My Soul, Your Eyes: Like I need a needle in my arm...

My Soul, Your Eyes: Like I need a needle in my arm...: "As a man of eclectic artistic taste, particularly as regards my music, I can safely assert never having been able to stay focused on any particular genre for more than a few weeks or months. Under-stimulated and over-curious, I find myself constantly searching not for the next big thing, or even for any specific thing, but for powerful and moving art generally. When it comes to my music, I seek words and sounds that resonate; I seek music that doesn’t just touch the ears or mind, but that penetrates to the soul and leaves an impression. Needless to say, 'moving' doesn’t take just one form, and profundity can be found in a myriad of places. However, the unfortunate thing about my particular inclination is that art, even the most sublime sights and sounds, can only resonate so much before being dulled by the passage of time – this is why I can never have a favourite genre or any one genre to which I consistently listen. The message invariably loses power, the sound becomes repetitive, I grow accustomed and unappreciative, and I forget the feeling I experienced when I first heard the piece.

But now I can safely say I’ve found something different, something that breaks that cycle and that has devilishly left me fiending for more. The reason: what I’ve termed ‘genre-dub’ (so called, because while the genre may change – reggae, jazz, rock, the Jamaican dub element is fundamental and pervasive). Perhaps because I’m Jamaican, and intelligent local music that whispers directly in my ear has been rare; perhaps because the sounds and messages of genre-dub are distinct from the majority of music being broadcast today; perhaps because of some teenage fascination with the music that I developed and never quite outgrew… perhaps because of nothing articulable at all, I have been recently and thoroughly captivated by the sounds of genre-dub. In essence, the music has hit and I’ve felt no pain, save for when the record stops spinning and the needle is lifted from my arm.

Though neither a new genre, nor one to which I am a stranger (I’ve been captivated by Protoje’s lyrical witticism, Cezar’s inspirational messages and Tessanne Chin’s powerful vocals, all with uniquely Jamaican sounds, for years), the recent proliferation in mainstream media of the infectious neo-genre that is genre-dub, and its subsequently heightened availability, has left me feeling like a child at Christmas. I eagerly sample from this smorgasbord, chasing musical high after musical high, with the vague understanding that tomorrow looms on the horizon, but hoping the treats I acquire today will serve for a long time to come.

Thus, in spite of what anyone else may say or feel, and regardless of how long or how well genre-dub thrives, at least for me, genre-dub has been and will remain one of the most powerful and endearing forms of art I have yet witnessed. So to the artistes I’ve been bringing from back in the day – Protoje, Cezar, Tessanne Chin – and to the artistes by whom I’ve recently been impressed and captivated – EvaFlow, Jah9, Jason Worton – let the musical lion paw gwaan crawb up di ting. ‘J.A.’ needs to ‘KEEP ON’ having an ‘INFLOW’ (and outpouring) of ‘MESSENGER’s to issue ‘WARNING’s and wake-up calls to the mundane, complacent and inane. To these artistes and others, keep making that good… great, music!

“In the question of creation, you are greater than the noun. Be the verb, the action word that put the power to the soun’, ‘Cause you could burn dis to di groun’…” – Jah9 

“J.A…. Tell dem seh no matter what a talk, an’ no matter what a spark, yow a ya suh a mi heart” - Protoje"