Ghetto Palms 77: Mavado + Natalie Storm / Sizzla + De Tropix / Exclusive Refixes
- story Eddie "Stats" Houghton
- photo Guy Martin (F58 outtake)
I cannot tell a lie, y’all. It was not a particularly good week for dancehall. My ears got so sick of trance synths, auto-tune and trap drums they almost walked off the set before I had anything to palmcast. (sidebar: seriously, music dudes of the world—change it up. I have defended auto-tune and I am not on some DOA type purism but please, pick your spots. Rotate your stock. Let that field lie fallow for a season. Give the next piece of gear a bligh.) There would be no joy in ghettopalmsland at all if not for some fresh remixes injecting new shoots into the landscape. Natalie Storm jumped on some tambarzao drums, De Tropix and Shredah whupped some UK biz on Vybz and Sizzla and coupe decale and kuduro are apparently crossing the streams in France of all places. Before I knew it I had a Ghetto Palms Allstar part 2. Which just underscores the philosophy behind this column—a little cross-pollination is good for the soil.
Ghetto Palms: GP All-Stars/Exclusive Esau Mwamwaya Refix
- story Eddie "Stats" Houghton
- photo Liz Johnson Artur
In the past week almost every damn artist I would consider a signature Ghetto Palms poster-child has represented with crushing new tunes or refixes in a similar vibe (Busy Signal and Erup have both been putting enough overtime lately to be excused from this session.) The common ground is a 120 bpm neighborhood situated somewhere between synth pop and ragga soca, a tempo I have given up trying to name and will simply call the “sweet spot.” Hence, the Ghetto Palms All-Stars blend.
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posted on Jul 1, 2009 in BLOGS, GHETTO PALMS tags Aidonia, caribbean, De Tropix, Di Genius, Esau Mwamwaya, Laden, Leftside, Mavado, Natalie Storm
