Techy Tiki

>> The mango slang and tekno klang of Tikiman

by RAF KATIGBAK

Dance music culture owes its left nut to Jamaica. Remixes, MCing and even two-deck mixing were pioneered by the sound system culture there back in the ’50s. The sounds and studio techniques established by Jamaican dub producers in the ’60s are still widely used throughout the entire spectrum of electronic music, from downtempo to house to drum & bass.

It’s hard to find a better example of the sonic collision between advanced electronics and old-school island sensibilities than the Burial Mix 10” vinyl releases on Berlin’s Basic Channel label. In a brief conversation, as simple and spiritual as much as it was slightly convoluted, Dominican-born Tikiman, whose sweet soulful voice floats over the dubwise, mini-tech production of Rhythm & Sound on the first five Burial Mix 10”s, was more than happy to speak patois about his destiny, music and mangoes.

Mirror: How did you hook up with Rhythm and Sound?

Tikiman: Jah send that come. Jah send that come. Jah works, y’know? We meeting not in falseful or thing, it just happen. True we did end in the same land and had the same mind fi work, and see if man can work together. We never did work too much when we hook up with them, we hook up with them differently. Yo.

M: So what’s up with Germans and reggae, anyway?

T: Reggae is a music that everybody likes, y’know, it’s a universal music, it’s all coming together ’cause that’s what it tis. It’s human. Over the years we have different music, like computer music, but if you check pon the real ting when you listen, sometimes you check. The reggae is organic, you know? It’s nice to the ears.

M: What about the harder, ruffneck dancehall style?

T: You have many different mango trees and different kinds of mango in the same mango drive, y’see? Both electronic and organic sounds have emerged good, but you have to find the right balance. :

With Basic Channel duo Scion, Deadbeat and the Mole at SAT on Friday, May 10, 9pm, $20