Toppa Top 10: The Best Caribbean Albums of 2014

Words by LargeUp Crew

As the way people listen to music continues to change, and an entire generation of new listeners grows up knowing nothing but customizable playlists, making great albums is increasingly written off as a lost art. This is particularly true in genres like soca and dancehall, where the emphasis has always been on making singles as opposed to longform LPs. Great artists, however, know that nothing cements a legacy quite like an classic full-length album that envelops you from start to finish. A small handful of these came out of the Caribbean this year, and a few solid runners-up worthy of consideration.

Here’s our picks for the best albums from across the reggae/dub/dancehall/soca/reggaeton spectrum in 2014.

*Albums are presented in Soundcloud streams where available, and Spotify streams in all other cases (Users must have Spotify account to play).

10. Jah Vinci – Ghetto Born

Jah Vinci’s smart, slept-on debut LP touches on just about everything happening in Jamaican music of late with its mix of throwback dancehall, EDM-infused tracks and conscious, roots reggae. The diverse mix of beats and heavyweight guest appearances from Beenie Man and Junior Reid never weigh the project down: Instead, the former Portmore Empire member’s versatility demands your attention. Ghetto Born is an album that feels deeply rooted in Jamaica, but has enough worldliness and crossover appeal to play all over. —Saxon Baird

9. Farruko—Presents Los Menores

Reggaeton isn’t dead. It’s just that its insistence on the Dembow rhythm, which made it immediately recognizable—and, for many, prohibitively monotonous—is. With Dembow running its course, reggaeton artists and producers have been pulling from other templates, including other classic early ’90s dancehall rhythms, like Bam Bam and Tonight. (Dembow is based on a rhythm, produced by Bobby Digital and built by Steely and Clevie, used in Shabba Ranks’ 1990 single “Dem Bow”).

On his fourth LP, Los Menores, Puerto Rico’s Farruko—like a dancehall singjay (or Drake), he’s proficient in both singing and rapping— works with a variety of production styles (including straight-ahead hip-hop) but the best tracks have a dancehall slant. “Estas Pa Mi,” a remake of Wayne Wonder’s “The Saddest Day” features a cameo from Wayne Wonder and production from Jamaican dancehall impresario RVSSIAN. “Passion Whine,” a RVSSIAN-produced mashup of dancehall, reggaeton and pop featuring Sean Paul, was one of the biggest singles on Urban Latin radio this year. Jamaica is making its presence felt in Latin music once more, and Los Menores is a great exhibit.  —Jesse Serwer

8. Kalbata and Mixmonster – Congo Beat the Drum

Two Tel Aviv-based techno producers who share a love for King Tubby dub recorded this all-analog affair strictly using techniques utilized in Jamaica during the ’70s and early ‘80s. The result is a mesmorizing LP that captures that golden era of Jamaican music near perfectly with bass-laden dub, steamy roots reggae and fiery dancehall offerings from Echo Minott, Major Mackerel, Little John, and one of the very last recordings from the late Prince Jazzbo. The record’s genius, though, is how it still maintains a modern feel, never sounding like a rigorous imitation, despite its efforts to rehash the past. —Saxon Baird

7. Midnite I-Grade – Beauty For Ashes/Ride Tru

The partnership between Midnite and I-Grade Records has given us enough works to at this point to be considered a reggae treasure. This year the Virgin Islands’ best reggae band and its most influential label collaborated on two albums: Beauty for Ashes, recently named iTunes Reggae Album of the Year, and the just-released Ride Tru. Each is distinctive. Within Beauty for Ashes there is an inspirational and uplifting thread, songs of human resiliency and faith like “Same Boat We,” “Weather The Storm” and the title track. Ride Tru has a more militant vibe throughout, with some different rhyme flexes we haven’t heard from Vaughn. Then you have a song like “Credited,” which highlights true roots reality, and Midnite’s close ties to the Virgin Islands community with its lyrical references to figures like the USVI RasTafari elder, Bashan. While these words might go unnoticed by many listeners, for those that know they are indicative of the unique vibe Midnite brings to reggae. —Kaya.lah

6. Bunji Garlin – Differentology

It’s always been difficult to compare Bunji Garlin with anyone else on the soca circuit. His technical lyricism and taste for progressive and innovative instrumentals have gone against the grain of the genre, while cementing his place as a staple artist in the field. The first soca album to be released through a major label in a decade, Differentology reflects Garlin’s evolution as an artist as well as his unrelenting loyalty to his own vision and aesthetic.

This collection, which includes hits “Carnival Tabanca,” “Red Light District” and the title track, runs the gamut of high-energy revelry to enchanting and nostalgic melodies. With appearances by hip-hop star A$AP Ferg, and a couple of remixes thrown in, this LP is more than a seasonal treat but a document with relevance that goes beyond Carnival, a significant feat for a soca Album. It showcases Garlin’s ability to really hone in on the essence of West Indian culture and put forth music with timeless appeal capable of resonating both regionally and internationally. —Maj Johnson

5. Chronixx – Dread and Terrible EP

Following a breakout year in 2013, Chronixx kept the fire blazing in 2014, steadily gaining new international fans on top of his already loyal Caribbean following. This 10-song offering was the first commercially packaged collection of tunes from the young artist, and was anchored by previous year’s hit “Here Comes Trouble” (which he performed with the Zincfence Redemption band on The Tonight Show in an exciting TV debut). Standouts from the slackness-free EP included the health-conscious “Spirulina,” defiant “Capture Land,” throwback “Rastaman Wheel Out” (which inspired a short film-like music video) and the clean-hearted “Like A Whistle.” A highlight of the year for us here at LargeUp came as Chronixx performed most of his catalog, including each of the EP’s songs, for an ecstatic overflow crowd (including Mick Jagger) at our Central Park SummerStage event in July. —Kieran Meadows

4. Pressure Busspipe – The Sound

Pressure’s first collaborative album with I-Grade Records (and first of two albums this year— see also September’s Africa Redemption) brought everything we hoped it would: super high-quality modern roots reggae, with fresh sounding live instrumentation and a strong message in the lyrics. The Virgin Islands Tourist board even found something to like as well, with what has become the new VI anthem, “Virgin Islands Nice.” Other standout cuts included “Show Love,” “Run Away,” “Stand Firm,” “Serious About It,” and “The Rain.” It was a big year for I Grade, which also put out the previously acknowledged Midnite albums, Beauty for Ashes and Ride Tru. We were lucky to get a taste of all of this quality music when Pressure and I Grade general Tippy I stopped by our LargeUp Sessions radio show in the spring for a live dub performance. —Kieran Meadows

3. Hollie Cook – Twice

We’ve been spreading the gospel of Hollie Cook since 2011, when we named her self-titled debut album our Album of the Year. The London-bred singer took several steps forward in 2014, most notably with the release of her second album, Twice, which we premiered here back in June. Filling out her highly-personal lovers rock sound with string arrangements and a sonic aesthetic befitting the album’s Tiki/B-movie inspired art (thanks to producer Prince Fatty and contributors including Dennis Bovell), Twice is a seductive and enveloping listen that plays strongly from start to finish. It’s no wonder that, after years of rave reviews in Europe, U.S. audiences are finally catching on to Hollie. She just wrapped her highly successful debut US tour, and is already headed back for more in 2015, a year that promises to bring nothing but big things for this star in the making. —Jesse Serwer

2. Popcaan – Where I Come From

As we’ve noted here before, great dancehall albums that you can play from front to back, over and over, don’t come around often. All told, there’s not more than a dozen or two. Popcaan‘s Where We Come From is the latest addition to this exclusive list, and the strongest full-length from a dancehall act since Vybz Kartel’s Kingston Story. That the same executive producer and record label, Dre Skull of Mixpak Records, is behind both is no coincidence: It often takes an outsider to visualize the bigger picture that great albums require, and Dre is one of few outsiders who’s invested in dancehall in a meaningful way respected by its artists.

It’s Popcaan that makes Where We Come From great, though. Easily the best new dancehall artist to emerge in the last five years, he delivers on the promise of his early singles by upping his conscious lyrics and embracing a humble, everyman persona sorely missing in a genre where egos too often have gotten out of control. The 12-track release isn’t perfect, but it’s consistently good and it’s also successful in that pragmatic way that dancehall requires—it’s produced several hits, including the lead single “Everything Nice,” “Love Yuh Bad,” and the title track, each of which was made expressly for the album (an anomaly in dancehall, where LPs usually collect previously released singles). With its forward-looking production and universal lyrics, Where We Come From stands to sound fresh and current for years to come. —Jesse Serwer

1. Tarrus Riley – Love Situation

The push within Jamaican music during the last few years has been towards a return to the island’s musical glory days. Partly a response to the excesses of dancehall’s last decade (Kartel, Tommy Lee) and partly the same thing happening in every other arena of music, this impulse has found expression in any number of retro-styled singles (Aidonia’s “80s Dancehall Style”), albums (Mr. Vegas’ Sweet Jamaica) and fashion statements (the return of the mesh marina), and elevated an entire musical movement (the success of the so-called reggae revival is due in no small part to its artists’ timely embrace of retro styles). While it’s perhaps true that Jamaican music was better in these idealized eras (roughly the late 1960s through the mid ’90s), the pitfall to all of this has been a lack of forward movement, as trend-chasing artists blindly reach for the past without keeping an eye to the future.

Love Situation, the fourth, and easily best, LP from singer Tarrus Riley, is the album that finally gets it all right, and it will hopefully establish a template for other artists to follow. Musically, the 17-track LP, produced by Shane Brown, is firmly rooted in the past, dipping heavily into Jamaica’s brief but influential rocksteady era, even riffing on the early American R&B that inspired that movement first place (See the doo-wop melodies of “1-2-3 I Love You”). While the music might come from the past, Tarrus is firmly in the present on Love Situation. The album showcases a vocalist at the peak of his game doing what it is that he does—in Tarrus’ case making great love songs and break-up ballads.

That Riley is the artist who happened onto the formula for a modern, vintage-styled reggae album is not an accident. As anyone who regularly attends reggae concerts and festivals knows, Tarrus and his Blak Soil Family band have one of the tightest shows in the business. Led by veteran producer and saxophonist Dean Fraser, Tarrus shows are a well-oiled machine, and that machine is the engine on Love Situation, as well. Unlike other efforts by present-day reggae artists’ efforts to revisit the past, no outside intervention was required: Playing here are the same core of musicians Tarrus spends the bulk of his year with. Credit must also be given to Brown, expanding upon the back-to-basics vision he’s laid out with productions like Busy Signal’s Reggae Music Again. The result is an album full of rocksteady re-licks and vintage vibes that feels fresh and new, and nothing like karaoke. —Jesse Serwer

+1: Mr. Williamz, Set the Standard

London’s most underrated dancehall ambassador tops our list of “honorebel” mentions with his Curtis Lynch-produced debut album full of top-flight deejaying and throwback riddims.

Jesse Royal Royally Speaking
Our mixtape of the year is not quite an album but just as long, and just as good.

Major Lazer Apocalypse Now EP

A holdover between Free the Universe and next year’s new albums spawned some big singles.

Martei Korley Kingston Konfidential EP

LargeUp’s visual bossman brings forth a big lovers rock sound.

Mr. Vegas, Reggae Euphoria

A solid effort as always from one of reggae and dancehall’s most consistent artists.