Niney the Observer

• Genre: Dub
• Hometown: Kingston

About

His style can be as calming and relaxing as a Caribbean paradise, or it can inspire dread and paranoia with cavernous echoes and insect-like percussion riding over bass-heavy tracks. Winston "Niney" Holness often worked with Lee "Scratch" Perry in Kingston, and the two have developed similar styles. Cascading echoes cover his vocal introductions, before top session musicians get the Niney treatment -- he has a nearly magical understanding of the mixing board. He produced some of reggae's most popular singers, including Horace Andy, and Dennis Brown. "Blood and Fire" is a roots classic, musically commandeering your brainwaves while sending a raw, righteous message that made all of Jamaica listen up in the 1970s. One of Dub's greatest proponents.

- Jessy Terry