Mixtape Mondays: Jazzcat, Dancehall Soldiers, DJ Jel

Words by DJ Arems

While the lucky few are in Miami ready to set sail on this year’s Welcome To Jamrock Cruise leaving today, the rest of us are headed to work as usual this Monday. Thankfully, Mixtape Mondays is right on time with some sweet reggae and dancehall music to help ease the woes.

Jazzcat, Kingdom of Dub: Jazzcat‘s Kingdom of Dub brings together a collection of some of the best reggae dub music out there with huge chunes from dub greats like Lee Scratch Perry, King Tubby, and Augustus Pablo, among many others. The echoing brass horns, deep lumbering bass lines and scratchy vinyl static on this mix soon become infectious and you’ll find it hard to deny just how great these finely selected tracks are. Turn this one up and put something in the air for the maximum effect. Stream below.

Dancehall Soldiers, Boom-Shack-A-Tack: Throwback mixes drop all the time and, if they contain those 10 usual songs you might here in the “reggae set” at a hip-hop night, they are easy to overlook. Boom-Shack-A-Tack is not one of those mixes. You’ll most likely remember every song in this compilation of golden-era reggae and dancehall but it’s almost guaranteed you haven’t heard any of these songs recently. With the perfect sprinkling of dubplates and sweet selection of fiyah tracks, Dancehall Soldiers will have you feeling nostalgic quick quick quick quick quick. Stream below.

DJ Jel, 2016 Dancehall Wrap Up: There’s still seven weeks left in the year for big chunes to drop but DJ Jel has narrowed down what’s already come out in 2016 and late 2015 to this refined package of certified boom bam bung. Strictly massive dancehall artists like Popcaan, Mavado, Charly Black and Vybz Kartel are featured and the music here is undeniable. If you were bussing a wine or slapping a wall to a new track this year it’s definitely somewhere on this mix — along with a few you may have missed. Sixty-three minutes of bere vibes. Stream below.