Wok Gal Hard Riddim – Various Artists

Wok Gal Hard Riddim keeps things tight rather than overstuffed, and that’s part of its charm: just two vocal cuts and a version, letting the groove do the heavy lifting. Faze’s Live My Life opens the set with a straight-ahead dancehall stance, while Kari Jess follows with Bun Weed Tune, a more pointed singjay turn that gives the riddim its personality. Released in 2008, the project sits right in that era when bashment was leaning hard on clipped drums and a bassline built for late-night pull-ups. The sequence is telling too, with the version left for last, the way a producer clearly expected selectors to ride the instrumental after the vocals had done their job.