New releases this week: Dub

Review: Spanish musician Bass Lee delivers a strong debut instrumental album with Roots across 10 tracks of deep roots rockers led by his signature melodica. The collection was produced alongside Roberto Sanchez at A-Lone Ark Muzik Studio and features standout tracks like the uplifting 'Enlightenment' and the meditative nyahbinghi-inspired 'East African Rift.' The album was developed during a studio session that also birthed albums by Clive Matthews and Lone Ark Riddim Force and completes a trilogy focused on timeless reggae foundations that are rich in analogue warmth and melodic finesse. All of this affirms Bass Lee's place in the new wave of roots reggae musicians pushing the genre forward.

Review: The scale is staggering, but the result is as focused and spiritual as any great dub record should be. Helmed by Swiss producer and keyboardist Mathias Liengme, this set draws together dozens of Jamaican session players from the 70s to todayithink Sly Dunbar, Vin Gordon, Ernest Ranglinion nine instrumental dubs cut and sculpted by Roberto Sanchez. '1000 Light Years DUB' opens with spacey textures and a tightly coiled rhythm section, easing into the skanking horns of 'In The Shadow DUB'. 'Whitewater DUB' flows warm and steady, while 'Memories of Old DUB' evokes roots nostalgia without drifting into pastiche. 'Rose Hall's Birds DUB' stands out for its bright brass interplay; 'Squirrel Inna Barrel DUB' rides a darker groove, led by echo-laden percussion. 'Under The Cotton Tree DUB' softens the tempo with flute and keys, followed by the spacious bass work of '45 Charles Street DUB'. The closer, 'Everlasting Love DUB', arranged around Errol Kong's melody, feels like both a send-off and an embraceiglowing, open, eternal.

Review: Originally released on UK label Jam Sounds in 1975, this rare album brought together members of the legendary Skatalites, namely Lloyd Brevette, Lloyd Knibb, Ernest Ranglin, Roland Alphonso and Tommy McCook with session greats like Horsemouth, Augustus Pablo and members of Ras Michael's Sons of Negus. Recorded across various Kingston studios including Black Ark and Aquarius, it was mixed at King Tubby's, though exact details remain unclear. Because it was initially pressed in limited quantities, it went largely unnoticed, overshadowed by the era's militant reggae. Now rightly revered, the album gets reissued in all its glory and again delivers rich, deep-rooted dub and roots of the highest quality.

Review: Stephen Vitiello, Brendan Canty and Hahn Rowe pull strings in strange and rewarding directions on Second, the chameleonic follow-up to their 2023 debut piece First. Vitiello, having left behind a vista's trail of ambient, lowercase and electroacoustic work with the likes of Taylor Deupree and Pauline Oliveros, now sketches raw forms with Rhodes, guitar and modular gear before looping in Canty and Rowe. The former adds drums, bass and piano with typical restlessness; the latter, once of Hugo Largo, folds in bowed guitar, viola and 12-string textures. There's a thread of freeform drift here, but it's sotted in dub weight, Krautrock pulse and post-punk lean. "We're coming from three different schools," Vitiello notes. Throw in a guest spot from Animal Collective's Geologist on hurdy gurdy, and it's a strange little world built on sideways logic.