Impatient Registry
Words & meaning
Di Registry
The 50 words the lyric videos stop to explain: patois, sound-system talk, and the odd stray instrument. Each one is marked with the songs it turns up in, so you can jump straight there.
- abeng
the cow-horn trumpet of the Maroons - a borrowed voice older than the island's mastersentered in
- angst
dread, anxietyentered in
- Babylon
the system - the loud, glittering world of powerentered in
- block
the building - the flats on the street you grew up onentered in
- break
the drum solo every jungle track is cut from - six seconds the whole world borrowedentered in
- bredda
brotherentered in
- chat
to talk - the ancestors are speakingentered in
- chop
to cut a drum recording into pieces and rebuild it fasterentered in
- cyaan
can'tentered in
- duppy
a ghostentered in
- griot
a West African storyteller-musician, keeper of a people's historyentered in
- gyal
girlentered in
- koto
a Japanese long zither - here its notes are played backwardsentered in
- l'enfer
French for "hell"entered in
- lame
limping - "memory lame" is a lane with a limpentered in
- ledger
the band's book - every song gets entered, every debt gets countedentered in
the band's book - every song gets entered, and this is the last lineentered in
- lickle
littleentered in
- MC
the voice that hypes the crowd over the beatentered in
- melodica
a little keyboard you blow into - the sound of dubentered in
- nehva
neverentered in
- node
a point in a circuit where the current meetsentered in
- one drop
the reggae beat with the kick on the third beat only - one drop of drumentered in ,
- ragga
raggamuffin - Jamaican dancehall chat riding a jungle beatentered in
- rave
the all-night jungle warehouse partyentered in
- Reese
a growling, detuned jungle bassline - named after the record it came fromentered in
- registry
the band's ledger - every song ends with an entryentered in
- reverb tail
the last fading ring of a sound in a roomentered in
- riddim
the backing track a whole island sings over - passed hand to hand for decadesentered in
the instrumental track a song rides onentered in ,
- roll call
reading out the names to see who is still thereentered in
- sample
to lift a piece of someone else's recording into your ownentered in
- skank
the off-beat dance of ska & reggae - the chop on the "and"entered in
the off-beat guitar chop of ska and reggaeentered in
the off-beat chop dance of ska and reggaeentered in
- soon come
Jamaican for "any minute now" - which can mean neverentered in
- soundsystem
the stacked speakers + DJ crew a whole dance is built aroundentered in
- steppers
a driving, four-on-the-floor roots-reggae beatentered in
- sudno
Russian for "vessel" - a shipentered in
- thumb piano
kalimba / mbira - metal tines on a wooden box, played with the thumbsentered in
- tief
stealentered in
- ting
thingentered in
- toast
to chant/rap over a riddim, Jamaican styleentered in ,
- upstroke
the off-beat guitar chop of ska and reggaeentered in
- version
the dub B-side - the same song stripped to drum, bass and echoentered in
- walk good
go well - a Jamaican farewellentered in , ,
- weh
what - "weh granny hum" is "what granny hummed"entered in
- wheel up
"pull it back!" - the DJ restarts a tune the crowd lovesentered in
- whole heap
a whole lotentered in
- wine
to dance with rolling hipsentered in
- yaad
yard - homeentered in
- yah
hereentered in
- yah so
right hereentered in
- yout'
youth - a young manentered in
Not in the registry yet.
Two voices, one book
Impatient Registry is a sound system with a ledger. Every song closes with its outro line written into the book and stamped, and the album's last track is the long version, the way a Jamaican record ends.
