Wiki
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Release Date
18 October 2005
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Length
10 tracks
“Refreshingly urgent and transcendent…rarely has a reggae group ever appeared so accomplished in mixing orthodox roots reggae with modern dub creation.” —The Beat
Who is 10 Ft. Ganja Plant? They are a dub & roots reggae band shrouded in mystery. They hail from the great Northeast and are rumored to share members with another great reggae group, John Brown’s Body. Their shows are rarely announced or promoted. In fact, like a yeti sighting, they seldom occur. Anyone who has seen them live, or owns one of their albums, can attest to the fact that no other band has captured the 70’s spirit quite like this crew, that 10 Ft. may be the best roots group in America.
Bass Chalice is 10 Ft. Ganja Plant’s third release on ROIR. Their first, entitled Hillside Airstrip, and second, Midnight Landing, were both uniformly hailed by the music press. This time around, things are a bit different. First off, 10 Ft. Ganja Plant will be touring! Before this, the only chance anyone had to see them live was at an impromptu show, usually in the Boston area. There have only been a handful of these gigs and their frenzied, sweaty nature has left audiences clamoring for more. In early 2006, they will get it—10 Ft. Ganja Plant’s first ever tour!
Beyond this, Bass Chalice sees 10 Ft. stripping away a bit of the mystery surrounding the band’s lineup and actually letting us disclose a very special guest appearance by the legendary ‘70s Jamaican vocal reggae group The Meditations! Their first two albums, Message from the Meditations and Wake Up are downright, stone-cold reggae classics that must be heard. On Bass Chalice they grace “To Each” with a spellbinding vocal performance!
The Meditations are a fitting addition to the album because Bass Chalice, at its heart, is inspired by the recording processes of the great Jamaican studio bands of the 70's (and their American counterparts at Motown and Stax) where a song was typically written, learned, and recorded live in a single session, with no regrets, and no apologies. Add to this ethos some dubwise studio mastery and experimentation and you begin to get the picture. This is good news for a genre that seems to be gathering steam in recent months. Apart from big releases on ROIR by Dub Trio, Bush Chemists & Dr. Israel, other bands have been making their mark on stages around the country: Matisyahu, Future Pigeon, Dub Nomads, Dub Gabriel, Dub As A Weapon, Jah Division, and (on a different level) Damian “Junior Gong” Marley. Dub & roots reggae is more popular than ever and the 10 Ft. Ganja Plant army is poised to make a big, smoky impression.
Beyond Hillside Airstrip & Midnight Landing, 10 Ft Ganja Plant has released limited edition vinyl 45’s, and a classic CD on their own I-Town imprint titled 10 Ft. Ganja Plant Presents. They are well known to those “in the know” and to the ever-growing clan of JBB concertgoers.
Besides can you think of a better band name than 10 Ft. Ganja Plant? I think not.
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