What happened to Soul Shakedown Party?

After 12 years of doing Soul Shakedown Party, I was finding that certain aspects of it were starting to get stale. Not the music, just the format of the show and how I presented it. And so I decided that I didn't want Soul Shakedown Party to become a drag. It was time for a change.

I never imagined for a second that I would stop doing a program on CJSR. I just needed to figure out what would replace Soul Shakedown Party. I gave it a lot of thought and came up with a new concept: Bass Culture. This new program will not be drastically different than Soul Shakedown Party, but it will be different. Bass Culture will contain more dub and more modern reggae. The ska and rocksteady will be trimmed back and in their place I will explore the trippy realms of dub-based electronic music a little more. Bass Culture will definitely be anchored in the classic Jamaican reggae and dub sounds from the 1970s, but since there is so much dynamite new reggae out there, I feel compelled to play more of it. And so rather than feel sad about the end of Soul Shakedown Party, I am instead feeling enthusiastic about the beginning of Bass Culture.

In the 12 years that it was on CJSR, Soul Shakedown Party was a constant source of pride for me. The program was known around the world: it has been re-broadcast in Germany, Holland and Australia (and long before the days of MP3s). A pub in Bath, England would record my show on Monday nights and then replay it the following evening as part of their reggae night. Specials that I have produced on Lee Perry, Max Romeo, Mikey Dread, Dave Barker and The Selecter have all been heard and appreciated by those people. In short, Soul Shakedown Party has a nice legacy.

In the future, I hope to create an audio archive of some of the best Soul Shakedown Party episodes from over the years.

Thanks to everyone who has been a fan of the show over the last 12 years. It means a lot to me.

Mick Sleeper