My first time visiting Trinidad was for Carnival earlier this year—something friends and people I met during the two-week-long revelry described as a baptism of fire, in the best way possible. Throughout it all, from the nights of hardcore fête-ing leading up to the parade, to the two days spent chipping around Port of Spain's Queen's Park Savannah, down to the traditional post-Carnival cooldown in Tobago, Machel Montano reigned supreme. Like an omnipresent specter of bacchanal, his voice blared out of cars and trucks on songs like the soaring "Remedy" and the road-stomping "Party Done" and "Like Ah Boss." Over his decades-long career, Montano has become the de facto ambassador for Trini soca, adopting a blend of global rhythms and EDM sounds that have helped drive the genre's gradual international crossover success.
Today on The FADER, he débuts his first offering for Carnival 2016 with "Temperature," produced by Travis World and London Future. The duo's official remix of "Like Ah Boss" was a mainstay on soca playlists all year, and on "Temperature," they recreate its glowstick-ready vibe. Over a synth-y beat with a high-octane BPM, Montano hands down party instructions revellers are bound to follow: blaze, rage, wine, fête, raise the temperature, party like we on fire.
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"2015 was one of my most successful years to date, receiving a Soul Train Award for Best International Performance abroad and a Power Soca Monarch and Road March for my song 'Like Ah Boss' back home in Trinidad," he told The FADER over email. "I’m hearing plenty of Soca vibes in pop songs on mainstream radio so I know the world is opening up to the sounds that we have been crafting for years!"
Watch the lyric video above and let the countdown to carnival begin. February is only three months away.
