Veteran superstar Mykal Rose of Black Uhuru is set to propel his iconic vocal style into the future in a new collaboration with NYC’s Subatomic Sound System. Their debut live performance will be March 26, 2022 headlining the 11th Annual Spring Break Reggae Festival in Florida (click for info & tickets). While heavy on bass and drums for the new millennium, they will also preserve the roots and foundation of reggae with horns and percussion as exemplified in Subatomic’s decade long tenure as a hybrid live and electronic band backing dub reggae pioneer Lee “Scratch” Perry. Winner of the first ever reggae Grammy back in 1985, Mykal Rose’s style has resonated across generations of reggae. Mykal’s latest single “The Weed”, a collaboration with Vybz Kartel, debuted in February 2022 at #1 in Jamaica.
For over 45 years, Michael Rose has been recording and performing his brand of militant, hardcore Jamaican music to the delight of reggae fans around the world. He achieved superstar status during his tenure with Black Uhuru 1977-1984, leading the reggae super group powered by Sly & Robbie to win the first reggae Grammy. He has since released 22 solo albums, continued to tour tour the world non-stop. He has collaborated on hits with reggae artists across generation including Damian Marley, Dennis Brown, Alborosie, Big Youth, The Wailers, Gregory Isaacs, Sly and Robbie, and many more. As a solo artist, with Black Uhuru, and back as a solo artist, the “Ruff” Rose has achieved great success throughout his career, even as different Jamaican musical styles have phased in and out of popularity.
NYC’s Subatomic Sound System has been on a 2 decade mission forging a future foundation style built on the bass heavy, spacious soundscapes, and live improvisational remixing of classic 1970s Jamaican dub and conscious reggae music in the context of electronic music. Using the latest technology, they pioneered a unique performance style that blurs the lines between DJing and a live band. These efforts gained the attention of dub and reggae pioneer Lee “Scratch” Perry, the genius producer and song writer behind Bob Marley, who for a decade employed Subatomic Sound as his go to band for re-inventing his Black Ark Studio sound live on stage. Subatomic is spearheaded by producer, DJ, and multi-instrumentalist Emch, who arranges and manipulates both prerecorded music instruments and effects with the live musicians to create a real time musical dialogue. The core live musicians include Jamaican percussion legend and Black Ark veteran Larry McDonald (Peter Tosh, Skatalites, Gil Scot Heron) and Troy Shaka Simms (Brooklyn Gypsies, Mobius Collective) on sax. In the past decades, Subatomic has toured as live band, sound system, or selector across the USA, Canada, UK, Europe, MIddle East, Russia, India, and Mexico including appearances at France’s Telerama Dub Festival, Coachella, Hungary’s Ozora Featival, Dubai’s SoleDXB, and opening for Julian Marley’s US tour.
