MUSIC

Diving deeper into the story of Japanese reggae pop, Tokyo Riddim Vol. 2 explores an electronic, new wave and often experimental sound unlike anything Japan or Jamaica had ever heard before.

The first time Ryuichi Sakamoto left Japan, he did not go to the United States or Europe - he went to Jamaica. It was 1978, YMO were about to release their debut album, but Sakamoto was in Kingston, invited to play synths for Japanese idol singer Teresa Noda at Dynamic Sound Studios in a band alongside Neville Hinds and none other than Rita Marley. It’s not a story many know, but one which would spark Sakamoto’s fascination with dub and mark a new chapter in the ongoing Japanese love affair with reggae.

The Teresa Noda tracks they cut - ‘Tropical Love’ and ‘Yellow Moon’ - bookend this second volume of Time Capsule’s Tokyo Riddim compilation, which tells the wider story of how a fascination with Jamrock swept Japan, adding a dash of lime to that sweet city pop sound, embracing a globalised musical palette and creating a whole new genre in the process.

For some, like Sakamoto, a diversion into reggae was part of broader fascination with new sounds and styles, tipped into the global disco of homage and appropriation that made Japanese music of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s some of the most creative and undefinable in the world.

You had iconic shape-shifter Yosui Inoue, who toyed with reggae, afro-beat and electro-Balearic, (and whose For Life Records released several tracks on this comp), and Kay Ishiguro, who enlisted J-reggae originator Pecker on the ambitious Stevie Wonder-esque ‘Red Drip’.

Then there were the Compass Point devotees - producers and musicians alike who were enthralled by the sound of the Bahamas studio and drew on the detached cool of Grace Jones - as heard in the music of Juicy Fruits, and the disco noir of Casablanca-signed femme fatale Yuki Nakayamate. Sometimes, as was the case with Risa Minami, the J-reggae influence said more about Japan than it did about Jamaica.

But where Tokyo Riddim Vol. 1 focused on the city pop sound, this compilation goes further, digging out the more experimental collaborations and hybrids exemplified by Tomoko Aran, who in working with Yusuaki Shimizu and Mariah emphasised just how far reggae had travelled to be recast into something entirely new on the other side of the world.

Perhaps more than anything, in connecting the dots between Tokyo and Kingston, between Jamaica and Japan, the Japanese reggae was building a musical language that existed outside of the paradigms of US and European cultural hegemony - an encounter shaped by commerce, capital and creativity that is now being recognised more broadly for the first time.

The long-awaited remastered reissue of a masterpiece by legendary saxophonist Cedric “Im” Brooks!Blending African music, funk, Nyabinghi, and jazz to transcend the boundaries of reggae, this is a seminal Jamaican album that paved the way for the later “Light of Saba”!

The Dubplate series comes to the label’s spiritual home of Hackney, the stomping ground of the Douglas “Dougie” Waldrop and his Conscious Sounds label with the spin off Dub meets Funk project, the music of the Dub Specialists are presented with extended re-edits by label owners Piers Harrison and Stuart “Chuggy” Leath, alongside rising DJ star Millie McKee and studio boffin Matt Bruce (Vanity Project). Formed in 1989, the Conscious Sounds label and Conscious Music studio have been mainstays on the UK Digital Roots scene to this day, working with the likes Bush Chemists, Johan Dan, Kenny Knots and Pablo Gad. The Dub Specialists was a project created by Dougie to put aside studio sessions and explore a new interest in samplers, working with friend Chris Petter (Love Grocer) and his interest in Jazz and Funk. Using the Atari 1040 running Cubase, with a Soundcraft mixer, drum loops and Reggae basslines were played over Funk samples and layered with Petter’s chords to create a series of short tracks for DJ play. Releasing 3 albums between 1995 and 1999 on the sub label Crispy Music, they have more recently been gaining cult status. The tracks chosen all come from the first and increasingly sought after LP, Dub To Dub Break To Break and have been extended, stretched, looped and dubbed by the label family to form a club friendly EP. From the dance floor jams of Dub De Funk and Funkin’ Dub to the deeper Movin Ya and Murderous Style this is a unique fusion of Funk and Digidub that fits perfectly the ideals of the Dubplate Series.

Cumbia, currulao, bambuco, juga and Afro Colombian music taken to the realms of dub by Llorona Records & Discos Pacífico producer and dub maestro Cerrero. Cerrero steps into his lab like the alchemists of 1970s Kingston: cutting, repeating, filtering, letting the bass breathe, and allowing echo and reverb to give a new dimension to a unique selection of songs from the catalogs of Llorona Records and Discos Pacífico. Cerrero Dubs is a tribute to classic dub, crafted with the soul of cumbia, juga, and bambuco, from Palenque, San Jacinto, Guapi, and Tumaco: live manipulation, sonic experimentation, bass as backbone, delay as tool. Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto, Son Palenque, Sexteto Tabalá, Bejuco, Agrupación Changó and Semblanzas del Río Guapi… transported into a universe where the sounds of Colombia 's jungles and coasts are not remixed — they are deconstructed, twisted, and dubbed. Cerrero —sound alchemist and founder of Llorona Records and Discos Pacífico— offers a selection of versions in which the Caribbean and Afro-Pacific sounds of Colombia are transformed into hypnotic, ethereal, psychedelic, and minimalist soundscapes. A reinterpretation of the legacy of iconic groups, shaped through the console and the sensitivity of a producer exploring the possible futures of local sound. Llorona Records presenta: Cerrero Dubs Canciones emblematicas de agrupaciones legendarias del sonido Caribe y Pacifico de Colombia llevadas al territorio del dub por CERRERO, productor al frente de Llorona Records y Discos Pacífico Cerrero —productor y fundador de Llorona Records y Discos Pacífico— entra en su laboratorio como lo hacían los alquimistas del Kingston de los años 70: cortando, repitiendo, filtrando, dejando que el bajo respire, y permitiendo que el eco y la reverberación de otra dimensión a una selección única de canciones del catálogo de Llorona Records y Discos Pacífico. Cerrero Dubs es un homenaje al dub clásico, hecho con alma de cumbia, juga y bambuco, desde Palenque, San Jacinto, Guapi y Tumaco: manipulación en vivo, experimentación sonora, bajo como columna vertebral, delay como herramienta. Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto, Son Palenque, Sexteto Tabalá, Bejuco, Agrupación Changó y Semblanzas del Río Guapi… llevados a un universo donde el sonido de las selvas y costas de Colombia no se remezcla: se deconstruye, se retuerce, se dubbea. Cerrero nos entrega una selección de versiones en las que el sonido caribe y afropacífico de Colombia se transforma en paisajes hipnóticos, etéreos, psicodélicos y minimalistas. Una reinterpretación del legado de agrupaciones icónicas, desde la consola y la sensibilidad de uno de los productores que explora los futuros posibles de los sonidos locales.

Short Span hail a twinkling star in their ambient x dub microcosm with Yu Su’s 2nd LP of elegant arrangements entwined with chops by Seefeel, A Dip in the Pool and Memotone, displaying distance travelled over her 10 year catalogue. Preceded by a reputation earned over the past decade for mesmerising DJ sets, a split with CS + Kreme, and gems scattered across PPU to Second Circle and bié Records, Yu Su occupies a fissure of practice between downbeat ambient pop and dance music which has made her a cult concern. Her 2nd solo LP ‘Foundry’ continues to explore sensuous space between styles, with an effortless sense of atmosphere that's gently insistent to more rolling and dreamy motion, always with a quietly steady hand on the rudder. The chewy mid tempo acid title of the title track ‘Foundry’ best belies Yu Su’s links to the ‘floor at the album’s core, along with the lowkey groove-driven micro-dub of ‘Cul De Sac’ or ‘Wanly’, and breezy finesse of ‘Ripe Fruits’. The rest is really a showcase for her sound sensibilities, which ooze from the sticky sway of ‘A Jewel’ with Japanese ambient pop explorer Dip In The Pool, thru the pastoral 4th world scape of ’Sunless’ ft. Memotone, and gently strung-out fever dream scenery of ‘One Place After Another’ benefiting from Seefeel’s super spacious proprioception, drawn to a sublime resting heart rate with the frayed ambient fabric teased into ‘Os Cionn.’

Mysticisms’ returns to the music of the Conscious Sounds label and their short-lived but highly prized Dub meets Funk project, Dub Specialists. Created by label head Dougie Waldrop and Chris Petter (Love Grocer) to explore their interest in samplers and a love of Funk and Jazz. A hugely respected “Digital” and “Roots Reggae” label, Conscious Sounds has been a mainstay of the East London digidub sound for over 30 years. Dub Specialists released 3 albums on the Crispy Music sub label, they have recently gained considerable interest in digger circles, with rising prices to match. As with their first Dubplate outing, the release features extended re-edits by the label and friends, this time featuring versions by Lexx, Miles J Paralysis, Chuggy and Vanity Project. Working with the simplicity and skill of his studio craft, Dougie utilised the Atari 1040, Cubase and Soundcraft mixer to effect. Petters’ chords sit atop reggae basslines, funk samples, loops and this time, a heavy dose of cut up vocals in to the mix. While the first EP came from their debut album, Breat To Break, here the source material for the re-edits comes, in the main, from their second outing “Dub To Dub Beat To Beat”. A more expansive album that also dipped in to 4/4 rhythms and touches of House / Techno. Opening track Dynamic Duo is a 4/4 stepper bomb – with comedic samples from Adam West’s iconic interpretation of Batman – expertly extended by long-standing DJ, producer and edit master, Zurich’s own Alex Storrer aka Lexx, who dials things to max for a club stop. A new name on many lips, Miles J Paralysis takes it all back down with a beautifully drawn out, acid-tinged tripper. Bumpin’, the mid-tempo groove sucks you in, psychedelic and mind expanding. The flip returns to the more traditional Dub Specialists vibes of Breaks’n’Funk’ cut ups, first with (co-)label head Chuggy’s faithful extension of Heavy Dub. Featuring the classic Ijahman Levi’s vocal, the breaks flow and piano / horns stab, a dance floor shaker for the discerning. To close, secret studio fixer to many, Matt Bruce again dons his Vanity Project moniker to perfectly tease and live dub (out) the half-stepper, Reality Dub and close this latest in the Dubplate series.

Off-the-chain, polymetric & polystyle mixtape madness from Berlin-based French DJ, Marylou, on Bristol’s inimitable Accidental Meetings - FFO DJ/ rupture, Demdike Stare, Tutu, Marjai. Marylou, an affiliate of Morphine and Ominira, goes sick on ‘AMX008’ with 100 mins of dot-joining suss, tessellating futurist club styles with vintage breakcore, folk, dub, spoken word and ethnographic recordings via rudely disciplined, jazz-taught sensibilities. Trust, it’s a lot! For the duration Marylou plays deep into Accidental Meetings’ wide-open, rooted yet recombinant remit, following her nose where it goes with an extraordinary feel for the flow and juxtaposition of ostensibly, mutually exclusive styles and patterns. It takes some moxie to nail this sort of thing without sounding like a mess, and Marylou clearly constructs something properly beguiling that fucks with expectation at every turn. It will take at least a few goes to fully unravel, gauge this madness, and you’ll have a great time doing so.

The 2004 masterpiece of the dream project Rhythm & Sound by Mark Ernestus and Moritz von Oswald, who summoned legendary reggae singers to the present age. A compilation of 10-inch singles, Berlin's deepest meditative dub masterpiece with bottomless and deeply reverberating inorganic tracks and withered vocals of successive famous singers such as Cornell Campbell, Tikiman, and Love Joys. A classic album with so deep content that it still doesn't fade at all.

Emerging from the Kansai underground with a sense of ritual and restraint, G Version III returns with a slab of meditative pressure, carved for sound systems. Following last year’s cassette release on Digital Sting, the Kyoto-based producer deepens her exploration of experimental steppers and sacred low-end science.

TRK 1 treads heavy—medium-tempo four-to-the-floor steppers, soaked in 80s/90s UK dub DNA and wired with flickers of celestial synth energy, edged with something unknown.

TRK 2 drifts off-grid—a 100bpm oddity conjuring sacred synth rituals and off-beat spatial tension. Droning and eerily weightless, it hangs like a vapor of frozen scent in an echo chamber.

Flip the plate and TRK 3 and 4 ignite—raw, unrelenting steppers built to test the physical limits of the rig. No compromise, no decoration—just ritual voltage for the floor.

Riddim Chango’s 16th release channels something ancient through circuitry, born for the weight.

On a class debut for Biscuit’s choice Good Morning Tapes label, Kyoto’s dub specialist G Version III runs signature fusions of digidub steppers, drill and holographic, minor key FM synths - big FFO Devon Rexi x John T. Gast, Equiknoxx, TNT Roots, Element. One up to her 12” for Riddim Chango last year (plus the ‘Scenery From Double Glazing’ tape for Digital Sting in ’24), G Version III’s ‘Chapter II’ most finely chisels her lucidly rugged definition of the late ‘80s / early ‘90s mystic steppers sound. The OG Caribbean spirit is heard filtered thru UK dances and shored up in Japan, where G tessellates its salient points with a palette of glassy Japanese synth tones and chamber music to exquisite effect. If Wendy Carlos was a soundgyal?! Across 6 cuts she builds the dance around digidub x drill waltz ‘Livin 4’ and a haunted dancehall special in the harpsichord/horn riff of ‘An Idyll’, impressing her prowess on the fusion of subcontinental scales with a drill-tipped skip in ‘Queen G Theme Chapter II,’ and tucking right into an aerodynamic, flying steppers mode shades away from Element in ‘Motherearth Guidance.’ At a slower, wider stride her ‘Higher Grade’ goes eyes-down on massive subs, and ‘Voice of Mystique Warriyah’ adapts the classic skooled sound like TNT Roots in Tokyo. Big!

Rico Rodriguez, all-round brilliant Jamaican horn and and trombonist, played a pivotal role in shaping the sound of ska, rocksteady and reggae. Born in Kingston in 1934, he began his career in the 1950s then joined the Skatalites in the early 1960s, and whether one chalks this lucky break up to birthrights, shrewd decisions or chance sliding door moments is up to the historian. But his talent cannot be denied: over the years, Rico worked with Toots And The Maytals, Bob Marley, and The Specials. His masterful trombone solos lent parping bombast to a scene which abhorred tinniness, and the Man From Wareika album exemplified this. This dub edition is a crucial pre-release dub edition from the 1976 classic, in which we hear a full instrumental brass-and-bass dive-bombing across nine formerly unreleased Island Records trinkets.

Built on Bunny Lee’s classic riddims and topped with Carl Harvey’s free‑flowing, expressive guitar leads, Ecstasy Of Mankind

Fully licensed, all tracks restored & remastered for the 1st time! “Lots of Loving” was the third album, originally released in 1980 by Freedom Sound Record, by legendary and controversial Jamaican deejay and singer Ranking Dread. Recorded at Channel One studio, with Barnabas as engineer and produced by Sugar Minott the album featured musicians from the Black Roots Players, Sly & Robbie, Steeely (Steely & Clevie) and many others… Voiced and mixed at King Tubby’s Studio! One of the most dangerous rub-a-dub deejay lp’s !

Fully remastered and licensed, ltd to 500 copies 180 gr vinyl. Officially the latest album released by the british super group, Lows & Highs is the triumphant epilogue to these fascinating adventure in rhythm. Featuring vocals from Crucial Tony and Lizard Logan this is probably the most straight ahead reggae album in their whole discography. Producer Adrian Sherwood is in charge behind the desk while Style Scott, Eskimo Fox and Donald Campbell bring all their potential efforts on the drums. Deadly Headley and Dave’ Flash’ Wright are the top horn section here. The album features the bonus track Read And learn from 1982 single ‘Love I Can Feel’. A must have for any english dub worshipper.

Originally conceived as a promotional pre-release dub version of Man From Wareika, this album is enhanced with an array of rare and previously unreleased bonus tracks from the Island vaults, ensuring that this is by some way a finest collection of the trombone maestro’s timeless work. Available for the very first time on vinyl this is a must have for any dub fanatic.

Originally released in 1994, Protection is Massive Attack’s second album, refining the Bristol sound they introduced on Blue Lines and helping to define the contours of what would become known as trip‑hop.

An early 1982 masterpiece by Scientist, a dub alchemist also known as King Tubby's right arm. The jacket and title are amazing, but the content is heavy, crazy and humorous dub processing.

Released in 1998 as Massive Attack’s third studio album, this work is regarded as their masterpiece. Unlike the soulful and jazzy atmosphere of their previous albums Blue Lines and Protection, it deepened the trip-hop sound while strongly incorporating influences from post-punk and industrial, resulting in a cold and heavy sonic landscape. Issued by Virgin Records as a 180-gram double LP edition.

The 2004 masterpiece of the dream project Rhythm & Sound by Mark Ernestus and Moritz von Oswald, who summoned legendary reggae singers to the present age. A compilation of 10-inch singles of the version. Berlin's deepest meditative dub masterpiece with bottomless and deeply reverberating inorganic tracks. A classic album with so deep content that it still doesn't fade at all.

Reissue of Ital Dub, originally released in 1975. This is Augustus Pablo's first collaboration with King Tubby.

Bongo Joe records is pleased to present La Contra Ola, a compilation recording dedicated to the early 80’s Spanish Synth Wave and Post Punk scene. First to be published outside Spain, this anthology explores the electronic music side of the independent music produced in the days in the Iberian Peninsula: Synthetic pop music with industrial sounds including futurist Art Rock, dance-floor productions and low-fi experiments on cassettes. Classics or true hidden treasures, this selection of nineteen songs is symbolic of the musical dawn that Spain experienced during the decade marked by the return of democracy and by the creative freedom initiated by Punk music.

The first album ever to release on Jahtari vinyl, back in circulation for the first time since it’s original release in 2009! Twelve meticulously crafted lofi Dub oddities by disrupt, off-the-grid hiphop riddims with lots of SciFi samples, cheap synths and effects from another world, all soaked in gnarly but deeply cosmic textures and with expert low end mastering by peak time CGB1 at D&M in Berlin. This new vinyl LP version includes all-time classics like “SEGA Beats”, a killer chiphop dub cut of Misora Hibari’s “Ringo Oiwake”, as well as “Berzerk Dub” and “Echobombing” (the instrumental to Kiki Hitomi‘s “Nighwalkers“), which only have been released on CD or limited 7″ before. “The Bass Has Left The Building” comes with iconic cover art by Jimmy Cauty (KLF) – and an inlay poster with an exploding sound system…

The sixth installment in Roots Run Deep comes once again from Maui’s own Small Axe of Ruff Neck Posse, with lovers rock favorite “Love Attack”, produced in collaboration with Jahtomic. Originally released digitally in December 2024, the vinyl release includes the version on the B side.

Kendra Morris's 2025 board-game concept album 'Next' quickly became a fan favorite, toping several year-end lists and cementing it's place as one of the most creative album campaigns. Now six months after the record's release, Karma Chief is thrilled you bring you a 45 featuring a fan-favorite tune from the record and a brand new dub remix. 'Flat Tire,' the album's announcement track, tips its hat to old reggae from the 60’s. Inspired by the records Kendra's parents would bring home from trips to Jamaica, the tune brings you a catchy, bouncy chorus you just can't get out of your head. 'Flat Tire' was recorded with all vintage gear and tracked through a Tascam 388. It also features Ray Jacildo, collaborator of The Black Keys, Yola, on piano and organ. The B-side of the 45 features a dub remix of 'Flat Tire' by the one & only Paul Cherry. "As soon as we recorded 'Flat Tire,' Terry and I agreed immediately that there should be some sort of dub remix… the tune was made for that," Kendra says. Terry threw out Cherry's name and they agreed he was the man for the job. The final product perfectly echoes classic late 60s dub by building from of the basics of the song...stripping the production down further, playing up the reverb and adding echoes, pauses and delays in all the right places.