From Kingston to New Wave: The Art of Versions
Smalts on a mission
The Smalts musical history resonates from classic new wave, reggae, electronic and avant-garde nostalgia.
Smalts echo’s 70s roots in the modern 20s epoch. We amplify a retro vibe for musicians and fans in todays eara.
We mount our soul search and connect the dots that influenced our repertoire, starting with the golden era of new wave. In persuit we shine a light on vintage synthesizers, as grandfathers of our modern studio equipment. We saw electronics evolve since we made music with computers long before the PC and MIDI where born. Who made music with computers in 1982? Oh yes, we did!
We are convinced that the present gains from the past, where youngsters start to reuse bits and pieces from older electronic pioneers and instrumentalists. As Smalts musicians we master an array of instruments. And we multiply acoustics with bits and bytes.
We are not Goofys that lean on success from the past. No thank you. Instead, today, we know exactly how to pick out the finest 1000 plugins for any DAW, and that is more exciting than meditating on the old days. Once in the frontline, always in the frontline.
We add spice to our own repertoire and we mentor musical students. We apply Old Style to Modern Integration.
Soul Fire with Modern Integration
Ás former bandmembers of the Ultra group Minny Pops, we where very comfortable entering the realm of sythesizerpioneers like Throbbing Gristle, Tuxedomoon, Cabaret Voltaire and Kraftwerk. The heavy stuff.
But, as the musical electronic revolution started in 1980, we emerged in a new approach on playing and recording traditional instruments. We where hooked to the pioneering work of Robert Fripp and Brian Eno with a guitar, Revox recorders and guitar effect pedals: Frippertronics.
At th end of the 70s, reggae turned the musical- and political world upside down. The vidid, never heard approach of emulated American rhythm and blues, inspired musicians all over the world to take a sip of that rhytmic feel. On top of that Jamaican artists excelled in sound production.
Drum intelligence from Jeff Procaro and Simon Phillips was fused with groovy Jamaican expressions from Leroy ‘Horsemouth’ Wallace and Carlton Barrett.
Jamaican fire also induced daily life in England. West Indian immigrants and Punks threw burning matches in the gunpowder barrel of Margret Thatcher.
Punk and New Wave
Punk was Reggae’s stephbrother. They loved each other in music and in fighting conservative oppressors, alhough Rasta’s thought “op” in that word sounded too much like “up”, so they introduced “downpressors”. “We’re going to smash their brains in, coz they ain’t got nothing in em” was carved in Linton Kwesi Johson’s records without any hesitation. England was on fire in the 1980’s.
Smalts bandmembers founded record stores and bought import records from The Upsetters, Big Youh, I-Roy, The Heptones, Black Uhuru, Roots Radics, The Clash, The Gang of Four, Throbbing Gristle, Kraftwerk, Brian Eno, The Buzzcocks, Wire, The Residents, and a ton of bands that embarked a new eclectic spirit.
“Down” was also an ingredient for the upcomming new wave music. Encompassing pop-oriented styles from the 1970s and 1980s, new wave was considered a lighter and more melodic broadening of punk culture. Google’s suggestion to todays question is : “New wave?” : “Looking for depressing new wave songs from the 80s?”
On that bumpy crossroad our musical carreer started. We played on stage with bands that influenced our soul and sound. We shook hands with heroes. Joy Division with Ian Curtis, Siouxie and the Banshees with Robert ‘The Cure’ Smith, Depeche Mode with Daniel ’the Normal’ ‘Mute Records’ Miller, Fad ‘Frank Tovey’ Gadget and obscure electronic pioneers like Suicide.
Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry
We patricipated in hijacking Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry to the Netherlands in 1979, just months after he set fire on his Jamaican studio.
Recording the album “The Return of Pipecock Jackson” was an attempt to setup a new Dutch Black Ark studio. It failed miserably because of his bizarre and erratic behavior.
Scratch was always missing in action in Amsterdam, gone with the compay creditcard. He loved trams, and was rescued many times at endpoints, left alone in the carriage with luxury bags, not knowing where he was and telling tramdrivers he lived in Jamaica. In the pre-mobile phone eara, no one knew where he was, and he was orbitting outer space.
Everybody all over the world was fascinated by Perry’s sound. We listend to his endless stories and spells on Jamaican artists, and we sung, screamed and shouted his song “Soul Fire” a thousand times like a mantra. Remarkably this is a bubbling- and steaming Upsetter reggae song with an Electro Harmonix rhythmbox.
The dubmasters adventures in Amsterdam
The dubmaster loved driving, and was baffled by the luxory of a cassette playing his albums in our car. He loved singing and smoking big splifs while being hypnotized by white stipes on the Dutch highways. Scratch had to process stuff. When reflective, he spoke loving words with puppy eyes: “I wish you a happy life“. Scratch looked in that mirror, and returned to his crazy reality. We made buttons with “Hijack earth with Pipecock Jackson“, but we should have added a ? since he was living on the edge.
“Soul Fire, And we ain’t got no water. Akikiboemboemboem“. It was a running gag, day in day out on the cassetteplayer, singing and smoking, just months after he burned down his worldfamous Black Ark studio. It was therapy. Scratch was on top of the world, but he was fragile. One step forward, two steps backward, War inna Babylon. We where inspired by a musical God.
Do the Smalts Version
We funnel our historical content to themes that interests Smalts musicians most: The Jamaican Foundation , The Technical Bridge , The London Connection , The Synthesizer Revolution, Music Theory and Modern Integration.
For example, in a strategy to version our own music, we re-recorded a powerful track from a previous Smalts album, reimagining it through a lens of pioneers that inspired us.
Like those pioneers, we bridge scenes and styles.
Re-recording our song “Mijn Geest Staat Als Met Röntgenstralen” was guided by an Oublique Strategy card from Brian Eno, which suggested to look what happend in (music) history on that same day.
On that day (of our re-recording) in 1977 (2 years before we hijacked Perry) ‘Police & Thieves’ started its journey from Kingston to London’s punk clubs. Junior Murvin and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry created the original at Black Ark Studios, crafting that haunting falsetto over Perry’s innovative production.
Within months, The Clash would record their raw version in London, marking one of the first reggae-punk crossovers.
The magic? Same song, different vibes. Perry used his 4-track recorder to create deep layers of echo and reverb, while The Clash stripped it down to punk urgency. Both versions spoke truth about police brutality, just through different musical dialects.
So, we made a reggae Version of our “Röntgenstralen” and matched Sly Dunbars Upsetter drums with a classic groove from Steve Gadd.
The similarity in character of Lee Perry and the poet of “Röntgenstralen” Louis Lehman is remarkable. Brilliant minds with a chaotic life.
