When I first heard reggae music I was in college at a party and someone had the album:
"The Harder They Come" a sound track from a movie of the same name. It starred Jimmy Cliff.
Everybody danced. That album was played all night.
In 2021, the album was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry.
I recently spent some time on the Hawaiian islands visiting friends. The islands and reggae go hand in hand. There’s a style of island reggae that has a bit of a different feel to it than the Jamaican sound. Now there’s a bunch of young talent, from all over the country actually, feeding that more island inspired sound.. Slightly Stoopid, The Green, SOJA, Monument, Rebelution… just to name a few. There’s been one act that I’ve heard over the years on one of my Pandora stations that really caught my ear while I was on vacation… Stick Figure. Doing a little deeper dive it turns out it’s one guy, Scott Woodruff, that can play all the needed instruments, can write great catchy songs, and has a home studio and skills to use it. The guy has turned out 7 albums with a few having made critical acclaim within the world of reggae music. Charting #1on Billboard’s reggae charts. I’ve spent the past two weeks diving into his catalog finding modern reggae gems along the way. He’s really found a way to blend ‘today’ into a ‘yesterday’ genre of music. His production quality on the last couple albums has gone through the roof. They’re soundscapes. Great with headphones.
It’s almost that time of year for open windows, active patios, warm sunshine, and cold beers… burn some tree and crank some new music.
This is a really beautifully soundscapes track. It falls on the outer edges of reggae, leaning closer to todays downtempo EDM with vocal tracking. It’s great headphone material.
I could post a ton more of what I consider great tunes by this guy. Hope you find some of it to your liking.
