Chaka Demus & Pliers: "Murder She Wrote"

"But the rhythm track of Chaka Demus & Pliers' "Murder She Wrote" is so distinctive that the opposite is true, its music somehow seeming to exist outside of time even as the Jamaican dancehall hit became a global phenomenon. The beat of "Murder She Wrote"-often called the "Bam Bam" riddim, after another Pliers tune sung on the same backing track-flows so naturally that it bypasses muscle memory and goes straight to the brain's pleasure centers."

"As anyone who's attempted to tap it out can attest, the snare seems to fall on every beat except the one you're currently focused on, leaving the track anchored, in defiance of gravity, by atmospheric shakers and and the layered guitarwork of Dunbar's Taxi Gang collaborator Lloyd "Gitsy" Willis: one layer an urgent Morse code pulse of rhythm guitar, the other a five-note ostinato worthy of a psychedelic cumbia."

Sly Dunbar died at 73. He played the serpentine, hypnotic "Bam Bam" riddim that underpins Chaka Demus & Pliers' "Murder She Wrote." The groove bypasses muscle memory and activates pleasure centers, producing a recurring, amnesiac enjoyment akin to oxytocin. The drum pattern places the snare in deceptive syncopation while atmospheric shakers and layered guitarwork by Lloyd "Gitsy" Willis — an urgent Morse-code pulse and a five-note ostinato — anchor the track. Sparse rhythmic elements perfectly complement Chaka Demus's commanding deejay calls and Pliers's melodic singjay tone, helping the riddim become a timeless global dancehall phenomenon.

Read at Pitchfork