MUSIC

Carmen's new 3 track EP gives a sense of where she might be heading next on her musical journey. On Nutrition, the submerged influence of dub seen in a lot of her earlier work has risen more prominently to the surface. Carmen describes the tracks as "some dub studies born out of my continued fascination with the form. I’m in a period where I just keep going back to experimenting with beats and rhythms". Nutrition is set for release on 25 October 2024 through Smalltown Supersound.

The memorable first album released by the Japanese dub band MUTE BEAT in 1987. The long-awaited analog reissue of this album, which was selected as one of the best albums by BEAT magazine in the U.S. and received international acclaim, is now available.

Wilurarrakutu is the brilliant debut from Papunya-based artist Keanu Nelson, an intimate exercise in musical storytelling and reflection. The album's eight tracks, sung in both Papunya Luritja and English, are verses of prose and poetry pulled directly from Nelson's notebooks and set to minimalist, DIY electronic arrangements.The evocative musical backdrops—featuring Casio keyboards, drum machines, and subtle synth flourishes—were created in collaborative sessions between Nelson and Sydney producer Yuta Matsumura. The two met by chance on Matsumura's visit to Papunya last year. Their impromptu jam sessions form the foundation for Wilurarrakutu's low-key sonic palette, influenced in parts by Papunya's strong local gospel music scene as well as the reggae beats often passed around the remote community via USB sticks and mobile phone transfers.Over these soundscapes, Nelson sings of family, friends, heritage, and culture, with a tone that balances joy and melancholy. They're themes and emotions that also echo through his work as a painter at the Papunya Tjupi Arts Centre. In this way, Wilurarrakutu becomes an extension of his art practice - a graceful audio portrait of a place that evokes the resonance of home.

The 006 on the imprint is "Versions Vol. 2" a new mixtape written and produced by NPLGNN Messing around with a big bunch of samples NPLGNN chops, resynthesizes and assembles them in a no-nonsense sonic collage flux 100% Sound-System fuckery Around 42 mins through MCs toasting, pitched amens, dub glitches, screwed recordings and moody red-eyed interludes

Reissue of Bass music inspired new roots classic!

Absolute collectors item, the culmination of wildly unexpected trajectories in music, originally released in 1980, this is Japan meets Jamaica at its finnest. Pecker (aka Hashida Masahito) takes the Japanese "Otaku" consumer behavioural phenomenon and directs it towards deep world percussion knowledge, teaming up with legendary Minako Yoshida for vocals and lyrics, Sly & Robbie and Vitamin Dread (aka Aki Ikuta) with other heavyweight names sprinkled on top like Augustus Pablo and Carly Barrett...and this is the result: three tracks of pioneering "Japanaican" sound. A truly international effort, recording and mixing between Jamaica's Studio One and Tuff Gong studios, and, Japanese Columbia and Sony studios. B2 features a beautifuly dreamy rendition of Ryuichi Sakamoto's "Kylyn", remastered and re-released in original 10" format.

The third album by Japanese dub band MUTE BEAT, released in July 1989. This was the last original album by MUTE BEAT, with two new members: Emerson Kitamura on keyboards, replacing Hirofumi Asamoto, and Yukiya Naito, who would later join Superbad, on guitar.

2001’s »Anima« was the third album released by Sasu Ripatti under his Vladislav Delay moniker and marked a turning point in the stylistic development of the prolific producer. Clocking in at roughly 62 minutes, the single piece draws on dub aesthetics while working with Musique concrète-like methods through the liberal use of samples to create a dreamlike logic. Muffled voices, lush chords, subtle rhythms and indefinable sound events are not so much integrated into a composition with a predetermined outcome but rather engage with each other freely in a constant sonic flow, forming constellations in one moment before moving on to connect with other elements in the next one. »Anima« marked the first time Ripatti was using a DAW in his working process, creating a piece constantly in motion that subtly evolves over time. This vinyl reissue on the German Keplar label follows up on the 20th anniversary edition of 2000’s »Multila« and will be complemented by a ten-minute long version of the original piece, previously only available on the CD version released by the artist on his own Huume label in 2008. After the release of his »Ele« and »Entain« albums in 1999 and 2000, respectively, Ripatti took the 1998 independent movie »Hurlyburly« as a conceptual starting point to experiment with different gear and production methods. »Until then I had worked with an old MSQ-700 MIDI sequencer and an Ensonic EPS16 sampler/sequencer that had one or two MB of sampling memory and mixed the music live on a Mackie, which was very limiting arrangement-wise,« says Ripatti. Loading a slightly shortened version of the film into his DAW however allowed him to play along to it with the DrumKAT MIDI controller, triggering and playing all the sounds that can be heard on »Anima« while also contributing synths, bass and other sounds during repeated playthroughs before mixing a total of six stereo tracks together. »This way, after I had edited out most of the few parts that had music in them, I was in the movie; almost like an extra character playing music,« explains Ripatti. »This was certainly the most organic way in which I have ever made music, and I have never again approached another record like this.« While »Anima« sounded like an unusual Vladislav Delay record at the time of its release, it also prefigured many of the developments Ripatti would go through in the course of his long career. Combining visceral immediacy with a sense of abstraction, it is far more than a mere missing link in his discography but rather a conceptually and musically outstanding piece of work that remains as engaging as it was 21 years ago.

The only solo LP from “Deadly” Headley Bennett and released back in 1982. The title refers to the legendary Alpha School in Jamaica from where so many instrumental talents on the island emerged. A saxophonist-for-hire who played on countless recordings sessions, and was in the ranks of backing groups from the golden era of reggae such as the Sound Dimension and the Arabs.

Few names shine as brightly in the cosmology of dubwise bass music as that of V.I.V.E.K. From releasing absolutely ground-breaking tracks for the better part of 20 years primarily on his own System and VIVEK imprints, to curating and hosting his legendary System nights, to bringing so much rising talent to light, it’s honestly difficult to imagine the last two decades of UK and global sound system music without him. For ZamZam 96 V.I.V.E.K went straight to the bedrock of sound system music and delivered a power-stepper of galactic proportions. “Illusions Dub” opens with starkly heavy valve bass and a punishing kick, leaving little doubt where this journey is headed . Richly adorned with neck-snapping percussion, industrial snares, post-punk atmospherics and a gorgeous melodic figure, the tune employs classic 90s digi-dub principles while feeling like a message from a gloriously human -or post-human- future. “Illusions (Raw Dub)” runs rugged through the desk in fine style, with barely restrained feedback, phasers, and deep space echo and reverb ripping open shimmering holes in space-time for a truly cosmic Part 2.

Cobra y la hermandad de la uva es la celebración de hacer música juntos desde hace muchos años entre amigos. Un disco gestado en el barrio del Clot y grabado en en Barcelona, Mallorca y Buenos Aires, un "All Stars" dónde participan gran parte de los músicos que han tocado en STA a lo largo de 20 años. Hay digital dub, también algo de roots oscuro y otros tracks soleados y brillantes. Experimental y electrónico, pero también analógico y denso en texturas pero delicado al mostrarlo. Luego de 20 años del primer Cdr, STA sigue una trayectoria personal para hacer Dub. Todas las canciones fueron mezcladas en vivo, una bajada en directo hecha en el mixer. Una mención especial merece el arte del disco obra de Tomás Spicolli, un viejo amigo y colaborador de STA. Cobra y la hermandad de la uva es el sexto LP en formato vinilo dentro de una producción que cuenta también con varios Cdr, 7'' y casetes. Con la compra del disco en bandcamp viene otro disco extra en digital con versiones, 10 temas extra. Dub para adultos.

They say you should never meet your heroes, but for Mike, meeting the legendary Adrian Sherwood has been a transformative experience, leading to creative collaborations that have benefited both of them. Nearly 30 years after first being mesmerized by OnU Sound’s releases, a cheeky bit of radio ripping serendipitously led to Mike helping Pats Dokter, the label’s official archivist, with his work restoring master tapes, and eventually to him creating visual content for Adrian’s live shows. A while after this collaboration began, Adrian offered to remix some of Mike’s music, either Misled Convoy or Pitch Black, and it’s four cuts by the latter that grace this heavyweight platter. From the dreamy dub of Transient Transmission to the rolling rhythms of A Doubtful Sound, our originals have been re-arranged and dubbed to $%># in Adrian’s signature style, with fluid melodies, pounding basslines and vocal samples awash in a wall of effects. Trumpets by David “Ital Horns” Fullwood bookend the release, haunting in the first track and celebratory in the last, while Doug Wimbish (Living Colour/Tackhead) added an extra bassline to the heaving version of 1000 Mile Drift, which now features the voice of the iconic Lee “Scratch” Perry. Reflecting on the collaboration, Mike says, “the whole experience has been slightly unreal, from working on Adrian’s videos to being in the OnU studio and watching him dub-mixing the tracks I’ve made, something I could never have imagined happening!” Mike isn’t the only OnU fan in Pitch Black, as a pivotal moment for Paddy was “watching Adrian mixing Tack>head at the Powerstation in 1995 and seeing the cause-and-effect of what he was doing and hearing the unbelievable sounds coming out of the speakers. It was the first time I’d ever seen somebody dub mix like that.” The cover of Echoes of the Night is based upon an original artwork by our long-time collaborator (and fellow OnU aficianado) Hamish Macaulay, while the vinyl has been pressed using a 100% recycled compound known as eco-mix, making each record totally unique as the colours change across the pressing run (most appear to be green-ish).

 

 

After Prince Istari finished the Dub Encounter with Erik Satie, he immediately set to work on expelling the evil curse of artificial intelligence. While the encounter with Satie was guided by the original compositions, this album delves deeper into dub science. The opening track is "Curse Of Machine Learning," a grinding cumbia dub track that sucks you into the curse of machine learning. It's followed by "Artificial Neural Network," arguably the album's most nerve-wracking track, with wild snare rolls colliding with offbeat echoed riddim sections. "Large Language Models" offers a more relaxed, arabesque one-drop riddim with speech synthesis vocals. "Fake Image" closes the first side with a full trombone solo contributed by Eugene Rosebud. Side B starts with the one-drop killer tune "Haunted By Delusion," featuring an organ solo by Prince Istari. Drum and bass in your face. "Evil Forces," on the other hand, is a fusion of jazz and dub; after the brass section breakdown, it rolls into a crazy synth solo. Then next „I Want Your Data" pulls your data into the AI's guts with a vibraphone. This is maybe the ambitious tune on the record speaking of chord progressions. The final track sees Eugene Rosebud return with a double trombone solo in "Transhuman Feedback Rock" assisted by a saz cooling the blues pattern with a hookline. Here we have beautifull springreverb and harmonizer dub effects on the snare twirrling around the trombone solos. All tunes composed, arranged, conducted and engineered by Prince Istari and played by his house band The Virtualistics. Trombone Solos by Eugene Rosebud. Packaged in a nice cover drawn by Markus Schäfer and frequency shift and cut by LXC.

On "SHAME", producer 2K88 (Przemysław Jankowiak, fka 1988) invokes the era and spirit of PL SOUND, a local genre inspired by British soundsystem music but infused with the social, urban, and sonic themes that developed during Poland’s post-communist transformation. "SHAME" is a progressive, bass-fueled transmission built from scraps of hip-hop’s past; it’s a cinematic vision of Y2K Polish rap that’s in constant flux, where every detail is just as important as the whole structure. Sampling the Polish canon of beats from the low-rent districts of the nineties, 2K88 plunders tracks already based on samples and channels the experiences of the generations that grew up with those sounds, struggling and celebrating with them. And just as he did with his previous projects Etamski and 1988, 2K88 draws out, processes, and ages his elements in an echo chamber, asking questions and formulating answers. Jankowiak works on the fringes of genre: traces of ambient, dub, rap and jungle flicker into low-lit urban rhythms, chunky nightclub basslines and paranoid production touches. This is in keeping with his new, futuristic handle, 2K88. Not for a second does he succumb to today’s omnipresent nostalgia, instead putting reconstruction before deconstruction — he finds whole worlds in his scraps, and in the long-gone turn-of-the-millennium period, whose liminal qualities feel like a precursor to the unease of the present moment. The end-of-the-20th-century paranoia has only intensified in the past 30 years, and paranoia, as Philo Gant once said in the 1995 sci-fi film "Strange Days", is “just reality on a finer scale”. By that logic, 2K88 offers a picture of the grittiest reality blown up to truly awe-inspiring proportions. ______________________________________________________________ 2K88— fka 1988, aka Przemysław Jankowiak — is a music producer, graphic designer, and audio director raised in the Poland of the 1990s and on the pioneering rap records of that time. The rawness, chunkiness, and paranoia he took from this period have always been an integral part of his music. They were there when he made his first homemade beats and stayed with him when, in the following years, he distanced himself from hip-hop, going deeper into the world of sampling experiments and the post-genre avant-garde. Later, he and Robert Piernikowski created the universe of the duo Syny - an irreal spectral/ontological phenomenon built out of memories, dreams, and bass, rap, dub, and smoke. Since the end of Syny, Jankowiak has let loose his beatmaker impulses on a collaborative record with Warsaw’s legendary MC Włodi, created the album Ruleta [Roulette] with over 30 featured guests, and struck up a dialogue with the electronic soundsystem work that’s fascinated him for years on the Ring the Alarm EP. He’s also created chart-topping avant-pop with Brodka and a mimetic soundtrack to “Splinter”, but it is SHAME that is the album we might call his sonic résumé.

Ephemera is the debut album by Fergus Jones, the artist formerly known as Perko, an Edinburgh-born, Copenhagen-based producer, DJ and founder of the FELT record label. The nine-track release is out now. Ephemera was developed with collaborative energy as the creative priority, produced by Jones alongside an extensive list of like-minded musicians, lyricists and vocalists including Huerco S, James K, Koreless, Birthmark, ELDON and Withdrawn of Bristol’s Cold Light crew, Laila Sakini and Lia T. The album embodies Jones’ inner journey as he ranges further than ever sonically and emotionally, emphasising instinct, intensity, tactility and rapture. “Heima” was written and produced with Huerco S and James K between Iceland, Copenhagen and the United States’ East Coast. Developed during and named after the same Icelandic artist residency that birthed Perko & Huerco S’ debut co-production “Prang,” “Heima” is a shimmering piece of fortified trip-pop featuring vocals from James K, appearing here following solo releases for AD 93 and collaborations with Yves Tumor. “Tight Knit” aligns Jones’ graceful production with the raw and restless emotions thundering from the performances of Birthmark, ELDON and Withdrawn of Cold Light, the shadowy Bristolian collective channelling the city’s deep sonic history into an equally rich future. The album makes a distinctive impact that reverberates and glows long after its runtime. Analogue audio sculpting, adaptive processes and imaginative approaches to creating sound are at the forefront – whether resulting from an endless exchange of iterative stems with Huerco S, or hydrophone recordings with Koreless. Evocative vocal performances and songwriting combine with weighty sound design, gliding easily between the organic and synthetic to reflect and expand the thin spaces of transcendence in each. “This album was made over the last five years in various studio and outdoor locations around the world, reflecting my ongoing emphasis on natural collaboration as a creative ideal. It’s my most personal record yet, written with experimentation and an open attitude as guiding lights.” – Fergus Jones Ephemera follows three prior releases on Numbers under the Perko alias – 2018’s NV Auto, 2020’s The City Rings, and 2023’s Prang, which was included on Resident Advisor’s Best Tracks of 2023. Jones has contributed DJ mixes to the long-running FACT and Truants series, is a frequent guest on radio stations such as NTS and Rinse, and has toured globally.

After releasing Undefined, Kazufumi Kodama and Babe Roots, the 4th release from a Japanese experimental dub label newdubhall welcomes the ever-evolving pioneer of minimal dub and dub techno Deadbeat, a solo project of Scott Monteith hailing from Canada. Side A 'Things Fall Apart' will feature a beatless dub ambient which shares a perspective of free jazz and 'Adieu Chez Cherie,’ an absolute knockdown four on the floor dub techno on the flip side. Though simple, both sides are layered with complexity, let yourself experience the profundity of newdubhall with this masterpiece.

Kindred the shop and radio station based in London mint a new in-house label, headed up by one of the store's founders, Scar. Up first is station regular, Alicia, with a 60 min hazy trip through dubwise ambient & downtempo niceness, really cracking listen this one. Limited edition c60 cassette.

Ten unreleased deadly digi riddims from the myspace era by Copenhagen’s Maffi crew, dubbed out into 3D space by disrupt in 2024. Taking its name from a crucial Firehouse mixtape series, “Mastermind Computer Style” is full of raw nuggets of simplistic beauty, all made in trusty Propellerhead Reason between 2006 and 2009. Some of these riddims were a firm part of early Jahtari live shows, played out on sound systems all over the globe, but never have been cut to vinyl until now. Watch out for heavy synth driven 8-bit floaters like “Morkt Igen” or “Another Lara”, a Disco Dub version of the Kashif bomb “I’m in Love” by Evelyn King. And check oddities like “Skudduel” or “Jon Jovi”, an alien mutation of the Jon Bon riddim which became Solo Banton’s classic “Talk To Me“. Raw, primitive CyberDancehall at its best, nostalgic and oddly futuristic at the same time, this album is quickly becoming RoboCop’s favourite playlist when going to work.

Back in circulation after over a decade, Jahtari’s seminal “Jahtarian Dubbers Vol. 1 EP” receives the long-awaited reissue treatment, reviving the raw, 8-bit-infused dub vibes that defined a new era of digital roots music. Originally released in 2008 and quickly disappearing into dub obscurity, this heavyweight 12” returns with four essential cuts that perfectly encapsulate the Jahtari sound—where chiptune meets the echo chamber. The EP kicks off with Blaze Dem’s “Roots Defender,” a hypnotic concotion of deep basslines and eerie samples from a Swedish cult ritual, setting a heavy tone right from the start. disrupt’s cinematic “Kozure Okami” follows, channeling Black Ark vibes through 8-bit synth explorations. On the flip, John Frum delivers the hauntingly beautiful “January Dub,” while Rootah’s slomo slammer “Holy Mount Part 2” closes the EP with Lynchian, echo-soaked vibrations that linger long after the needle lifts. Timeless tracks, mastered by CGB-1 at D&M in Berlin for maximum impact. Pivotal piece of Dub music!

Japanese dub band MUTE BEAT's live album “LIVE”, selected from their live performances from 1988 to 1989, is now available for the first time on vinyl. The album includes live tours in North America, including SOB's in N.Y., and performances with legends such as Gladstone “Gladdy” Anderson and Roland Alfonso.

The second outing by Hunter Thompson’s tribalist dub alias Tegu skews more spectral and environmental, a canopy of cascading keys, hand percussion, and swells of everglades bass: Owl Island. Recorded in early 2024 on the banks of a Floridian canal, the album’s 11 tracks roll in like warm fog over an ancient marsh, swaying with low end and loops of humid synths. Across 53 minutes, the music moves between séance and visitation, alternately lurking and expectant, bathed in a sheen of starlight and streetlights. Fellow voyagers Wave Temples and X.Y.R. join for a pair of smoky, cosmic cameos, but otherwise this is a solitary affair – locked in, looking up, mapping new constellations in the expanding void.

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of Tomaga's debut album, 'Futura Grotesk', Hands in the Dark are re-releasing the long sold out record in a limited edition of 500 copies. The reissue will be accompanied by the first-ever vinyl pressing of the band's inaugural EP, 'Sleepy Jazz for Tired Cats', featuring new artwork and 300 units available. Both records have been remastered by Marta Salogni for the occasion. Established in 2013 by Valentina Magaletti and Tom Relleen, the duo operated until 2020 as a creative laboratory for the London-based musicians to explore beyond their traditional musical endeavours. They sought to deconstruct their usual sonic frameworks, venturing into a novel and unfamiliar auditory landscape. Their work seamlessly integrated various forms of multi-instrumentalism, traversing the realms of industrial, jazz, psychedelia and minimalism. The band's self-released cassette debut, 'Sleepy Jazz for Tired Cats' presents an unconstrained, complex and abstract introduction to their distinctive and darkly thought-provoking sound. In contrast, Tomaga’s seminal album, 'Futura Grotesk', further elevates their sonic explorations, leading to compositions that are more elusive and profoundly evocative, resembling the surreal and unsettling language of dreams and other subconscious wanderings transposed into a unique musical expression.

First time available on vinyl since 1982. Psychotic Jonkanoo was the sixth Creation Rebel album in three years, originally licensed to the post-punk oriented Glaswegian label Statik. Another solid set of killer dub, albeit less instrumentally inclined than their previous efforts and more focussed on militant-style conscious chants. Bandleader Crucial Tony was aided on the vocal front by harmonies from other group members, in a style reminiscent of Black Uhuru, plus the occasional guest such as John Lydon of the Sex Pistols and Public Image Limited providing backing harmony (!) on “Mother Don’t Cry”, and the legendary Deadly Headley Bennett adding saxophone to the opening track.

“Anybody searching Adrian Sherwood's catalogue for an easy point of entry would do well to start here, and everyone else can simply applaud Psychotic Jonkanoo as the last truly great roots reggae album of the 1980s.” All Music

limited Green vinyl LP with Obi. 10 brand new recordings from the legendary Jamaican singer and longtime Massive Attack collaborator, Horace Andy, produced by Adrian Sherwood.

Midnight Rocker has been approached in a similar fashion to the late-career quality that Sherwood coaxed out of Lee "Scratch" Perry with the Rainford and Heavy Rain albums, assembling a crack team of players and spending many months perfecting performance, arrangements and mixing. The result is a remarkable suite of tracks that sparkle with superb musicianship, carefully crafted production and Horace’s beautiful vocals.

The material includes revisiting and updating a few classic Horace Andy songs such as “Mr. Bassie”, but the bulk of the tracks are brand new compositions with contemporary messages, such as “Watch Over Them” and “Materialist”. The pair have also versioned “Safe From Harm”, a much-loved early single by the group that Andy is most associated with – Massive Attack.

“On-U Sound are very proud to present a truly wonderful album with one of the all-time great singer-songwriters in the rich history of Jamaican music, Horace Andy. This is a true gold star performance, and I’m very proud of it.” Adrian Sherwood