[HN Gopher] The Casio employee behind the "Sleng Teng" riddim th...
___________________________________________________________________
The Casio employee behind the "Sleng Teng" riddim that
revolutionized reggae
Author : robinhouston
Score : 313 points
Date : 2022-02-01 17:03 UTC (5 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.nippon.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.nippon.com)
| grawprog wrote:
| I really love the world of reggae and dancehall. The way riddims
| are covered and updated and repurposed and remade over and over
| in different styles by different artists.
|
| It feels natural and organic. Human creativity building on and
| growing what came before.
| npteljes wrote:
| The entirety of the remix culture is just something else.
| People turning something existing into something else,
| sometimes completely changing it up. For one I loved Burial's
| Archangel, for its haunting vocals, only to learn later that
| it's sampled from a (to me) unremarkable r&b song.
| sequoia wrote:
| For people wondering "what's the sleng teng riddim?" here's some
| examples:
|
| Original "under mi sleng teng"
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wjw7m-BKmQ8
|
| One of my favorites, "The Don" by peter metro:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnZuTOH2zoc
|
| 90 minute sleng teng mix (here's a bunch):
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwLKc61dVWQ
|
| related:
|
| Under mi sensi (doesn't actually use sleng teng riddim but it's a
| riff on the sleng teng chorus):
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_dwpUrWkE4
|
| A different riddim (bookshelf), but great example of seeing the
| DJ at work on a riddim mix:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyGhjR7CE3k
|
| If you want to explore other popular riddims, the punanny riddim
| is a good next stop! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UkJRGIpzYM
| adamrezich wrote:
| and for anyone who's looking for just the actual track from the
| Casio keyboard by itself:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhsjL8FHXbY&t=13s
| 2muchcoffeeman wrote:
| One of the YouTube comments makes an interesting observation
| that this is an entirely _digital_ rhythm.
| dashwehacct wrote:
| I like to tell people that reggae artists (more specifically
| dub artists) created electronic music. I don't know if it's
| entirely true, but there is some evidence to suggest this.
| rvense wrote:
| Well, electronic music in the broad sense is at least
| thirty-five years older than Sleng Teng. I doubt, say,
| Schaeffer and Xennakis were very clued in to what was
| happening in Jamaica.
|
| But it's absolute true that you reggae and dub had a
| profound impact on dance music music in all its forms from
| the 90's onwards, both culturally and in the production
| methods and sound. I'm not sure I've ever heard any of the
| original Detroit artists reference Jamaican music as an
| influence, but the entire European side (which then moved
| back North America) is steeped in Jamaican influence, both
| directly and via the UK.
| npteljes wrote:
| Now we're just left wondering what's a "sleng teng". Teng is
| maybe "thing", so we're left with what's "sleng". Searching for
| it I'm corrected to "slang", and if I force "sleng" then all I
| can find is the song itself.
| wzy wrote:
| It's just a euphemism for marijuana. "Unda mi sleng teng" is
| being under the influence of marijuana.
| Cockbrand wrote:
| See also Barrington Levy's "Under mi Sensi", with the same
| riddim played on actual drums and bass:
| https://youtu.be/yFEvdWHK7GA
| bredren wrote:
| And a track related to honoring Hiroko's contribution to
| reggae: https://youtu.be/VLZDucQFnuQ
| npteljes wrote:
| MAFFI's "Bad memory" riddim seems to be a variation on the
| sleng teng, for example here with Peter King's vocals:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sZo-EPEOIo
| winternett wrote:
| As a musician that also does IT work, the part where
| copyright/law suit was mentioned troubled me a bit...
|
| Artists aren't profiting massively from sampling. Even from
| making music in general. Actually, most artists don't get paid at
| all when uncleared samples are involved, and especially because
| of the predatory system of music publication. The ideal like they
| are the ones who should be sued worries me about a wrong take on
| the art overall. Perhaps Casio should have given her a bonus,
| because back then because of Sleng Teng, they sold a lot more
| units.
|
| If we buy a piece of music equipment with presets on it, the
| license for usage should be 100% included in the purchase, or not
| included on the device at all.
|
| Copyright is one of the biggest things that threatens music
| innovation moving forward. The Sleng Teng riddim was indeed
| influential to reggae for many years, but it was not a game
| changer because Reggae had existed long before it and even well
| before Casio. To say that Casio or Okuda Hiroko made the riddim
| and influenced reggae was a bit of a stretch... The vocals, use,
| performance, distribution and choice to use a Casio keyboard on
| the song were all by Noel Davey. To say a preset on a keyboard he
| used was responsible for a cultural era totally ignores what
| inspired Hiroko to make the preset.
|
| To try to credit a preset as a cultural influence on reggae
| discredits all of the other aspects of riddim culture and tools
| that existed at that point too, Linn Drums, the DR550, The
| Effectron II, etc... So many things influenced reggae. As someone
| who was there during the era, Sleng Teng was a great track, but
| to say the preset revolutionized reggae is like saying modems
| influenced Internet culture.
|
| Reggae is specifically a Caribbean music art form that has grown
| from the 1940s and spread across the world against great
| resistance, and the heritage and innovation behind it is
| specifically due to the artists that made each song...
|
| Otherwise, we should probably credit Ableton and a bunch of synth
| plug-ins for pretty much every preset used on almost every dance
| track made now...
|
| This article kind of highlights a major part of the discussion
| surrounding cultural appropriation, it's the ideal that something
| needs to be linked to "more favorable or esteemed" cultures to be
| more noteworthy or humanized.
|
| Reggae is uniquely Caribbean in origins, artists faced great
| struggles to make the music and most did not get paid anything
| notable at all. Others are free to integrate the ideals however
| they want, but the origins, credits, authenticity, and history
| should not be re-written just to make a new story.
|
| Authentic history of the Sleng Teng Riddim and Riddim Culture-
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6geaZFHZC2g
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It08Mt3q38k
| selimthegrim wrote:
| What resistance was against it?
| winternett wrote:
| Racism and segregation for starters, there were also huge
| immigration hurdles for many artists from the Caribbean
| islands, many artists had health care related problems on the
| islands, tropical storms, economic depressions, governmental
| corruption, music equipment and resources were very expensive
| (because they had to be imported), and financing and funding
| for everything is a challenge citing that no other major
| music or film industry was located anywhere near to the
| islands (NY, California, England, etc.).
|
| This is why many labels in the past would simply get their
| existing artists to "hijack" reggae themes into their music,
| because the islands were isolated geographically from public
| awareness in the early days.
| nvr219 wrote:
| Choooooon! brap brap brap
| usrusr wrote:
| Related: I believe that the main reason why I could never really
| connect with the post-flash version of Ishkur's Guide is the
| omission of Casiocore. Just push 'samba' on that thing and away
| you go.
|
| (or perhaps I just haven't found it yet?)
| tpmx wrote:
| This is the rare kind of advertorial that's well worth reading.
|
| From the same author (the editor of the site):
|
| _Tough and Timeless: Ibe Kikuo and the Development of the
| [Casio] G-Shock_
|
| https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/g01192/tough-and-time...
|
| ....
|
| Background on nippon.com:
|
| The site has its background in
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Echo which was funded by
| Japan's Foreign Affairs Ministry.
|
| Later on it was funded by the Nippon Foundation, and renamed into
| the Nippon Communications Foundation:
|
| https://foundation.nippon.com/en/about/outline.html
|
| _Funded by a generous grant from the Nippon Foundation ..._
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nippon_Foundation
|
| (eh, read for yourself; it turns weird and dark.)
| kingcharles wrote:
| And just in case it is lost on some people, Nippon is one of
| the possible pronunciations for Japan (Ri Ben ) in Japanese.
| The other is Nihon. No, the Japanese have no consensus on the
| name of their own country.
| zuminator wrote:
| This is a beautiful example of why people shouldn't be too quick
| to tag cultural borrowings as "appropriation." They often result
| in a back-and-forth cross-pollination that bears novel hybrid
| fruit we can all enjoy.
| npteljes wrote:
| QuestionCopyright.org has the same observation. They made a
| nice music video to further spread the idea, how "all creative
| work builds on what came before":
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcvd5JZkUXY
| winternett wrote:
| The problem in enjoying the "cross-pollination" is that it
| never rewards the founders, and often rewards others that
| deliberately copy the overlooked artists.
|
| Many modern works completely lift sounds and rebrand them as
| founded by someone else new. That is where the problem lies in
| modern appropriation. It's sad that social media now encourages
| people to completely copycat ideas and totally steal credit for
| innovation...
|
| We should support original culture and artists just as much as
| those who sample them.
| elefanten wrote:
| Founders being rewarded is completely orthogonal to culture,
| in this picture.
|
| Any knowledge or innovation could be "stolen" and used by
| someone else, whether its origin is cultural or not.
|
| Using the _possibility_ of value extracting theft as a reason
| why (certain) people should never find inspiration in
| (certain other) cultures... is just bigoted and nonsensical.
| It's racist territorialism.
|
| Especially when all culture is built on something that came
| before anyway.
| winternett wrote:
| I disagree. There is a history of issues in the industry,
| and with audience exposure that makes things much more
| complex than with certain other genres.
|
| If reggae has been around this long yet Sting, UB40, Boy
| George, Snow, 311, Sublime, and Matisyahu are probably the
| people most Americans would think of as the best musicians
| making reggae music, it might show a bit of inherent
| cultural bias for both the industry and listeners...
| goodpoint wrote:
| That's not correct. See the first paragraphs of
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_appropriation
|
| ---
|
| Cultural appropriation is the inappropriate or unacknowledged
| adoption ...
|
| cultural appropriation differs from acculturation,
| assimilation, or equal cultural exchange ...
|
| the concept is often misunderstood or misapplied by the general
| public, and that charges of "cultural appropriation" are at
| times misapplied to situations such as trying food from a
| different culture or learning about different cultures
|
| ---
| quacked wrote:
| Who defines "inappropriate or unacknowledged"?
| JohnBooty wrote:
| We all do, including you.
|
| It feels like you want to make a point and I feel like I
| know what it is, but I could be wrong.
| quacked wrote:
| Yes, I suspect we know each other's points already, but I
| always am curious about how this particular element of
| the topic is defined by adherents of the group-to-which-
| I-don't-belong.
|
| If we both define what's appropriate, and our definitions
| don't match, how should that disagreement be settled?
| kevinmgranger wrote:
| Yes, they're referring to the same misapplication you're
| referring to.
| [deleted]
| xhevahir wrote:
| IIRC that's actually how a lot of academics in cultural
| studies, history, etc, used the term "appropriation" until the
| nineties or so, when the more disparaging usage seems to have
| won out.
| JohnBooty wrote:
| Agree completely, though, I also don't feel like this sort of
| (awesome) thing is what anybody is talking about when they
| discuss cultural appropriation!
|
| Cross-pollination like this is, I dare say, universally loved
| and recognized as vital.
|
| Generally when people speak of "cultural appropriation" it's a
| situation where you have a majority and/or oppressing group
| capitalizing on the culture of a minority and/or oppressed
| group.
|
| Think of the difference between two prison inmates building on
| each others' ideas is collaboration, and a prison guard
| stealing their music.
| elefanten wrote:
| Maybe that nuance was originally intended, but look around
| and you will find plenty of claims that wearing dreadlocks,
| rapping or making sushi at home are examples of cultural
| appropriation, if done by the wrong person.
|
| Actually, that's a good gut check to test whether
| emancipatory movements have lost their plot: how often do
| their prescriptions hinge on identity.
| asdff wrote:
| It's gotten to the point where people are even criticized
| for tanning too much beyond what is supposedly acceptable
| for their identity.
| renlo wrote:
| it's not stealing
| whatshisface wrote:
| The load-bearing word in that sentence is "stealing," rather
| than "prison guard."
| ericb wrote:
| > and a prison guard stealing their music
|
| That's a pretty tortured metaphor.
|
| Would it be morally ok for the prisoners to steal the guard's
| music?
|
| What if cultural borrowing is the societal precursor to
| acceptance and integration?
| [deleted]
| sithadmin wrote:
| I don't buy that using a default demo sample from an electronic
| keyboard could ever count as cultural appropriation. Even in
| the most extreme case, the 'rock' sample in question that Casio
| offered up would ostensibly trace its roots to afro-caribbean
| origins anyway.
| vmception wrote:
| cultural participation
|
| most of the segregationists just need inspiration and aren't as
| exclusionary as they've been led to
| mise_en_place wrote:
| It's a bit unfair to categorize Japan as segregationist.
| While it's true they have gaijin housing and restaurants,
| that's meant to make the visitor comfortable, especially if
| they can't speak Japanese conversationally.
| Simplicitas wrote:
| Yup. I'll never forget Darryl Hall saying that music is a
| continuum, which is why most of the times he allows his Hall &
| Oates sounds to be sampled by Rap artists ..
| redwall_hp wrote:
| If you look into folk music traditions, one recurring theme
| you'll find is it's generally not clear who wrote a tune or
| lyrics, and multiple songs often use the same tune. That's
| the natural state of music, and the current system of so-
| called intellectual property is an aberration.
|
| We don't know who wrote "Rolling Down to Old Maui" or
| "Drunken Sailor," other than that they were popular in the
| 19th century. They both share tunes with other songs that
| predate them, just like how there are multiple songs that use
| the same tune as "The Wearing of the Green." Countless people
| have performed and rearranged them, and the world only
| benefits from it.
|
| Everything in art is inherently memetic, building upon the
| work of others and evolving.
| rvense wrote:
| I think it was Pete Seeger who said that the greatest
| compliment he ever received was someone saying "Oh you
| wrote that song? I thought it was just.. there".
| voldacar wrote:
| This is super cool. I instantly recognize the riff and vocals
| from countless 90s jungle & hardcore tracks even though I'm not a
| reggae fan.
|
| Still have no idea what a sleng teng is though.
| dave_sid wrote:
| I'm sure the prodigy sampled it
| dave_sid wrote:
| Actually I'm wrong it was SL2! Same era.
|
| https://youtu.be/xI8S1Nn6NRk
| voldacar wrote:
| Yeah that's the track I was thinking of. great stuff
|
| a little better sound quality here:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtoCjkZYxJ8
| dave_sid wrote:
| Don't forget this gem
|
| https://youtu.be/gXCN1DhHTZA
| kingsloi wrote:
| Yeah! I'll always remember the "Murrrrrderrrrrrrrrr" in random
| jungle, hardcore, breakcore
| (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbPjiJ-4jMA), etc, years
| before I knew it was one of Barrington's
| jongala wrote:
| Engadget did a story around this a while back, apparently. It has
| less from Okuda, but some different details and other links and
| examples:
|
| https://www.engadget.com/2015-12-04-casio-and-the-sleng-teng...
|
| This is a very interesting story, and it's great to see Okuda
| acknowledged for her work and hear more details about that. Casio
| is a great example of a company that I just took completely for
| granted growing up and seemed completely opaque and impersonal to
| me. It's so cool to see the individuals that are behind all of
| those things. My brothers and I had an MT-40 when we were kids, I
| loved playing with it, and had no idea it had an impact like
| this.
| [deleted]
| omar_alt wrote:
| Most late 20th century western musical movements and the cultural
| changes that came with them was down to manufacturers of
| instruments. It was usually a box, synthesizer or effects unit.
| Surely the R&D for new sounds is what music depends on?
| jrm4 wrote:
| This implies that the manufacturers had a decent grasp of
| "where things would go," and I think that couldn't be further
| from the truth? All the good (or at least interesting) stuff
| came from "hackers," aka the scratching DJs, the guys who had
| to scrape for beat machines, etc. etc. Limitations being the
| inspiration and all that.
| joezydeco wrote:
| Or, in the case of New York hiphop, a blackout:
|
| http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2014/10/16/roman_mars_99_.
| ..
| felix318 wrote:
| I think it was always the case that the development of
| instruments is a major influence on musical styles. Sacred
| music and the church organ, Baroque music and the harpsichord,
| Romantics and the piano, Jazz and sax, the list goes on and on.
|
| Today however, synthesizers can create any sound imaginable so
| we probably reached the end of the cycle. Who knows what will
| guide the future of music.
| xxpor wrote:
| For the actual pure sounds that's right, but I believe
| there's still more to be done in the effects area (autotune
| etc) and instrument interfaces.
| TheOtherHobbes wrote:
| You could create all kinds of new sounds and technologies and
| they would have no impact if audiences didn't connect with
| them.
|
| Some people have a certain fluency with sound and music. It's
| not about training, although training will bring it out if
| someone has it. But it seems pretty innate. And it cuts through
| in a way that the work of people without the fluency doesn't.
|
| Roland used to be masters of this. Their rhythm and bass boxes
| seemed like stupid failed toys, but they had a magic that
| wasn't obvious until they were handed to people who didn't try
| to use them in the "proper" way.
|
| That's fluency from two sources - something the original
| designers somehow had (until Roland stopped being that kind of
| company) mixed with the feel the pioneering users had.
|
| This story is another example of that.
|
| Compare with - say - Yamaha's attempts to sell physical
| modelling synthesis. There was much money spent, a good
| selection of instruments produced, but it failed to cut
| through. Possibly because it ended up being a system of presets
| and directed constraints that limited imagination instead of
| opening it up. (Or possibly not. It's a mysterious process.)
| tweetle_beetle wrote:
| For those who don't know, the TB-303 is probably the most
| entertaining story of this kind.
|
| > ... the box was largely written off as a failure after just
| 18 months of production. It was released alongside the TR-606
| drum machine as an accompaniment for guitarists, but with
| unrealistic sounds and a difficult interface the box got
| little traction upon release. [1]
|
| It became the source of a signature sound in dance music,
| which remains extensively used today and can be heard in
| tracks with mainstream chart success. It's terrible interface
| is somehow part of its charm and it has been cloned in many
| formats.
|
| This is probably the best way to experience it in a browser
| [2]
|
| [1] https://djtechtools.com/2015/12/02/history-
| tb-303-rolands-ac...
|
| [2] https://808303.studio/
| nyanpasu64 wrote:
| From what I've heard, sample libraries of acoustic
| instruments are a system of presets and directed constraints
| (inability to replicate complex dynamics, articulation, and
| pitch bends). I haven't tried physical modeling, and don't
| know if it manages to escape this issue, or ends up too
| complex to learn/perform or stuck in an uncanny valley. (This
| is from the perspective of orchestral-inspired sound design
| rather than more synthetic compositions.)
| throwhauser wrote:
| I don't think it's necessarily the sounds, but what the article
| describes, "bringing the pleasure of playing a musical
| instrument to everyone". New ways of creating music end up in
| the hands of people that otherwise may not have gotten started,
| and new styles emerge.
| teachrdan wrote:
| For those who don't know, "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... 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 actual riddim sounds completely uninteresting to my American
| ears. But the novelty and catchiness obviously connected to
| millions of people at the time.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riddim
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wjw7m-BKmQ8
| JohnBooty wrote:
| The actual riddim sounds completely uninteresting to my
| American ears
|
| Counterpoint: the actual riddim sounds awesome to my American
| ears. Although of course, it's a building block for a song, not
| a song itself.
| mtalantikite wrote:
| > But the novelty and catchiness obviously connected to
| millions of people at the time.
|
| And also spawned a huge amount of music:
| https://www.whosampled.com/Wayne-Smith/Under-Me-Sleng-Teng/s...
| srcreigh wrote:
| Several songs in this style
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIfzt7mtFyI
| lelandfe wrote:
| > The actual riddim sounds completely uninteresting to my
| American ears
|
| Dub and reggae are a part of the so-called soundsystem culture.
| That booming bass line is meant to be heard over an enormous PA
| system (often home built) designed to rattle your bones!
| gunfighthacksaw wrote:
| I remember not getting dubstep (also derived from dub before
| it's export to the US and commercialization) because I was
| listening to it on my PC speakers.
|
| When I finally played it through my hifi it was like a whole
| sonic landscape suddenly appeared and only then did I finally
| get it.
| chrisjc wrote:
| Quick note to those that were potentially triggered when
| they read "dubstep"... Early dubstep was based on two-step
| and garage music, while at the same time heavily based on
| dub and reggae.
|
| Digital Mystikz -
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9H3i0T1iN4
|
| Spaceape - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfyRjyKj05I
|
| Goth Trad - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d12dJbE_xxw
|
| Listen to some of the early dubstep and you'll start to
| understand that parent probably didn't mean Skrillex,
| etc...
|
| BBC Radio 1's original Dubstep Warz session is a great
| introduction to the original dubstep -
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RyOlkDgy2g
|
| Kode9's recently released Dubstep Warz behind the scenes -
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_wmgpQO6iQ
| [deleted]
| lelandfe wrote:
| Nice to see some heads on HN! Great list, and RIP The
| Spaceape.
|
| You can find proper sound system culture in the states,
| though not much is happening since COVID. Tsunami Bass
| has an enormous PA and Reconstrvct hopefully will be back
| one day. Analog in Brooklyn _did_ have a whopping home
| built system but it was sold off and the club is under
| new management these days.
|
| Here's a glimpse into what this sort of stuff is like at
| a show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8037wYWZkU.
| That's the Dub Livity system.
|
| The DJ cuts (low pass) out the bass line, teasing the
| crowd, until the 2:05 mark, as the MC toasts. The bass
| shakes _everything_ - you can feel it in your bones. It
| 's visceral. You can see why it was, and is, and
| continues to be a spiritual thing for many people.
| nyanpasu64 wrote:
| Technically low-cutting is called highpass rather than
| lowpass. I don't exactly like the low/high pass
| terminology myself either though; you end up putting a
| high pass at a low frequency to remove bass, and low pass
| at a high frequency to remove treble.
| okl wrote:
| High/low pass = high/low frequency components pass
| through. Simple?
| JohnBooty wrote:
| Yeah high pass / low pass have always seemed totally
| logical to me. At least once I knew what they meant.
|
| I suppose they're not 100% intuitive or self-explanatory,
| but I can't think of a better alternative.
| lelandfe wrote:
| Can you tell it has been a while since I played a set? :)
| thanks
| Cockbrand wrote:
| Hehe, I remember telling an American friend about 10
| years ago that I was really into dubstep at that time.
| She was appalled and couldn't understand why a somewhat
| decent person like myself could listen to that kind of
| music. Much later, it dawned on me that she was thinking
| of US bro-step like Skrillex, while I in fact was
| listening to "UK Bass Music" like Benga and Skream and
| Digital Mystikz and Loefah.
| [deleted]
| rvense wrote:
| All my homies hate Skrillex!
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hLlVVKRwk0
| Cockbrand wrote:
| I only watched the first few minutes so far, and the
| storyline quite reminds me of myself being quite
| fascinated by hearing my first jungle tunes about 15
| years earlier. Nice!
| rvense wrote:
| If the speakers weren't taller than you, you haven't
| experienced dubstep.
|
| (Real dubstep, I mean, that has dub in it - not that mid-
| range electric razor Skrillex shit!)
| cat199 wrote:
| seen .. much bettern to hear the song in context in a
| soundsystem live tape (several on yt) - and possibly with
| cough cough sacrament - e.g. coxsone, killmanjaro, etc.
|
| <3 the 'digital raggae' electronic pre-dancehall sound
| berkes wrote:
| A somewhat Europeanized version of this Dub can often be
| found behind the query "steppa, steppers or dubtronica" of
| many platforms such as Spotify. Which, also, is best heard
| on either good headphones or with your head stuck down a
| giant soundsystem wall (don't do that, though, seriously)
| Daishiman wrote:
| You can do it, but get _good_ earplugs and nor for more
| than a few minutes!
|
| (sSund system owner here)
| slim wrote:
| > The actual riddim sounds completely uninteresting to my
| American ears
|
| ok, let me try to make it more interesting.
|
| you seem to think riddim is something from the past. you may
| remember the music from "run the world" by Beyonce. that riddim
| is called "pon de floor" riddim. it was created by diplo.
| (warning nsfw video).
|
| riddim is essentially coding patterns for music. since each
| riddim has a name it creates a DSL that lets DJs and MCs go
| meta with the music and focus on making the most catchy sound.
|
| another interesting aspect is it's free from intellectual
| property. it makes for a good example of the impact of free
| culture on creativity.
| afro88 wrote:
| > another interesting aspect is it's free from intellectual
| property. it makes for a good example of the impact of free
| culture on creativity.
|
| You better believe Diplo got paid by Beyonce to use Pon De
| Floor in a track.
| slim wrote:
| of course he did :) free culture does not prevent one from
| profiting from non-free culture. on a similar note, there's
| another thread on how Monty got paid twice for mysql.
| afro88 wrote:
| And the other side of the coin: you better believe a lot
| of people were cease and desisted out of using Pon De
| Floor in tracks too.
|
| My point was that riddims unfortunately aren't as free.
| But the culture around them uses them as if they are (at
| home, at small parties, in mixes for friends etc), until
| they're not (on the public internet, played at clubs, in
| mixes played on radio etc)
| jrochkind1 wrote:
| > The actual riddim sounds completely uninteresting to my
| American ears.
|
| I find the simple casio rhythm delightfully engaging and
| catchy! But that may be because I've heard it in so many reggae
| and dancehall songs I associate it with now. But the first time
| I heard _those_ songs, they immediately caught my ear and made
| me want to dance.
|
| Here's just an MT-40 playing the present. To me that's super
| catchy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq7B4MFbmgU
| yardie wrote:
| You're listening to it wrong. /s
|
| Dancehall riddims are tuned for the dancehall and,
| occasionally, the car show. It's a vibe and atmosphere that
| doesn't translate well to headphones. I can listen to 2 DJs in
| a clash go back and forth for hours with just 1 riddim. But
| after 1 play of Cash Money riddim, for example, I'm pressing
| FFWD for something else. Because the moment is gone.
| pfarrell wrote:
| And now she's working on a prototype "Holophonor".
| th3a6as22l0rd wrote:
| reassembled wrote:
| Maybe this is more common in Japan but I find it great that she
| still works for Casio after all this time.
| bravura wrote:
| The Sleng Teng riddim is one of my favorite reggae riddims.
|
| Americans might best know it as the bassline from Sublime's
| Caress Me Down (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_LP4IU6XD4).
|
| But you might really love the lyrics of Tenor Saw's Pumpkin
| Belly, which a song of the "old time proverbs":
|
| "Whatsover you want / You have to work very hard to gain."
|
| https://genius.com/Tenor-saw-pumpkin-belly-lyrics
| dzhiurgis wrote:
| I used to keep a little list of riddims, here's more from sleng
| teng:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61kVhWClUZo
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOMZlVLh1Ts
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9mrs1Ge8fo
|
| then there's stalag riddim:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4fjGwVpbm0
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbQX0QmngYg
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3d4Efp5TMc
|
| and my favourite heavenless riddim:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBRzaoUe3y8
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQXPTRIsEII
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJGa2-qBsSI
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MmIP16H5jE
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0BxPQIypnQ
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=himuq_-TM-A
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rpgl8oK869E
|
| then there's answer riddim:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4bN_lmTGRk
|
| Overall these riddims are played at so called soundsystem
| parties - basically huge amount of subwoofers that your body
| shakes. Earplugs is a must else you'll get tinitus like I did.
| Stranger part is no photos are allowed and a lot of music isn't
| released online - it's overall kinda secretive subculture.
|
| It blew my mind when I came to such party first time.
| matmann2001 wrote:
| Also reminds me of the intro to Creature Comfort by Arcade
| Fire.
| aaronbrethorst wrote:
| https://www.reddit.com/r/arcadefire/comments/6oylf7/creature.
| ..
| [deleted]
| rmetzler wrote:
| I've been involved with the German Dancehall scene from around
| the late 90s early 2000s and danced so many nights to this
| riddim. I knew the story and how this riddim ended up in
| Jamaica at King Jammy's (e.g.
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mop89McbxAE ), but could not
| remember to have seen an image of the actual keyboard before.
|
| Here is a video where Wayne Smith tells how he found the preset
| on the keyboard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM2qMdop890
| narag wrote:
| Another ressemblance:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dR1tKo1n5I
| okl wrote:
| Can't forget to name Manudigital in that context, who did a lot
| of live sessions visiting singers and deejays with his MT-40:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULmYesM3F5s
| Simon_O_Rourke wrote:
| There's no decent reggae after the early 1980s, apart from UB40
| knock off bands. Give me the Pioneers, Dave and Ansel Collins or
| Justin Hinds any day.
| nicoco wrote:
| Wouln't you call groundation at least decent?
| TacticalCoder wrote:
| > There's no decent reggae after the early 1980s ...
|
| Big reggae fan here (old reggae) but Mike Love, "Permanent
| Holiday" is quite something:
|
| https://youtu.be/fU7hZ3smj0g
| jawilson2 wrote:
| Holy crap. Thanks for this.
| gerbilly wrote:
| Yeah sure, if you say so. How about this. Let's restrict it to
| the Pacific islands only and see what's been happening in
| reggae since the 80s.
|
| There's a thriving scene in Hawaii with great music coming out
| to this day.
|
| This one features two amazing vocalists, Irie Love and Fiji
| (George Veikoso)
|
| It is wut it is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZVF7QWjs44
|
| Then there's New Zealand:
|
| Katchafire: Way Beyond
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjKLocagFPw
|
| I could have picked dozens of other great songs.
| dashwehacct wrote:
| npteljes wrote:
| I love the French digital dub scene for one, Pupajim, Panda
| dub, Dubamix, Mayd Hubb all put out fantastic pieces, like this
| one for instance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgjvtib-Xi0
| throw_m239339 wrote:
| This is nonsense.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3epH_KNnwYE
| berkes wrote:
| I'm a avid rocksteady listener. Visited many old ska,
| rocksteady and roots festivals and concerts. I love the old
| stuff.
|
| But it is ignorant and dismissive to place anything after an
| arbitrary date under the label "not decent". Plenty of
| wonderful stuff.
|
| I'm certain you'll agree that for example Lee Scratch Perry
| produced wonderful music until the day of his death (August
| 2021). What he did with The Upsetters is magic. But even the
| albums he made in the months before his death are far more than
| "decent".
| kingsloi wrote:
| I'm sure there's a million other reggae artists that I've yet
| to discover, but nothing personally hits more than roots
| reggae, I wish there were more of 1970s-1990s Lacksley Castell,
| Hugh Mundell, Johnny Osbourne, Barrington Levy, Sammie Dread,
| Johnnie Clark, etc, etc,
| TacticalCoder wrote:
| Going to listen to some you mentioned I don't know...
|
| Just from the top of my head in case some here don't know
| them (if I start looking in my archive I'll find lots of
| stuff)... Not all "roots" but it's old stuff.
|
| Zap Pow, "This is Reggae music": (I used to start my reggae
| compilation with this one)
|
| https://youtu.be/-6G6PiRGCaU
|
| Bunny Wailer:
|
| https://youtu.be/tr0dyo7XGcw
|
| Errol Dunkley:
|
| https://youtu.be/D5Tg1l4pk94
|
| Ranking Dread:
|
| https://youtu.be/hkM14QObC9o (this one is really cool for the
| song talks about many OG reggae artists)
|
| Jo Jo Bennett:
|
| https://youtu.be/6Gawp4UPO2I
|
| Marcia Griffiths:
|
| https://youtu.be/ZA9FUDw3TNk (the theme is not "roots" but,
| darn, she's a good Jamaican reggae singer)
|
| Max Romeo:
|
| https://youtu.be/XcMNfX5yh28
|
| John Holt:
|
| https://youtu.be/smWVKR_LYjs
|
| Horace Andy:
|
| https://youtu.be/RCHTAu4In70
|
| Linval Thompson:
|
| https://youtu.be/2f7G9HFEbao
| kingsloi wrote:
| Not heard of Zap Pow! Checking them out now. I just replied
| to a post below, but I'll do it here too, I created a
| Spotify playlist of roots reggae I played to my lil girl
| while she was in the hospital.
|
| It's full of my/our favourite roots, and includes most of
| those artists!
| https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1qp5AfSmmKLwefGyaJfLxP
| okl wrote:
| Delroy Wilson, Cornell Campbell, Don Carlos, Carlton & The
| Shoes, Garnett Silk, Bob Andy, Freddie McGregor, Frankie
| Paul... Personally I prefer the sound of the late 60s --
| Rocksteady: The Paragons, Lynn Taitt, Prince Buster, Alton
| Ellis, Phyllis Dillon, Bob & the Beltones, The
| Progressions...
| kingsloi wrote:
| I appreciate the recommendations!
|
| Roots reggae was the only music I played my baby was in
| the hospital. So much so, I actually created a Spotify
| playlist of all of the songs we jammed together to.
|
| Let me know what you think
| https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1qp5AfSmmKLwefGyaJfLxP
| okl wrote:
| You've got a nice playlist there. #63 - If I Could Rule
| This World is one of my all time favorites.
|
| Most of the Soul Jazz Records samplers are on Spotify,
| well worth a listen. Unfortunately Spotify is missing
| many of the older/rarer tunes. There are some collectors
| who record their 45s and upload to Youtube:
|
| - https://www.youtube.com/c/VROCKET/videos
|
| - https://www.youtube.com/user/jahbuzzz/videos
|
| - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfvSuY0GF6i7yPCX2qnrw5
| Q/vid...
|
| - https://www.youtube.com/c/aeon23/videos
|
| If you are into more funky Reggae stuff check out Jackie
| Mittoo.
| kingsloi wrote:
| Yes, what a beautiful song! Alton Ellis and his sister
| Hortense really are timeless.
|
| Awesome, I'll check them out! Appreciate it!
| dylanz wrote:
| Midnite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJADi9axZ4E&t=9s. RIP
| Vaughn.
| blacksmith_tb wrote:
| Presumably plenty of Jamaicans (and others) would disagree, but
| I do personally like the sound of the 70s recordings best,
| especially the dubs, The Revolutionaries, Roots Radics, etc.
| Newer reggae has a lot of newer pop in it, auto-tune, plastic-y
| production.
| winternett wrote:
| It was never meant to stay the same, the old riddim culture
| went on for a long period without change... New dancehall is
| a bit too soft for me as well, I like ragga most, but I do
| miss the classic "red light" love song era... I'm working to
| remix some of the classics myself, and to create new vibes
| (without using auto tune).
|
| There are many artists working low key on different sounds,
| but right now the industry is pushing the bubble-gum-gangster
| sound that is most popular right now... You've got to search
| real deep on YouTube for the best stuff.
| twism wrote:
| Beres Hammond, Jah Cure, Gyptian, Bitty mcLean ... ? I could go
| on. Relatively newer artists but on dub (old school) style
| riddims
| okl wrote:
| The Frightnrs!
| dave_sid wrote:
| Absolutely love this.
| fedebehrens wrote:
| There's a smaller YouTube channel I've been following -
| 'Traxploitation', that did a great video offering some good
| insights into the history behind the riddim, and it's inspiration
| from a certain pop star, worth checking out!
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_Hko8LRdyo
| dave_sid wrote:
| SL2 sampled it in this classic dance track from the 90's
|
| https://youtu.be/xI8S1Nn6NRk
|
| I had no idea until now where the sample came from.
| prvc wrote:
| I'm surprised that anyone would even think of suing users who use
| your instrument over the copyrights of its built in sounds! There
| must be some kind of implicit right of a performer to use the
| sounds produced by an instrument, although "sample" or pattern
| based instruments do tend to blur the line a little. Certainly,
| one must draw the line somewhere, cf.:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timbaland_plagiarism_controver...
| However the case in TFA seems pretty cut and dry to me, or am I
| mistaken?
| tibbydudeza wrote:
| What an awesome article - from Japan to the shores of Jamaica.
| okl wrote:
| And back to Japan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-7YtFEUzac
|
| There's lots of Reggae and Raggamuffin music made in Japan and
| some of it is really well-made and authentic. (e.g.,
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8aZI0aqR4c)
| dieselerator wrote:
| It is an interesting read. I find inspiration in this story of
| composer Hiroko Okuda. When you work at doing your part to get
| the product to market you can't predict all the ways customers
| might use the product.
| qbasic_forever wrote:
| Also very cool that she and Casio effectively have licensed the
| beat under a permissive MIT-like license... just credit using
| the keyboard and have fun!
| taurusnoises wrote:
| As someone who dj'd almost exclusively early (and late) dancehall
| and dub back in the early 00s, I can attest that this riddim has
| absolute magical properties. It is just one of those things where
| the tone, the key, the hisses, the bass frequency, the everything
| just clicks. The room will never not pop off when Sleng Teng
| drops. That, and it's sister riddim, Stalag. Like best buds,
| those two.
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