There was a time when reggae music, like all music in its formative years, had a fixed location, namely Jamaica. And, like all genres in the modern age, as it has moved away from its heartland, it has changed, evolved and found itself infused with associated sounds and like-minded genres as creatives seek to keep things moving forward and abreast of current tastes, as cultural sounds and ideas clash and collide and compliment and complete one another. Rockers Galore make music at the cutting edge of that exploratory tip, and their debut album, Vamos a La Playa could justifiably tagged as “what reggae did next.”
While reggae forms a very important and obvious sonic cornerstone of their work, as is always the case, the other infusions, influences, and inspirations that go into the mix are key to the band’s signature sound.
Right from the off, “Celebration Life” shows this in action. It vibes with the sunkissed sonics of the reggae realms but also runs on a lilting Latin beat and blends more traditional vocal styles with deft and dexterous rap salvos. This, then, is music forging ahead into pastures new.
“Roots Rock Reggae” reminds me, as an Englishman of a certain age, of the allegiances made between the disenfranchised young punks and the Jamaican youths of the late seventies. That blend of angsty rock and resonant dub, punk energy, and reggae spice that came together to form the all-important two-tone scene.
My first encounter with the band was with the delicious recent single “Sweet Sensei,” the sound of the sound system and the studio coming together in a brilliant counterpoint. And if the heady and heavenly “Troddin Out of Babylon” reminds us of reggae music’s love of mythology and history, storytelling and religious text, its second appearance as a dub-soaked, trippy slice of resonant roots is the sound of blues parties and inner-city carnivals the world over.
This is reggae 2.0—the sound of reggae leaving its island home and rocking up on foreign shores, meeting and mingling with the sonic denizens of these new worlds. And just as it found a new home and new form in the cities of the UK’s West Midlands all those years ago, now it has found equally fertile soil in the creative community of Philadelphia thanks to Rockers Galore.
Vamos a la Playa album
Spotify
Sweet Sensei ft. Talia Morris & Timi Dread
Bandcamp
Spotify
