The visceral melodic pulse heard in the bass playing of Aston “Family Man” Barrett, who died on February 3, is most closely associated with anchoring the messages and providing the sonic heartbeat within Bob Marley’s music. In 1970, Family Man and his brother, drummer Carlton “Carly” Barrett, began playing with …
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Religiosity isn’t a particularly good look lately, at least as it’s being performed by politicians. Artists, though — especially one the caliber of Jamaica’s Samory-Tour Frazer, a.k.a. Samory I — can still conjure the unifying power, beauty and healing that religion sometimes brings. Samory made this clear on Black Gold, …
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Attorneys for numerous artists from Luis Fonsi and Anitta to Pitbull and Karol G are responding to a lawsuit that claims that hundreds of reggaeton songs infringed the copyright of one reggae track from 1989. They want the lawsuit tossed. The original case, filed by Jamaican duo Steely & Clevie …
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The musical impact of The Harder They Come, Perry Henzell’s 1972 film about an aspiring reggae singer who becomes an outlaw and anti-hero, can’t be understated. At the time, few outside of Jamaica had ever heard of the likes of Bob Marley, but The Harder They Come —starring Jimmy Cliff …
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Spoon’s Britt Daniel has always loved gadgets, held a soft spot for studio wizardry. And it’s these tendencies that have helped keep the Austin indie-rock outfit so intriguing and inventive over the last two-and-a-half decades. But for Spoon’s tenth album, Lucifer on the Sofa, Daniel wanted to do away with …
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Jamaican artist Skillibeng is looking to breathe new life into dancehall. He recently caught the attention of Nicki Minaj, who remixed his song “Crocodile Teeth” on her recent reissue of Beam Me Up Scotty. Now, the 25-year-old joins Rolling Stone for an episode of On Your Radar. “By the beat …
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