First of all, we appreciate people who have strutted on here, regardless where the wind has been blowin’ (probably from me babbling on facebook). I personally want to thank you for disregarding these major (MAJOR) gaps in between posts, when there’s so much going on IRL. If some of you have eavesdropped on my facebook page hearing me shutting this site down, obviously there are reasons for it: not being able to keep a steady posting frequency, the lack of Best Kept Secret live productions, and this hard-beating plush hammer called the “economy”. Sigh, the current state of it all loses the credential of “real blogging” (whatever that means), and rather slowly becoming an archive of mixes and semi-eclectic compilations. Honestly, I’d rather want it that way. In any case, if you’re here for the music regardless of below-standard blogging practices, cheers to you! Upwards, and onwards as they say…

So speaking of imminent death, there was in no way we were going to dismiss a legend in the reggae community. Sadly here in Los Angeles, a great musician by the name of Lincoln Barrington “Sugar” Minott, died at a tender age of 54, Sunday July 10, 2010. His voice and the productions behind him launched a thousand dancehalls, along with a spectacular skill to write original lyrics, he was a triple-threatening creative force even under the dim times between 1979 and 1984. It makes sense that certain economic conditions can influence a musical movement especially when the early ’80s was financially-crap, world economics still suffered. Its effects trickled down to deejays in the J.A. to use more of the same records using versions and b-sides, and in combination of picking up the mic more often resulted in deejays dominating live situations (hello hip-hop). Yadda-yadda, dancehall was born. I’ll also spare a biography since he has been written up over and over again, even to a point where critics are disputing certain facts minutes after his passing. On top of being a musical innovator through deejaying, toasting, and putting a new genre on the musical map, he sang sweet and powerful lyrics (hence the name, “Sugar”) and launched several labels with productions under him that brought forth OTHER brilliant artists. We’ll just have to drop names to keep this short: AFRICAN BROTHERS, YOUTH PROMOTION, BLACK ROOTS, JAH STITCH, JUNIOR REID, RANKING JOE, RANKING DREAD is one of many musical rocks that set their own weight. And to cap it off, I chose my own personal top-5 Sugar tunes, some of them being:

Quick apologies for the long in-between posts. I will reciprocate with musical love to the internet massive. One thing, there’s no such thing as ‘Dubday’. Although it’d be nice won’t it? People walking around humming and throwing a few licks into the air with their portable samplers and guitars. Instead of using verbal conversations, people would communicate with echoed out horns, piano licks, and Augustus Pablo-stylee melodica riffs. How awesome would that be?

So today is sunday (October 25th_10/25, 2009), and later this afternoon from 2pm to 7pm at 1836 East 4th St in Long Beach, Dj Fraze and I will be hosting our generic-named event called Reggae Sundays at The Pike. Generic only in name, but not in sound, which is the opposite if I may add. We think it’s important to keep it generic in that sense, because there’s so many different genres within reggae itself, that we can’t keep it tied down with a specific language. But I did title today’s blog post-promo with “Dubday”, because we’ve created a Top-5 selection podcast of classic reggae-dub music. Without further delay, (sorry I’m a bit chatty), here are some essential tunes from the producers in popular reggae-dub: (click for more track information)

It’s that time again in the LBC, at a little place called “The Pike”. We will not confuse that venue, for the tired-tourist area in the southside of Long Beach waiting to collect your money from greedy valet services.

We will point you to the OTHER Pike, the one that tries to live the spirit of the ORIGINAL Pike, by reminding each and every one of us that PBR is good, Sailor Jerry tattoos are awesome, and vintage SKA is good for sundays. Philip P. aka Selector Fraze, will be on the decks from 2pm-7pm today, so join us with some skanking goodness. If you’re around the north O.C. and Southbay areas, come around, chug a pound, and make love to tunes that are neat & dandy, sweet as candy.


View Larger Map

Download the tunes below to get a feel of what the vibe is like.

More info on the artists in this podcast: Desmond Dekker, Toots & The Maytals, The Specials, The English Beat

Mash up di town!

I’ve been wanting to do this not-so-heavy tribute for Mr. Isaacs “The Cool Ruler”, because he was not able to show up at the Hollywood Bowl’s annual Reggae Night festival this year due to sickness. Sometimes we have to recognize how hard it is to work as a musician, but even worse as a reggae musician, that they don’t necessarily get the same financial benefits as the American kind, know what I mean? That being said, Gregory Isaacs had been around for a LONG time, and to see him perform at this age has to be commendable, at least. In honor of the people who wanted to see and hear him play at the Bowl, I’ve compiled some B-sides of his to fill in that “missing gap”. If you’re a fan, I’m sure you already have his greatest hits, so why bother to post the tried-and-true? This is the man who practically created the ‘Lover’s Rock’ genre, and some of you love birds wouldn’t have been able to whisper sweet nothings to each other without his tunes playing in the background. The transition he’s gone through over the years has been amazing, literally not having skipped a beat…until now. Hence, the tribute. Cheers.

You can find some of these tunes on Mr. Isaacs’ 1998 compilation release, “Sinner Man” on Recall Records.

- CLO

Once again its on: Vintage Reggae Sundays at The Pike Bar & Grill with selector Fraze, myself, and one hundred of your closest friends. I also kinda apologize for the misinformation that I’ve been spreading by word of mouth that it wasn’t happening today (sunday), but it is still indeed happening (today and every other sunday). So that being said, if you haven’t been, consider this your primer in ska & rocksteady. For The West’s Kept Secret crowd, GET.READY.TO.ROCK.STEADY ’cause you’ve been drenched in ‘core and classic hip-hop every other wednesday, right? For the veterans, you know where to go.

I realize it is the Sea Breeze festival today at the other Pike, too. But when you get tired of all the bumboclot and counter-oppression slack-filled lyrics, come on down after, or before, whatever.

The Pike Bar & Grill @ 1836 E 4th St, Long Beach, CA‎. 2pm-7pm, no cover.

View Larger Map

Click through for more info.

Just a quick reminder:

By internet blogging standards and ethics, we should not theoretically exist, because sites who don’t update their content often enough are banished into blogger purgatory. Its the stage where no one really knows what’s going on, and asking if you’re either going up or down, staying here, or staying there…pick a choice buddy. Sorry, I can’t really give you a clear answer. But hey, no love lost to the people. Low energy don’t mean killed energy, and nevertheless, the energy is still there. We just don’t use these promotional tools well enough like some people. Its all that gosh darn technology y’all kids are messin’ about. Them tweeters, and them spacebooks, them makes me teeth’rs fall out. Makes a brotha feel old even though he’s only 28 years young. I mean, we do only spin real records, which makes us old anyway…(click more for more dumb-ass ranting)

Just got back from a trip to the East Coast to make a quick celebration, and when I say quick, it was QUICK. So quick, that I barely had time to rummage through VP Records’ finest vinyl selections. I kid you not, that I only had 15 minutes to bust in, flip through the stacks, chatty-chatted with the owner and bust the hell out, in order to make my flight back to L.A. The consequences of missing a flight is NO JOKE. But besides on missing flights, you also shouldn’t be missing out on some new 2009 tunes. Yes, it’s been a while since the last post, but we haven’t forgotten about you folks, and hopefully this 12-minute mix can rekindle our long lost flame from our Best Kept Secret.

To make this a double-header smasher, we not only provide you this VP Records exclusive mix free of charge, but to also announce that we will be starting up a new monthly spot at Culver City’s dark & dirty secret bar, CARBON. It will be on the 1st wednesdays of every month starting this April 1st, creating a slightly different format than the usual Best Kept Secret. We will definitely drop more info on it soon enough, but for now take heed of some Lover’s Rock stylii conjured by New York’s finest.

Expand for tracklisting >

This may be a little late to post as a ‘New Year Mix’, but hey, its never too late for FREE, quality music. So trying to come off right in the new year, and to spread positivity around (because we all need it), we here at the Best Kept Sound present you hot-off-the-vinyl-presses of 7″ dancehall madness with a U.K. stylee (Nice up England, and especially cats in Brixton, Brighton, Leeds, Newcastle Upon Tyne, and South London who are always pushing it). 

This track list consists of a short evolution of reggae artists from the mid-1980s downright to late 2008 (hence the New Wave reference). It almost has a seamless transition when the melodies, guitar riffs, and basslines from today’s artists are really looking deeper into the past (ie. Jackie Mittoo’s Evening Time riddim), adding a phatter & fuller sound from today’s complex machines, sounding less digital and more analog along with softer, Lover’s-Rock-like lyrics complimenting with a dash of fast-chat machine-gun-grit. 

Tracklist:

1. Tony Tuff - Deliver Me @ 0:00:00
2. Spiritual & Alborosie - Marathon @ 1:48:09
3. Mr Vegas - Must Come A Road @ 4:27:64
4. Nylon Version @ 7:16:18
5. Richie Spice - Serious Girl @ 8:18:41
6. Morgan Heritage - In love With You @ 9:58:68
7. Taurus Riley - Start A New @ 11:44:34
8. Fall In Love Version @ 13:26:29
9. George Nooks - Hey Girl @ 14:09:59
10. Anthony B, Ken Booth, Mr Vegas - When I Fall In Love @ 16:00:71
11. Delly Ranks & Fiona - Close To You @ 18:40:33
12. Gyptian - This Love @ 20:34:69
13. Frankie Paul - Draw Out @ 21:29:00
14. Jr X - Change Dem Heart @ 22:29:72
15. Asher - Rise @ 23:41:31
16. Beres Hammond - Feel Good @ 25:14:49
17. Peter Huningale - This Is Life @ 27:19:40

 

 Nu Wave To Nu Skool [30:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (54)