Touch Up Riddim – Various Soca Artists

Three vocal cuts and an instrumental make Touch Up Riddim feel more like a compact Carnival tool than a sprawling compilation, with Sanell Dempster’s “Touch Meh Up, ” the Ms Alysha and Michelle Sylvester pairing on “Jouvert Jam, ” and Ejo’s “Bring Out De Wine” carrying the energy. The music sits right in that late-2000s soca pocket: bright, fast, and built for road movement, with the titles alone giving away the waistline business at the center of it. “Jouvert Jam” is the obvious hook here, but the whole set keeps its focus on jump-up momentum rather than studio polish, and the closing instrumental lets the riddim itself do the talking once the vocals clear out.