Greetings,

Here’s a typical day of musical absorption in the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives

• Wake ‘n’ Bake: That time from when the alarm rings til the daily hunt for your car keys: Babylon Central Soudtrack (ESL). Thievery Corporation movie about crate digging, Middle Eastern girlfriends, and peak oil conspiracy theories. Truly, 3 of my favorite things. Listening Apparatus:  Sony CD boom box.

• Morning Ride:  From the garage to the parking lot. Generation X Anthology Box Set; CD 3 (Live). Found this on Record Store Day last Saturday. Would you believe I will be playing Billy Idol on Smile Jamaica this Saturday? Yes indeed I am! Listening Apparatus: Factory Subaru CD desk powered by Kenwood Amp and 10″ 800W Subwoofer. I’m that guy in the parking lot you hear before you see him scream around the corner

• Ipod Playlist: From the Parking Lot to the Office. Because until I get about 3 cups in me, I really don’t want to talk to anyone.  Aswad – New Chapter (CBS). UK Roots Reggae group whose name means “black” in Arabic/Amharic. Listening Apparatus: iPhone 4*. Red, Green and Gold Skull Candy Headphones. I must have deep set ears because only the Skull Candy’s (Park City, Utah!) stay put in my ears.

*I am not giving in to Apple’s “creative obsolescence” scam. I’m happy with the 4.

• Itunes Harvest: Since I’m moving out of 420 Cannabis Service Month, I have been harvesting a lot of my recent Soundtrack finds:  Black Girl (BGP). An Ossie Davis film, a really solid funk, soul and jazz melange. Found this at a great indie shop for soul, electronic and collector labels called Mecca Records in Jah-buquerque

Jim Jarmusch is a guy who puts the same amount of selecting and sequencing in his soundtracks as he does in his films. He isn’t content to slap a Kenny Loggins song on a CD and sell it for $19.99 instead of $18.99 like most Soundtracks. Broken Flowers. Deadpan Bill Murray surrounded by some great Ethiopian jazz rock, Holly Golightly, Dengue Fever. Great little Friday afternoon mix in a state that doesn’t allow for Happy Hour

Listening Apparatus: Imac CD drive

Smile Jamaica Active Listening

Got home late and didn’t have much time before watching the Giants vs. Padres. After work is when I really rinse out music for potential airplay on Smile Jamaica

3 10″s:

Vinyl is Vital rhymes withs Ital 10″ as opposed to 12″. Many of the new dub and lots of Roots Reggae reissues are on the smaller vinyl. Saves precious 1/6 of the petroleum goop that is pressed into the sleek and beautiful black wax.

Although I still prefer the 12″ single. Larger separation of bass from the treble with one song on a side at 45 RPM.  Bass is meant to drill into your groin region to keep you on the dance floor with your best gal. The more you dance the more you drink the more they wanna play the bass.

• Christie Adelsi – Babylon Shores (King Earthquake)
• Molara ft. Dubble – Crown of Creation b/w Dubble – South Side Dub (Dub Tunnel)
• Earl Sixteen – We Need Justic (Jah Bless)

3 heavy Militant Steppers recent vintage, a sub genre of Mutant Dub. Militant Steppers is the trance like martial sound. Stiff dubble time beats. Relentless bass, space echo, spongy riddims. More contemporary than King Tubby or Lee Perry. Dance melodic with more Rasta lyrics than the more mellow Downtro; with great female vox from Christine and Molara. The Dub Tunnel B-side is a scorching dub instrumental. Love this sound at maximum volume You have to feel the bass, live it, let it pound the sound around the room.

The best thing about the 10″ is that it is extended. 3 minutes of vocal and four minutes of dub echo. Bass bliss.

Smile Jamaica’s Commandment One of “Dub Consumption” clip 10 sec

 Listening Apparatus: Kenwood turntable; Onkyo Amp, Klipsch speakers, Yamaha YST Subwoofer.

To listen to Reggae and Dub you must hook your system to a subwoofer. If you have surround sound for your TV you probably already have one connected.

Listening to Reggae and Dub without one is like 2-D versus 3-D. Air Supply versus Ted Nugent. Urkel versus Superfly. Candidate Obama versus President Obama. Don’t be weak sauce!

Bass Necessity (5 sec)

bless, robt