The Dynamics

The foundation of the Dynamics' reggae music is profoundly indebted to '60s/'70s deep soul and funk. Their initial appeal to club DJs, crate-diggers, and classic reggae aficionados came from their cover songs, transforming indie rock, disco, and Northern soul songs into vintage, analog-induced rocksteady and dub. Originating from disparate places around the globe such as Cameroon, Boston, U.S., and Bristol, England, this five-person outfit -- Mounam (vocalist/songwriter), Mr. Day (vocalist/songwriter/bassist), Stevie Levi (vocalist/MC/songwriter), Patchworks (producer/multi-instrumentalist), and Flab Master Flab (producer/engineer) -- officially established the retro-soul, reggae group in late 2003 in the La Croix-Rousse arrondissement of Lyon, France. Although their love for reggae has maintained the group's unity, they each have additional backgrounds, deriving from various solo and group projects, in African worldbeat, hip-hop, deep house, dance-pop, gospel, and acid jazz which all bleed onto the Dynamics' organic recordings and performances. They debuted with the 7" White Stripes cover Seven Nation Army, which first appeared in 2006 via Big Single. Due to the single's favorable response, they inundated the market with several more 7"s the following year, including the popular dub/post-disco cover of Madonna's 2000 number one hit "Music." Striking a deal with the German-based Groove Attack, at the end of that year the Dynamics released their debut long-player, Version Excursions, complete with soul-funk-reggae hybrid interpretations, like "Fever" (the Bee Gees), "Miss You" (the Rolling Stones), and "Land of a 1000 Dances" (Chris Kenner/Fats Domino). ~ Cyril Cordor