Posted by: leeway | May 17th, 2012
Are you looking for the richly creative and brain sizzling sound of early reggae's ganja-fueled birth? Well, you can look to the past for it, or you can grab a nugget of some of this new strain.
10 Ft. Ganja Plant's approach to creating reggae music is one that's inspired by the greats who made the genre a world-wide phenomenon. Who is 10 Ft. Ganja Plant? Their roots are imbedded in John Brown Body's family tree, but that's about the only thing that's obvious from album to album. The rest is a smoke clouded mystery, and so the music is (as it should be) all that really matters with this collective.
Can you think of many other bands that don't paste their names prominently inside the packaging of the albums they produce? There's nothing wrong with letting everyone know that you've created an album and letting them know your name, but think about how much must be right with a band that is willing to create but take no personal credit for this note, that instrument, this lyric, and so forth. Humbleness is a rare trait in life, and it's sometimes a sign that a person/group is worth checking out.
With track names framed around themes of martial arts films from the 70s and 80s, this album plays out like an auditory attack on the stagnancy that has blanketed the commercialized reggae game. Chucking guitars and wailing organs always set my mood just right, and 10 Deadly Shots: Vol. II if full of that joyous spirit. An album at the top of its field, this is a pure and unassuming music, simply created for the sake of loving reggae and forwarding its inspired legacy.
- - Jeremy Sanchez
