REVIEW: BLOOD SHANTI & THE SHANTI-ITES - Every Day/Hail Jah (Aba Shanti I)

"For everyday I give thanks and praise to Jah...and everyday you must give praise..."

Blood Shanti and The Shanti-Ites are a good roots outfit coming out of London, England with a unique kind of vibe to their music. One can almost staight away tell if it's a Shanti-Ites production due to the arrangements and the crisp sound they tend to make. This output is on their closely linked brethren Aba Shanti I's label, which is also Blood Shanti's brother, who like themselfs are actively spreading Jah words and teachings in sessions as well as on recordings. This is one out of two 12:inch vinyl releases featuring the Shanti-Ites which came out this summer of 2005.

Apperently Blood Shanti has called "Every Day" a lovers tune. It got that kind of laid back feel good vibe that certain lovers do but I wouldn't call it lovers myself. I rate this as a high quality rockaway roots tune. The whole vibe of the tune are spelled upliftment and livity. Blood Shanti sings out in joy of what he visions to see outside the gates of Zion. The multitude of colours that will be present among the 144.000 that will enter into the gates with praise. As the title somewhat tells us he also sings of the importance of giving thanks and praise unto the creator, every day. The rhyhtm track is a slow and heavy one drop with a seriously beautiful horn line contributed by the ever trust worthy Shanti-Ites. What's a joy to hear is that the horns gets their fair share of exposure in the tune as well and are not simply there to back up the singer in the chorus. There's also a hi-hat that's consistently marking out the backbeat which gives the track a ska kind of vibe although not being one. You must hear it yourself to grasp what I'm trying to explain.

Soundclip - Blood Shanti & The Shanti-Ites - Every Day

The dub version simply titled "Verse II" does its part as well by bringing the arrangements in the limelight. The guitar that you can slightly hear in the background in the vocal version are here getting its share of musical space as well as the horns doing theirs once more. The vocal drops in and out rightfully done in a dubwise manner to cause the most effective result.

The B-side gives us "Hail Jah" which is a one drop instrumental tune, mostly organ lead. There's a certain blip blop sound that comes and goes which annoyed me massively the first time around but after listening to the track a couple of times it all came to place. The dub counterpart is more stripped to the core leaving mostly the drum and bass to do its thing when not joined by the now more powerful guitar chops.

For every new release I hear from Aba Shanti I and Falasha Recordings I get more and more interested because there is always a progress within the music. The music sounds more dynamic and got more range to it now comparing to their earlier releases. Considering that "Every Day" is off Blood Shanti's forthcoming album gets me in a good mood since we then know he's due to make us more than satisfied with it.

/Jakob Levi 3/9-05

Read more about additional Aba Shanti I label releases HERE

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