Monday, May 8, 2017

Raging Fyah

One Liner: Reggae roots rock good times
Wikipedia Genre: Reggae
Spotify Says Similar To: Kabaka Pyramid and Jesse Royal (of course...)
Home: Kingston, Jamaica

Poster Position: 17
Slot: ?

Thoughts:  I picked them to be one of my first reviews simply because their name is money.  At first I thought it was a typo until I thought harder about how it would sound spoken out loud. FIIYAAHH! Like Marky Mark telling the other people on board the Deepwater Horizon that they should jump into the wudder to avaaad the fiyyyah.  These cats were nominated for a Grammy in 2016 for best reggae album (2016's Everlasting).  Honestly, after a run through these tunes, this is legit.  Very chilled, happy mood reggae.  The most listened-to track is called "Judgment Day," from the 2015 album of the same name, with 533k streams.
You know, when you think of reggae music, that is the stuff, right there.  He mentioned rebels, he mentioned roots rock reggae music, he mentioned heaven.  Check all the right boxes, now let's fire up a Louisville Slugger sized spliff and chill.  It can get cheezy, as all reggae can, such as on the sax-flowing "Ready for Love" (also from 2016's Everlasting) but then you get bailed out by the title track of that album, which is a perfectly constructed, horn-laced, synth-bounced, nappy-dreaded ode to Jah's love.
"You can feel it in yer bones, my friend!"  That is the goods, right there.  JAH LOVE!  And "Raggamuffin" just made me want to jump up and dance.  So this is the real deal stuff, even if it veers into the caricature of reggae.  I could have moved on to the next band a while ago, but I like it.

Recommend?  Yes.

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