Diplo – Riddimentary: Diplo selects Greensleeves

Greensleeves is something of a one-off amongst reggae specialists. Its colleagues prefer to gaze backwards, hunting for gems from an ever-diminishing reserve of prime cuts from reggae’s 1970’s creative peak. The London-based Greensleeves, meanwhile, keeps both peepers open for what’s happening on the Kingston scene right now in order to bring wider attention to the most thrilling contemporary riddims pumped out by Jamaica’s heroically hyper-productive music industry.

All of which gives super-hip producer/DJ Thomas “Diplo” Pentz plenty of alluring raw material for the construction of this mix. With interests ranging from hip hop to Brazilian baile funk and all rhythm-orientated points in between, it was only a matter of time before Diplo ventured into reggae, various aspects – dub’s echo chamber explorations for dance music/electronica, the imaginative ramblings of DJ ‘toasting’ for MCs, an unswerving emphasis on the pulsating beats for hip hop – of which have provided the basic points of reference for many genres that strive to stay funky above all else.

At first, Diplo’s decision to hone in on a specific era of reggae history on Riddimentary comes as a bit of a letdown. After all, the 80s Dancehall scene – the point where Jamaican music went digital – has already been documented on numerous occasions, most recently by Soul Jazz’s two exemplary Dancehall comps, whereas modern-day Jamaican music tends to get overlooked, with genuine classics buried underneath piles of rump-shaking monotony, rife for freshness-chasing DJs ala Diplo to discover and celebrate.

But as the liner notes point out, this is the stuff that got Diplo into reggae, and only an incredibly picky listener would argue against the riches contained here. Ranging from Babylon-battering rhetoric (John Holt’s fierce ‘Police In Helicopter’) to smooth lovers rock (JC Lodge’s ‘Telephone Love’), and taking in a handful of bona fide classics (‘Night Nurse’ – surely one of the best-known reggae cuts this side of Bob Marley – by the late Gregory Isaacs, Abyssinians’ immortal ‘Satta Massa Gana’, albeit a Joe Gibbs-tweaked dub thereof), brilliantly atmospheric dub cuts (most notably Alpha & Omega’s ‘Who Is The Ruler’), a sly critique of those not on first hand terms with smoking etiquette (Tristan Palma’s ‘Joker Smoker’) and a few displays of the verbal dexterity of reggae DJs courtesy of the legendary likes of Eek-A-Mouse and Prince Far-I along the way, it’s a diverse mix welded together by a seasoned DJ’s understanding of momentum and timing.

Confident you can tell your U-Roy from your I-Roy? Only just venturing beyond the best-known reggae references? Either way, Riddimentary will offer some serious thrills.