the dub and reggae project of multi-instrumentalist Ryan Moore, former bassist and drummer of the Legendary Pink Dots. Twilight Circus is becoming increasingly popular and well known for Moore's work with artists such as Big Youth, Michael Rose of Black Uhuru and Ranking Joe. He originally started off producing dub albums, before recording vocalists for inclusion on his critically acclaimed Foundation Rockers album. In the classic tradition of reggae, Moore releases 10" vinyl record singles, often in limited edition.
Skindred are a Welsh heavy metal band formed in Newport, Wales in 1998. Their musical style mixes heavy metal, alternative rock, and ragga. The band also integrate elements of punk rock, hardcore punk, reggae, dancehall, jungle, ska, hip hop, drum and bass, dubstep, and various other influences into their music. They are well known for their energetic and involving live performances, and have won several awards including "Best Live Band" at the 2011 UK Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards and the "Devotion Award" at the 2011 Kerrang! Awards.
London Posse was a British hip hop group. According to The Daily Telegraph, they "finally gave British rap an identity of its own." London Posse member Bionic led the charge for UK and worldwide artists to use their own accents and languages rather than copy Americans and was the architect behind their biggest hit "Money Mad" introducing 'road style' to UK hip hop and mixing it with ragga/dancehall.
Babylon is the debut studio album by Welsh heavy metal band Skindred. The band was formed from members of the disbanded band Dub War, including leader Benji Webbe, and signed to RCA Records in 2002, who released the album on 3 July. The band felt that they were being treated poorly by the label, and left in 2004, signing with Bieler Bros. Records, who released the album internationally in association with Lava Records. Each version released featured a significantly altered track listing.
Ghislain Poirier, often known simply as Poirier, is a Canadian DJ/producer from Montreal who is signed to the Ninja Tune record label. He has, however, also worked with other labels such as Chocolate Industries, Rebondir, Shockout, Musique Large, Intr_version and 12k. His work mainly consists of original instrumental mixes and mixes featuring Montreal hip hop MCs including Omnikrom, Face-T and Séba. He also has collaborated with Beans, TTC, Lotek HiFi and Nik Myo. He is noted for popular remixes of tracks of rock and hip hop artists such as Les Georges Leningrad, Clipse, Editors, Bonde do Rolê, Kid Sister, Pierre Lapointe, DJ Champion and Lady Sovereign. Though he has worked in many different genres of electronic music, he is known for his eclectic taste in music and appreciation of tropical bass sounds.
Kevin Richard Martin, often known under his recording alias The Bug, is a musician, record producer and journalist from England, UK. Martin moved from Weymouth to London around 1990 and is now currently based in mainland Europe. He has been active for over two decades in the genres of dub, jazzcore, industrial hip hop, dancehall, and dubstep.
Drum and bass is an electronic music genre that originated in the UK rave scene having developed from breakbeat hardcore. The genre would go on to become one of the most popular genres of electronic dance music, becoming international and spawning multiple different derivatives and subgenres.
Soul Jazz Records is a British record label based in London. Outside of releasing records, the label also publishes books, occasionally films and performs as a DJ set. The music releases labels from a variety of genres, including reggae, house, hip hop, punk rock, jazz, funk, bossa nova and soul.
Dubtribe Sound System is a San Francisco-based electronic musical group that produced and performed live worldwide between 1991 and 2005.
Raggamuffin Soldier is a studio album by Jamaican ragga recording artist Daddy Freddy. It was released in 1992 via Music of Life/Chrysalis Records. Recording sessions took place at Ameraycan Studios in North Hollywood, at HC&F Studio in New York, at Image Recording Studios and at Crystal Sound Recording in Hollywood. Production was handled by Robert Livingston, DJ Muggs, The Stone Cold Boners and Super Cat. It features guest appearances from Frankie Paul, Super Cat and Vicki Calhoun. The album spawned two singles: "Haul and Pull" and "Respect Due".
Reggae is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. Australia has several bands and sound systems that play reggae music in a style faithful to its expression in Jamaica. Australia has a relatively small Jamaican community, but reggae penetrated local consciousness via the popularity of reggae among the non-Jamaican population of England in the 1960s and 1970s. Many indigenous musicians have embraced reggae, both for its musical qualities and its ethos of resistance. Examples include Mantaka No Fixed Address Zennith and Coloured Stone
Jah Stitch was a reggae deejay best known for his recordings in the 1970s.
Errol Scorcher was a Jamaican reggae deejay.
Heavyweight Dub Champion is a music and art collective founded in Gold Hill, Colorado in 1997 by Resurrector & Patch. Heavyweight Dub Champion, also known as HDC, is rooted in electronic music, but they create their unique style by using real and acoustic instruments fused with synthetic and electronic elements. In 2005, they relocated to San Francisco, but the members of their constantly rotating lineup also come from New York, Australia and the UK. Denver's Westword Magazine describes their music as "a shamanistic wall of hip hop dubtronica" and the magazine awarded their debut album Survival Guide for the End of Time with the editors pick for Best Local Recording in 2003. HDC is perhaps best known for their live performance, in which they use a massive amount of vintage and electronic gear to perform what they call "Sonic Shamanistic Alchemy". The LA Weekly says, "The main HDC aesthetic is a cooled-out groove ... Their genius is the great virtue of '70s dub: never overdoing it."
Aba Shanti-I is a sound system operator and dub producer from the UK. Aba and his sound system have been playing through UK and Europe for over 30 years. He has been a resident sound system at Notting Hill Carnival since 1993 and was voted the No. 1 DJ in the World by DJ Magazine in the same year.
