New releases last two weeks: Dub

Review: Beatconductor's Dub Spectrum EP takes listeners on a journey through Jamaica with seven tracks of dubbed-out pop covers. The EP features creative mash-ups such as The Wailers providing instrumental backing for Adele, Dua Lipa, Christina Aguilera, and Duran Duran, offering a fresh perspective on familiar tunes. Additionally, Amy Winehouse and The Pretenders unite to form a ska supergroup, showcasing Beatconductor's innovative approach to blending genres. Beatconductor's skillful reinterpretations breathe new life into classic tracks, infusing them with reggae and ska influences while maintaining their original essence.

Review: Steve O'Sullivan recently launched the Blue Channel project as a kind of sonic companion to his similarly minded dub techno work as Blue Train, in the process paying tribute to Berlin's masters of the extended dubbed-out groove, Basic Channel. This is the second EP in an ongoing series and begins with a fresh 'Bluetrain Special Edition Dub' of 'Complete With U', a track featured (in its original mix form) on the previous EP. This take is more percussively propulsive and addictive - thanks to a locked-in dub house style groove - with warmer synth sounds and echoing vocalisations. It's basically a hat-tip to classic Rhythm & Sound singles of old, albeit with drums that more neatly fit into a wider variety of DJ sets. Over on side B, 'Traveller' is a fine slab of pitched-down vocal digi-dub with added ambient dub sonics.

Review: The more time that goes on, the more every Dub Syndicate album becomes more appreciated. At the end of the 90s, dub music was at an all-time low popularity wise - the genre was going through changes and vinyl sales were dwindling. In 1997, Style Scott even started his own label Lion And Roots away from On-U Sound which had been the home of Dub Syndicate since they started almost 20 years prior. Mellow & Colly shows the group moving away from the more sample heavy earlier works to a mature dub sound that incorporated more electronics thanks to the Echo Beach label partnership that Style's label worked out. Sadly, Style passed away ten years ago this year but his music is still being felt thanks to reissues like this.

Review: Originally released in 2019, Pachyman's Pachyman In Dub is a labour of love that pays homage to the early days of Jamaican reggae music. Inspired by the legendary Channel One Studios and Roots Radics band, Pachy Garcia set out to recreate the sonic experiments of Scientist, King Tubby, and Lee "Scratch" Perry, with the result being an album that captures the spirit of early dancehall, rub-a-dub, and rockers styles, all hypnotic rhythms, deep basslines, and ethereal melodies. With a focus on dub techniques and a heavy emphasis on the rhythm section, Pachyman In Dub is a must-listen for fans of reggae music.

Review: Zion Train remain a unique and rebellious contemporary dub act, updating the classic sound for the present era, all while channelling a uniquely icy sound of their own, not to mention an exciting live act and an immediately impressing frontal voice by singer Molara. Dissident Sound came out in 2023 and was met with acclaim for its harshly sparse and cold, but still quirky and sunny palette, clearly informed by trip-hop and northernmost hinterlands of post-punk; this subsequent remix EP, however, curves the ball once again, charting new reworks by the likes of Paolo Baldini, Dub FX, Insintensi and Professor Skank.