Easy Star Records
Easy Star Records is an American independent record label founded in 1996. Based in New York City, the label primarily produces and releases albums in the genres of reggae and dub.
The label has had multiple albums chart at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Reggae Albums chart, including Easy Star's Lonely Hearts Dub Band, two albums by The Green, and Vines by Passafire, who signed to the label in 2013. In 2014, the label released albums by Rebelution, Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad, Backbeat Soundsystem, New Kingston, and The Expanders, whose June 2015 album Hustling Culture debuted at No. 1 on the Top Reggae Albums chart. Since 2015, the label has released albums by London-based quartet The Skints, Jamaican vocalists Jesse Royal and Protoje, among others. Falling Into Place by Rebelution and A Matter Of Time by Protoje, released via Easy Star Records, each received Grammy Award nominations for Best Reggae Album in 2016 and 2018 respectively. The label also manages bands such as the Easy Star All-Stars, a touring and recording musical collective, and has worked with artists outside the reggae genre such as Citizen Cope, Corey Harris, Janelle Monáe, Jason Mraz, Kelly Clarkson, and Yoko Ono.
History
Easy Star Records was founded in 1996 by friends Michael Goldwasser, Eric Smith, Lem Oppenheimer and Remy Gerstein, in New York City.Despite coming from various backgrounds and interests, the founders shared a love for live dancehall and Jamaican reggae.
As depicted by United Reggae, the founders "felt there was a place for roots reggae made with live musicians and analog equipment, like it had been back in the 70’s and early 80’s". The inspiration for the label's name came from the "Jamaican patois salutation, ‘Easy, Star,’ as in 'Take it easy, Star.'"
At the time, Goldwasser was working as a musician, while Oppenheimer, a DJ, had recently moved to New York after graduating from Oberlin College in Ohio. Eric Smith, a native New Yorker, studied political science and sociology at SUNY Albany, while maintaining his interest in live reggae and vinyl. He was also working as a news assistant on The New York Times’ Metro desk.
Without any previous experience; Eric, Lem, Michael, and Remy gathered most of their savings -equating to about $5,000 per person, to start Easy Star Records. Eric states, "We had to start from scratch, but we methodically learned everything we could. We focused on the challenges at hand, rather than becoming overwhelmed by the scope of starting a business.”
In 1997 Lem Oppenheimer moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, but stayed connected with the label, serving as an executive from a distance.
Founding Easy Star All-Stars
Michael Goldwasser, already a musician in the New York City reggae scene, brought together a number of musicians to work on original music that he had been working on. Goldwasser stated, "We wanted to be an original Jamaican reggae label, although not run by Jamaicans."The label shortly started working with artists and producers with unreleased material mostly from the 1970s and 1980s and began reissuing tracks as well. The New York reggae and dub collective, Easy Star All-Stars, was then formed by the label co-founders in 1997. With a rotating roster of musicians, the band originally functioned as a studio band for the label's earliest recordings, however only beginning to tour in 2003. Early on, the Easy Star All-Stars would play around New York City backing up Jamaican artists, including Sugar Minott and Johnny Osbourne. The band also put on tribute shows to artists such as Augustus Pablo, Dennis Brown, and Jackie Mittoo. To note, not all of the co-founders were musically involved in the band; Oppenheimer, for example, remained VP of the label and not a touring member.
Michael Goldwasser serves as the group's original composer and "unofficial creative director," playing various instruments on their releases and writing the adaptations before the band goes on tour.
1997–2002: Easy Star Records' Early releases
Easy Star Records released several singles on 7" vinyl, including "Time Has Come," the first single by Ossie Dellimore, in 1997. Dellimore, a roots reggae singer based in Brooklyn, performed locally for several years before recording with the Easy Star All-Stars.After 1997, the label ceased releasing singles, instead focusing on EPs and LPs. In January 1998, Easy Star Records released its first compilation, Easy Star Volume One, which included covers by the Easy Star All-Stars and guest performers such as MC Trouble, Rob Symeonn, Gary Pine, Sister Carol, Sluggy Ranks, Ranking Joe, The Meditations, and Sugar Minott.
Among the songs were Dellimore's previous single, "Time Has Come," and other singles the label already released on 7".
AllMusic called the album an "exceptionally good collection of reggae singles...Although all of the tracks benefit from state-of-the-art production technology, the singing and playing are all reminiscent of the late '70s and early '80s, the period when Rastafarian-themed roots reggae was ceding ground to the slicker and more secular dancehall styles." Also giving it 4/5 stars with a positive review.
Regarding the album's production, "The prime mover behind this album is producer Michael G, who provides all the rhythms and a virtuosic touch at the mixing board."
1999–2002
On February 9, 1999, Easy Star Records came out with Ghetto Knowledge by The Meditations, a reggae vocal harmony group from Jamaica and the second release on the label. AllMusic describes Ghetto Knowledge as "a match made in heaven: the Meditations, a roots harmony trio that has maintained the same style and lineup since the early 1970s, and Easy Star Records, a label devoted to releasing modern roots reggae that partakes of the spirit and flavor of reggae's classical period while taking advantage of 21st century recording technology."Almost nine months later, the label released Sugar Minott's compilation album, Hidden Treasures Vol. 1.
In 2000, the label started releasing 7" vinyl again, with over ten singles alone in that year by artists including singer Luciano, Jamaican deejays Anthony B and Triston Palma, and The Meditations. The label also released three full-length albums that year, with the first being the March reissue of Ghetto-ology, a 1979 album by singer and producer Sugar Minott. In October of that year, the label released Sugar Minott's compilation, Hidden Treasures Vol. 2, followed in November by Jamaican deejay Tristan Palma's album, Two Roads.
In February 2001, the label saw the release of All I Have Is Love; a compilation album and the label's seventh release. The original album included artist record remakes of classic Studio One songs produced by Sister Carol. It was received positively by critics such as Stephen Cook of AllMusic, who called it "successful look back at the music before the digital hegemony of dancehall and ragga."
In August 2001, Sugar Minott released Rare Gems, his second release on Easy Star Records. Want Some Freedom by The African Brothers was then released in September 2001, with only two albums released in 2002: Easy Star Vol. 2 Dancehall Culture, and the compilation album Can't Stop Us Now.
2003: Dub Side of the Moon
Several years after Can't Stop Us Now, the label released one album annually. On February 18, 2003, the Easy Star All-Stars released Dub Side of the Moon, a reggae reinterpretation of Pink Floyd's classic The Dark Side of the Moon. Dollarman, Corey Harris, Frankie Paul, The Meditations, and Ranking Joe were among the performers. The Easy Star All-Stars "hit the ground running in 2003 with the Pink Floyd tribute Dub Side Of The Moon, ...followed that up with regular three-year installments: first came Radiodread, a spacious tip of the hat to Radiohead's OK Computer, before Easy Star's Lonely Hearts Dub Band and Easy Star's Thrillah – a Jamaican-infused take on Michael Jackson's world sales-record album. AllMusic gave 'Dub Side of the Moon a positive review, stating "dub's psychedelic mysticism is a perfectly good match for Pink Floyd's mannered weirdness." Dub Side of the Moon stayed on the Billboard Reggae Chart for several years after its release in 2003.After its release. there was "a great demand for live renditions of the album all over the world," and the label put together a touring group which has been on the road since 2003.
The Easy Star All-Stars were also coined as the trendsetter for cover albums taking off; the Independent states, "The concept only began to take off in the early Noughties, thanks partly to the genius of New York-based reggae outfit The Easy Star All Stars, who have recorded some of the most accomplished and inspired cover albums."
Despite the frequent pop song covers, Easy Star co-founder and executive producer Eric Smith has stated "There is a lot of suffering and pain in reggae. It's a struggler's, it's a sufferer's music. The casual fan sees reggae as a summer, spring-break-type music, and that's really far from what it's about. We like some of the darker areas of reggae, and one of our concerns with combining , was we'd have a really, really dark album on our hands."