As part of soca music’s young vanguard, Machel Montano has helped change the sound of a genre that has basically remained unchanged for the last 40 years. By adding dancehall influences along with a hip and sophisticated sensibility, this young singer has rejuvenated soca, prompting the music which was once regulated to Carnival time, to be played all year round in his native Trinidad. Montano’s innovation is in abundant display on Any Minute Now. He offers a brilliant remake of U2′s hit, “With or Without You,” toasts in French on “Mocking Meh,” and borrows from the pop classic, “Grazing in the Grass,” for the relaxed “February.” Although the dancehall overtones are slightly tedious at times, this album definitely qualifies as a soca standout. – Rosalind Cummings-Yeates
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