Tuesday, February 18, 2014

R.I.P. Wayne Smith




Recently I've been obsessed with Reggae that was produced at the beginning of the digital age. Enamored with those Casio beats, I've been researching many different riddims. In 1984, while working with King Jammy, Wayne Smith stumbled across a pattern in a Casio MT-40 home keyboard. In their capable hands, the pattern became 'Under Mi Sleng Teng', and wasa huge hit across Jamaican soundsystems, thus launching the digital dancehall revolution.

Today, Wayne Smith has passed away. His manipulation of the artistic 'accident' will not be forgotten. I can't get enough of it. This late 80's sound just continues to blow my mind. For the unfamiliar, I've cited some examples below:





Here's a latter version of the riddim by Cocoa Tea that happens to be my favorite:



And a killer 45 / 12" dj mix of digital riddims recently performed by Raime:

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