Beth Lesser, perhaps best known for her photography of the Jamaican music scene, has made her book "Rub-a-Dub Style: The Roots of Modern Dancehall" (pdf) free to download on her website. [more inside]
posted by Dim Siawns on Sep 13, 2012 - 7 comments

"Portia Simpson Miller, the former and newly re-elected Prime Minister of Jamaica and representative of the People's National Party, recently took an historically significant position by openly supporting GLBT legal protection in Jamaica, a country internationally notorious for a "culture of homophobia." Miller's statements come at a time of great cultural change in both Jamaica and dancehall music. This is for her." This is a mixtape of dancehall music and some of it is NSFW.
posted by Kattullus on Feb 8, 2012 - 8 comments

78 78s - In Search Of Lost Time - is a streaming mix of beautiful 78s from around the world, collected and curated by Ian Nagoski. "I started sifting through boxes of junky old 78s that no one else wanted about 15 years ago, and almost right away, I made a rule: Anything that wasn't in English, buy it." [more inside]
posted by carter on Jan 29, 2012 - 15 comments

We've had posts about Yakety Sax (a.k.a. the Benny Hill music) and we've had posts about the Jamaican backing tracks known as riddims. But we've never had a post about Benny Hill riddim. In roughly decreasing order of how much Yakety Sax you can still hear: Elephant Man, "No Ticcle." Leftside, "Cowboy." Sample, "Kotch." Timberlee feat. Tosh, "Heels."
posted by escabeche on Dec 18, 2009 - 17 comments

Dubstep is from the UK. It's typified by skittering, shuffled, syncopated rhythms with lots of triplets, dissonant and minor tonality, and most strikingly... (sub)bass. It uses a lot of effects people associate with dub. Crank your woofer and listen to the likes of Skream (who has done a pretty good introductory mix), Plastician, Digital Mystikz, and El-B. [more inside]
posted by phrontist on Jul 11, 2008 - 68 comments

Each of the following MySpace Music pages features bios and/or photos and/or videos and/or miscellaneous related materials and/or up to six songs by each of the following old school Jamaican Reggae and/or dub artists: Alton Ellis, Toots and the Maytals, Jimmy Cliff, The Wailing Wailers, Big Youth, Dennis Brown, Mikey Dread, The Meditations, Leroy Brown, Mad Professor, Augustus Pablo, Ras Michael and the Sons of Negus, King Tubby, The Abyssinians, Everton Blender, Bunny Wailer, Prince Alla, Israel Vibration, Peter Tosh, Gregory Isaacs, Shinehead, Jah Ruby, Carlton Livingston, King Jammy, Duckie Simpson, I Threes, Judy Mowatt, Sly and Robbie, Barrington Levi, Yellowman, Delroy Williams, Wailing Souls, Earl "Chinna" Smith, Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace, Burning Spear, Max Romeo, Black Uhuru, Leroy Sibbles, Ijahman Levi and Earl Cunningham. [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite on Mar 7, 2008 - 25 comments

mp3s:
Jake Leg Blues - Mississippi Sheiks
Jake Walk Blues - The Allen Brothers
Alcohol and Jake Blues - Tommy Johnson (lyrics)
Articles:
"Jake Leg," about how the blues diagnosed a mysterious 1930 epidemic is a pdf scan of a New Yorker article from September 15, 2003 from here.  The Jake Walk Effect is from North Carolina Moonshine, as is The Jake Leg in Song  See also Paralysis In A Bottle (html) [more inside]
posted by y2karl on Oct 30, 2007 - 18 comments

Jackie Mittoo. Wayne McGhie and the Sounds Of Joy. Bob and Wisdom. The Mighty Pope. And many others. A free concert back in July and a series of reissues have begun to tell the story of the Toronto reggae, funk and soul scene of the 1950's, '60's and '70's.
posted by The Card Cheat on Dec 29, 2006 - 3 comments

Bob Marley's works enter the Grammy Hall Of Fame - including No Woman No Cry, Marley's tale of his time in the ghetto of Trench Town, Jamaica (photos)...Marley gave his friend Vincent Tata Ford writing credits, in part, to keep Ford's soup kitchen running...
posted by tpl1212 on Jan 20, 2005 - 17 comments

Jamaican Riddim Directory. Run it selecta! [audio]
posted by soundofsuburbia on Jul 28, 2003 - 10 comments