Burial Mix
Since the project'sinauguration,their sincere and passionate devotion to roots reggae hasyielded a slew of exciting and highly sought-after 10" records, thebulk of which were subsequently compiled on 1998's Showcase and 2003's astounding pair of classics With The Artists and The Versions.While the "digital" dub sound has exploded into a feverish trend amongelitist music geeks and wannabe techno-rastas, the duo managed to stayahead of the gaggle of poseurs by undertaking a massive and ongoingreissue campaign of the Bronx-based Wackies Records catalog, and yetanother imprint dubbed Basic Replay for the purpose of putting lostgems back into print. These latter efforts have afforded them atremendous amount of credibility and well-deserved respect from thetoasters they've now exposed to entirely new audiences, whichundoubtedly explains how Rhythm & Sound manage to acquire suchimpressive singers for their releases. See Mi Yah, a collectionof 11 tracks culled from their recent box set of 7" records, challengesand delights with a strong roster of vocal veterans and lesser knowntalents. The same spacey rhythm, with little variation, appears onevery song, making for an occasionally tedious listen. Thankfully, theparticipants each contribute their own stylistic flairs, from theharmonic riffing and freestyle spoken word of Koki on "Rise And Praise"to Bobbo Shanti's infectious sing-song approach on "Poor People MustWork." The legendary Sugar Minott gives a stellar and memorableperformance on "Love Is The Answer," smoothly lamenting the painfullysad state of our war-torn world while simultaneously calling for apositive personal and collective uprising in the spirit of humansalvation. Frequent Rhythm & Sound collaborator Paul St. Hilaire,perhaps best known as Tikiman, comfortably settles into the penultimate"Free For All," a lyrically simplistic yet pleasantly repetitiousgroover. The album closes with a much-desired instrumental "version" ofthe "See Mi Yah" rhythm, leaving room for new performers to make theirmark with it in Jamaican dancehalls and bedroom studios alike.samples:
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