rolling soca / chutney / jab 2017

Well it seems like I slept on the cropover Zika Riddim in 2016 so let's get this rolling right away:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t8UMF7Cknk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvihtYrNhEo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfOgWfKVhm0

Just posting three now but all of the versions are great so seek them out.

Loving this Fay-Ann Lyons tune:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxnC92x3sIQ

Shgal Marshall - Hookah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75JO1lVbk84

*Shal

it's destra with another classic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoizvhBgj8Q

trax poll inspiring me to comb through julianspromos for a bit.

Skinny Fabolous "Lights Go Down" is a dramatic slow (for soca) jam:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s46a3BRGPZI

the video with ^that and "Watch Thing" combined is low-key genius with its day-to-night conceit

the riddim on this Bunji is sweet, but I wish there were some other voicings:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hFu12ci-8g

M1 "First Time" sounding a bit like Kalado here (dug Busy Signal on this riddim too):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAxCCnt9PmQ

Olatunji's "Long Overdue":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W65nR3vTPqs

ok one more; Sekon Sta with some real jubilation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7GCtFf7vGE

Bunji's 1995 takes me back:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNG6Hkena6A

Machel goes power soca:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rFKT5Q_xOI&feature=youtu.be

Ultimate Rejects - Full Extreme

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd8_zvKhtN8

Loving GBM Nutron - Bacchanal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwhuk-k2tEQ

It's basically Scene 2.0

Not sure how I came across this (maybe posted on the previous thread? But this is such a jam:

Iwer George - Take a Bathe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b6pe4nU9yo

Yeah, I think it was posted in the other thread!

"Bacchanal" is superb

Am I the only one who feels like the drums on Olatunji's otherwise superb Tun Fo Meh are just a little too cluttered?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLhIkfvLshQ

I always feel like I'm fumbling the beat matching when I play it and that's not a good feeling, lol.

So this soca remix of Indicator is definitely a thing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id1MRxC5RI4

OMG

Bunji doesn't add much to it, but yeah that really works as soca

is "Beat It" the Montano posted upthread that won't play now?

No, I think that was It's Your Time. Beat It needs a post.

so much steel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdl-MT_JcOI

lol perfect screencap on that

Kes's "Incredible" is so good, really nice balance of light and heavy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDXiXcMiglY

and "Work Out" might be even better:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOqPFQ3ndss

did Machel and Bunji's "Buss Head" get posted in the last thread? (we ought to consider not sticking to the calendar year for this one, its genuinely confusing)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps2VMglVW6U

this has been a partic good season, no? I feel like the EDM crunch of recent years has softened and there's suddenly lush melodies everywhere

Soca Monarch coming up on Friday iirc.

Chutney Monarch was a tie between Ravi B's Budget and Omardath Maharaj's Ramsingh Sharma.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E8EtPJS284o

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nXEwn8L7hTk

I have a soft spot for Omardath, not least because he looks like my dad given a makeover by a thirteen year old.

Looks like Voice just won Soca Monarch if the Twitter commentaries are correct:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nV8_5SZFrI

4th place - Iwer George
3rd place - Devon Matthews
2nd place -Orlando Octave
1st place - Voice

Thanks! Which songs though?

Iwer - Take Ah Bathe
Devon - D Journey
Orlando - Single

Nice.

excellent: "Far From Finished" is great! Single is fun too. Not sure I've heard the Devon before.

I also quite liked Budget--my wife thought it might be borrowing an old bollywood melody?

Liking this GBM Nutron as well:

"Non Stop"

https://youtu.be/3mM5thuX2R4

Front page Washington Post article--

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/leave-me-alone-trinidads-women-find-a-rallying-cry-for-this-years-carnival/2017/02/26/3888f116-f9e6-11e6-aa1e-5f735ee31334_story.html?utm_term=.dd8188aaf0c7

Every year, an onslaught of high-octane soca music is released ahead of Trinidad’s pre-Lent Carnival. The songs are new, but the themes are well-worn: Rum. Partying. And the allure of a woman’s gyrating body, preferably backed into a man’s grasp.

So it’s a little surprising that one of this year’s most popular Carnival tunes is a jaunty ballad performed by the 76-year-old music legend Calypso Rose and titled matter-of-factly “Leave Me Alone.” The song features a woman trying to party in the streets without interference from men, exhorting them to “leave me, let me free up.” And it’s being hailed as a feminist anthem.

“It’s like a rallying cry for women who just want to be able to have the option of enjoying their Carnival — Carnival being that space of freedom,” said Attillah Springer, 40, a Trinidadian writer and activist. “And then you have to deal with people who are trying to control how much freedom you feel.”

Calypso Rose is awesome

On the subject of calypso, Chalkdust just won his ninth Monarch title - overtaking Sparrow's record:

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20170227/news/chalkdust-is-2017-calypso-monarch

that Bollywood song that the melody for "Budget" is borrowed from turned out to be this from Mela (1948): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn5GDsFiK1Q

Good detective work!

Full Extreme is apparently in front in the Road March race.

I'm sure it will win. Who else is it up against?

The closest competitor seems to be Machel's Beat It.

Putting my money on Full Extreme, then.

^ Such a banger.

Officially the highest scoring song in Road March history - 556 plays.

Full Extreme has a new video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DtNXHyh5r8

Probably a lot of crossover with 2016 but i have been listening to the following a lot:

Blaxx - Ranking Ting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3YIZhLcNcw

Nadia Batson - Loyalist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xwgoza3plB0

Mya & Uncle Ellis - Ray Tay Tay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzQSigO0CjA

Uncle Ellis has an interesting story - he is 58 and was sleeping rough in Port Of Spain for a number of years and became a local celebrity for hanging out and dancing to street-corner soundsystems. He ended up being hired at professional events and releasing records. There is a short interview with him here: https://youtu.be/K8UpG9U91h4

Bunji Garlin - Big Bad Soca

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=050Iie2T6Cg

ILM's 2017 Rolling Soca Thread Spotify Playlist

I've been sleeping on so much soca this year but the parallel riddim is just perfect for the warm weather we're having atm:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmJTKFEfmuo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJs5zR3dWCw

I've been listening to these a lot recently:

Dloxx / Machel - Take It Down

https://youtu.be/h3TXBwvf_uU

Lyrikal - Dedicated

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kBkD6WYvCI

Bass / Trilo G - Take Over The Road

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PALbPaU34FA

Take It Down is amazing.

Feeling this (some great dancing too)

Naphtali - Doh Watch Dat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dg-i0R9Jg4o

The dancing in the "Take it Down" video is great

this is just delightful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heQY8otg6YA

really dig Kaliffa's 'Helt Seriöst", dunno if it's soca exactly but that's what comes to mind when i listen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kLTeOk_j7k

great video too
https://vimeo.com/221169867

great interview here. I had no idea Bunji's name was literally from bungee: http://www.afropop.org/39215/interview-bunji-garlin-and-fay-ann-lyons-on-soca-music-today

also if you missed it like me, the Buss Head video is high quality:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McPMyu5_3TI

that interview goes really deep. scroll down to the bit about "Raze" if you're pressed for time

this gets close to sounding like a song in the post-climax dance sequence in a phoned-in animated film but is actually so much fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s7JKsuZkXk

^Olatunji x System 23, "Bodyline"

and this Ola is just immense:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVgE9OIxs-o

love Sekon Sta on this afropop-y Folklore riddim:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujVVzC13iN4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw7TpFMRD5s

^new and fantastic Nailah Blackman

this is secretly one of the best threads on ilm; "brek down de fence" "Your Time Now" and "take ah bathe" are def best of the year material for me.

For those compiling your year-end lists, this playlist includes all the available tracks on this thread, organized roughly chronologically in order of mention:

ILM's 2017 Rolling Soca-Chutney-Jab Thread Spotify Playlist

The sample in Bodyline definitely reminds me of something... Triplets of Belleville maybe?

rolling soca &c. 2018