Review: Johnny Clarke and Earth & Stone cooked up some real magic with 'Babylon'. It's a sumptuous sound that offers a symbolic representation of societal oppression and injustice. With Johnny Clarke's haunting vocals and Earth & Stone's mesmerising rhythms, the tune becomes a poignant commentary on the struggles of the marginalised and the quest for freedom. Through those lyrics and hypnotic melodies, it confronts issues of systemic inequality and political corruption, urging people to rise against oppression. As such it is anther great tune that proves the enduring relevance of reggae as a voice for the oppressed.
Review: Bay Area producer Dubamine returns to Dub-Stuy with yet another sureshot featuring the label's own JonnyGo Figure on vocals. 'Bulletproof' fuses dubstep and trap production and ragga vocals for maximum soundsystem readiness, with featured vocalist JonnyGo Figure speaking of confident reefer lightups, and braisings of the dancefloor by the tweeters. B-sider 'Mosquito Dub' is an increasingly weighty one, expressively trigger-happy on the spring reverb and rooting each hit in an undergrowth of eighth-note bass.
Review: This hot new 7" allows you to experience a classic cut from UK dub pioneers Nucleus Roots featuring the iconic voice of Don Hartley. This brand new pressing presents a fuller, heavier vocal mix of a track originally released on their 2003 CD album and later as a sought-after 12" single. Now, for the first time, this fresh vocal mix comes on its own 45rpm alongside the classic meditation dub from their 2006 CD album, Heart Of Dub. Both cuts go seriously deep with modern synth touches and soothing rasta vocals sinking you into a fine and meditative sound.
Review: Muslimgauze's Veiled Sisters, ironically, is but one of many releases by the timely artist to have been posthumously 'unveiled' with new attention cast on it. Originally released with longtime collaborators Staalplaat, the LP was notable for its deepouts and loop-based orientations, moving away from the stop-start wonk of dub into straighter rhythms and sample-based orientations. Essentially made up of variations on the same two-note motif, the album cycles through mega-crisp drums and modular jump and pops, creating a curiously sepia-tinged beatscape, recalling near-fantastical ideas of the Middle Eastern world as ever.
Disco-infused reggae and soulful grooves are on the agenda as Prince Fatty takes to the controls with regular vocal colllaborators Shniece and Horseman along for the ride too. For the Disco Deception album, he raids the reinvents various classics in the image of his own signature low-end energy and impeccable production, giving us original and dub mixes to choose from in several cases. His version of Krfatwerk's 'The Model', which features both Shniece and Horseman, was an underground smash when it emerged a couple of years back and sounds as vital as ever. 'Fever', made famous by Peggy Lee as far as 1958, gets some soul-stirring vocals from Shniece, and Tom Browne's 'Funkin' For Jamaica (NY)' is a glory of funky basslines to shimmering horns. A magnetic atmosphere that keeps listeners engaged from start to finish, all with character to spare.
Review: American experimental rock band Puscifer were first formed in Los Angeles by Maynard James Keenan, best known as the lead vocalist of the groups Tool and A Perfect Circle. First released in 2008, D Is For Dubby lay among the first album-length dub version sessions to ever be released, owing to the eclectic taste and subsequent remix motive of one Brian Williams aka. Lustmord. Not homing in one any one Puscifer album but rather playing selector over a ream of the band's best works, Lustmord does plenty work to retain the sonic character and tempi of Keenan and co's recordings, albeit also squarely fleshing out the dub aesthetic potential within them, with the likes of 'Queen B' and 'Indigo Children' mixing the dark prog feel of records like V Is For Viagra with the hard digidub impacts and womps of Lustmord's very own sonic terrestrials.
Review: With a storied history stretching right back to the mid-1990s, Reggae Disco Rockers are one of Japan's longest-serving reggae and rocksteady bands. While they're best-known for their original songs, they've delivered some killer cover versions over the years - including 2021's sun-splashed reggae re-imagining of Frankie Knuckles' classic house track 'The Whistle Song'. This seven-inch features another: the band's immersive, loved-up, super-sweet lover's rock-meets-Balearic reggae take on Neil Young classic 'Harvest Moon', featuring some suitably weary, emotive lead vocals from Marter. Flower Records regulars Slowly provide a dreamy and dubbed out take on the flip, as you'd expect given their output in recent times.
Review: As Whodemsound races towards its 50th outing, it presses up yet another great little 7", this time with Bopper Ranking delivering some great spoken word roots. 'The Man That I Am' is just under four minutes of super clean dub with digital synths adding a future-facing feel to the sultry horns that drift up top and the traditional dub rhythms that roll deep down low. The conscious lyrics make this an even more heady experience and on the flip is a dub version for those who prefer to whittle things down to the bare dub essentials.
Review: Wayne Smith's 'Under Mi Sleng Teng', released in 1985, is a milestone in Jamaican music history and one that helped launch a new genre and transform island culture overnight. Its innovative digital bass line not only impacted Jamaica but also bridged reggae with US hip-hop production values, which went on to influence global music. Over 200 versions of the riddim have been released, and artists like 50 Cent and The Prodigy have incorporated it into their work. Originally issued as a seven-inch single on the Jamaican Jammys label, Smith, who passed away in over a decade ago at age just 48, left behind a legacy rooted in Waterhouse, a troubled Kingston neighbourhood.
Review: The well-regarded Digital English label has got a couple of crucial 7"s dropping at the moment and this one is a standout. It's a two-sided 45rpm that opens up with Chazbo in fine form on the A-side. His gem 'Chazbo In Session' has elements of everything from dub to reggae to lovers' rock. The dub is fat and lazy, the chords are natty and the vocals are soulful and expressive up top. Flip it over and you will get a fine version from Lin Strong named 'Unity Is Strength' that brings even more soul power to the rolling rhythms.
Lee Scratch Perry - "Many Names Of God" (feat LSK) (3:53)
Tackhead - "Rulers & Foolers" (feat LSK) (3:52)
Rita Morar - "Meri Awaaz Suno (Hear My Voice)" (3:17)
African Head Charge - "Asalatua" (3:50)
Horace Andy - "Watch Over Them" (3:34)
Mark Stewart - "Storm Crow" (4:14)
Creation Rebel - "Stonebridge Warrior" (4:06)
Jeb Loy Nichols - "What Does A Man Do All Day?" (2:52)
Denise Sherwood - "This Road" (2:58)
Sherwood & Pinch - "We No Normal (Anger Management)" (feat Daddy Freddy, Ghetto Priest & Jen Jen) (2:23)
Andy Fairley - "Your Best Tune" (2:09)
Review: The Pay It All Back series is a benchmark of Adrian Sherwood's mighty On-U Sound - the perfect snapshot of where the pioneering dub and post-punk label is heading at any given moment. The first instalment came out in 1984, and here we are seven volumes and 38 years later with another sampler of mind-bending dub sonics. Hats off to Sherwood and co, and the perennial greatness of legends like Lee 'Scratch' Perry (gone but ultimately immortal) and Horace Andy, framed by On-U staples like Tackhead, African Head Charge and Creation Rebel. There's also two entries from Sherwood and Pinch's on-going collaborations and a newer generation of artists helping shape out a constantly inspiring, and clearly constantly inspired emblem of underground dubwise culture.
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