Various - Greenbeat music presents: New Age Roots-The Movement

The Greenbeat family are produced by Mackadub, who has worked with Dr Alimantado, Shaka, Twinkle Brothers and Mad Professor. On vocals are Teacher, ex Capital Letters vocalist (famous for "Smoking my Ganja" Greensleeves 12") and Umojah who hails from St Anne's, Jamaica.

It's a collection of heavy and meditative roots vocals, but with an edge of soul fullness, subtlety and inventiveness, not simply made up of overpowering and cold programmed beats.

The opening track is a hypnotic wash of sound, centred round a mantra chant of "harmonic vibrations...Love...Truth and Wisdom...Life" from Mackadub himself. It sets the vibe for the tunes to come.

"Someone" from Umojah is an impassioned chant for an end to violence and ignorance, backed by dissolving snare beats, echo and a fluid bass pattern. "Someone has to break the chain, someone has to break away" from the hate.

"These Days" from Sister Dan is a beautifully sung Biblical chant: "forget the negative vibes and keep what's positive alive, fittest must survive, can't you see sufferation is rising?"

"Sun Rise" by Nemiah is surreal and beautiful in its love of the natural world:

"Sun rise in the morning, elating my mind, and the beauty of nature is calling me from the depths of my dream. It elates me consciously! I see the beauty of life in front of me, the spirit of life is all I feel in my soul, from the depths of the earth .Now I call unto the spirit."

Again the song weaves its power with heavy bass and exploding snares, but never overpowers the listener through brute force or cold digital beats.

"Blood on the Stone" has a weird early Dub Syndicate vibe to it: "Blood on the stone tells its own story: While the children cry, the fire burns and takes away life. Why shoot at the innocent and take away my dreams? Some say we fight about religion, but how can something so mystical be so wrong? While mothers cry, the blood on the stone tells its own story. Why do you want to destroy the beauty of this world? Why do you want to kill in the name of God? God is beautiful: Love is beautiful."

Heartfelt and direct; reality music with no pretence or subterfuge. Nemiah's tune deserves to be heard, and is surely of more value than countless other soulless and materially preoccupied formulaic musical forms.

Sammy Gold's "Poverty" is meditation on the waste of a life spent without a fair chance, without the opportunity to lift yourself out of the struggle of daily survival, the sheer mundanity of being poor.

This is a fine, heartfelt collection of heavy tunes: Emotionally heavy as well as bass heavy. No cheap cliché and hackneyed posturing on this record. This is tough and uplifting reality music. Support it. It deserves it in every way.

Good music seen? Enough to raise your soul from depression, lift up your conscience and give you strength to deal with the mundane struggle of reality.

Available from Mackadub at http://www.greenbeatmusic.co.uk/


Reviewed by Greg Whitfield