Riddim Shack brings together different styles of club and sound system music from Africa, the Caribbean and elsewhere. It's a party mix, starting at about 110 bpm and finishing off at almost 160, and it's done on Ableton Live. Some of the tunes are recent hits (such as Sarkodie's You Go Kill Me and the Stylo G relick of D'Banj's Oliver Twist), while others came out a few years ago now. It blends a bunch of different rhythms: Zouglou (originating from Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire), Azonto (from Ghana), Bouyon (roughly speaking, Dominica's take on soca) alongside productions from London and Kingston JA, and of course Montreal's Poirier, whose digital carnival is represented here by tunes with Cape Town's EJ Von Lyrik and Panama's MC Zulu.
(Download here.)
Approximate tracklist:
Cecile - Step Aside
Arthur Mafokate - Oyi Oyi
Busy Signal - Jafrican Ting
Busy Signal - Bare Gal
Sarkodie ft. EL - You Go Kill Me
Aboutou Roots - La Blessure
Dolomite - African Oil
Poirier ft. Zulu - Gyal Secret Pictures
Fade 2 / Mas Ka Kle - Lese Yo Pale
Stylo G - More Ganja
KES the Band - Ah Ting
So Shifty ft. Natalie Storm and Ward 21 - Clap
Pacific - Sounkraya
Richie D - What's Going On
Petit Denis - Securite
Soum Bill - Gneze
Ruff and Reddy - Mize Re Re
First Serenade - Tough
Poirier ft. EJ Von Lyrik- Bring It On
At some point I might try to develop this into a longer write-up. That's not going to happen right now, so in the meantime curious readers can take a look at this interview with Sarkodie from a couple of months back and (for francophones) a long article by Yacouba Konaté from Cahiers d'études africaines on Zouglou.
Thanks to those who were instrumental in helping me pick up some of this stuff: Gabriel Heatwave, Leo Zhao, Hugo Mendez, Franklyn Lockhart. Big up.
