PODCASTBATTLE | 4 big sounds ina one big yard

4 big sounds ina Firehouse CLASH
10 rounds of head to head reggae sounds clash
Each week, four tracks are entered, one is named winner of the round.

The compilation you’re looking at right now is a twenty-five year project in the making. Okay, that’s not quite true, it was more like three months, but it is in some sense the product of a quarter century-long friendship between four people who have shared a passion for reggae since junior high school. Howard, Brad, Scott, and I originally hail from Central Florida. Like many North Americans, we were exposed first through BMW, the great Jimmy Cliff, and the Clash. Intrigued by what we heard, we began seeking out other reggae artists and their records where we could find them. Soon we became regulars at a local club, Negril Palms, where a phenomenal outfit, New Breed, was the house band. Luckily no one seemed to care that we were under-age. We also came to know a number of local Caribbean migrants to Central Florida, many of whom had come as H2 workers to harvest citrus. Among them was the deeply religious Kabrasta Negasta, a dread who lived in a little red, gold and green house (dubbed the Judah Seal Museum); dressed only in military khaki (like Selassie, he told us); and openly smoked and sold his sacrament (for which he spent too much time in the dungeon). We spent many hours in the company of Kab and his Idren, where oily sticks of incense burned; the chalice bubbled; dreads came and went; the cops occasionally paid a call; and the heaviest (what Kab called “orthodox”) rhythms pounded out of giant speakers – think of Hugh Mundell’s “Western Kingston Style.” For us, this immersion in race, class, and cultural difference cast a spell on us like nothing else in our high school years. Our collective love of Jamaican music shaped how we saw the world, what we thought mattered, and how much bass is required for music to be listenable. We are now scattered across the globe, from Florida to Connecticut, and from Oregon to Mozambique, but are all still as hooked as we ever were. The idea for the podcastbattle was Howard’s, whose vision emerged out of the desire to find some way for us all to share the music we all have continued to explore. Adding the competitive element insured that our old obsessions would kick in, sending each of us in panicked searches through cds, vinyl and old cassettes to find the track that would rule the sound clash each week. Here is the result. We hope you enjoy it.
Style	Brad	Howard	Joe	Scott
10 wild card	Aswad Natural Progression read the blurb	Wailing Souls Mr. Fire Coal Man read the blurb	Toots & the Maytals Pomp and Pride read the blurb	Stephen Marley Someone to Love read the blurb
9 Wild Card	Tiken Jah Fakoly Delivrance read the blurb	The Wailers Lively Up Yourself read the blurb	Gregory Isaacs Mr. Cop read the blurb	LKJ Sonnys Lettah read the blurb
8 Wild Card	Gregory Isaacs Confirmed Reservation read the blurb	Ini Kamoze General read the blurb	Damien Marley Welcome to Jamrock read the blurb	The Ethiopians Everything Crash read the blurb
7 Wild Card [part 2]		Culture Work on Natty read the blurb	Michael Smith Picture or Picture read the blurb
7 Wild Card	Culture Marcus read the blurb	Joe Higgs There's a Reward read the blurb	Desmond Dekker Fu Manchu read the blurb	Jimmy Cliff Wahjahka Man read the blurb
6 Dub	Dub Syndicate Hey Geoff read the blurb	The Clash Justice Tonight / Kick it Over read the blurb	Augustus Pablo Rockers Dub read the blurb	Dub Syndicate Night Train read the blurb
5 DJ (part 3) radio	Bobby Culture & Nicodemus Going Home read the blurb	Buro Banton Boom Wa Dis read the blurb	Big Youth S 90 Skank read the blurb	Michigan & Smiley Blackness Awareness read the blurb
5 DJ (part 2)	Gunslinger The Buzz Feeling read the blurb	Asher Senator Asher in Court read the blurb	Sister Carol A No Me Name Peggy read the blurb	U-Roy Natty Rebel read the blurb
5 DJ (part 1)	Major Danger Danger Gwan read the blurb	Early B Take Out Your Bible read the blurb	Big Youth Lion's Den read the blurb	Dillinger CB200 read the blurb
4 dancehall	Anthony B, Raid the Barn read the blurb	Barrington Levy Under Me Sensi read the blurb	Sugar Minott Herbman Hustling read the blurb	Tenor Saw Ring De Alarm read the blurb
3 roots	Rocky Dawuni Fadaland read the blurb	The Skulls Black Slavery Days read the blurb	The Congos Fisherman read the blurb	Max Romeo Uptown Babies read the blurb
2 rockers	The Gladiators Bongo Red read the blurb	The Gladiators Pocket Money read the blurb	Horace Andy Skylarking read the blurb	Dr Alimantado Marcus Garvey School read the blurb
1 orthodox	The Abyssinians Satta Massagana read the blurb	Hugh Mundell Lets All Unite read the blurb	Delroy Wilson Addis Ababa read the blurb	Fred Locks Black Star Liners read the blurb