Reggae / Dub

During the late 1970s, deejay-turned-producer Jah Thomas played a key role in the emerging dancehall movement, harnessing the Roots Radics at Channel One studio for rough-edged futuristic rhythms that became platforms for songs of everyday life. Junior Keating’s solid debut LP Weekend Lover gathered popular singles such as ‘Watch What You Do,’ which implored upright living, and lovers laments ‘Long Long Time’ and ‘Something Is Bugging Me’; ‘Conquering Lion’ showed that the versatile singer was also adept at deep roots tunes. With a tough mix by Scientist at King Tubby’s studio and additional editing by Bullwackie, this superb offering is of massive appeal to all fans of late roots and foundation dancehall.

6 tracks including a couple of edits mixes from Paolo Baldini 'Dubfiles'. Upsetter magic at its finest. Comes in a grey custom bag. Because Upsetter does it better!!

Ultra-positive consciousness from Afro-Caribbean London, circa 1979. Members of the legendary 20th Century Steel Band (one of Grand Master Flash's favourites) sailing Trinidad-wise over gratifyingly intricate African ritual rhythms. Strong vocals compliment reggae, funk, disco and soul influences to form a relentless groove machine. 

Steel an' Skin, a unit composed of young nightclub musicians born in Ghana, Nigeria, St. Kitts, Trinidad and the U.K., who once performed with Ginger Johnson's Afrikan Drummers, a highlife band under the tutelage of the late Ginger Johnson and played at Johnson's Iroko Country Club in Hampstead, London. Steel an' Skin began activities giving concerts and workshops in London schools, expanding nationwide to schools, prisons, psychiatric hospitals and summer festivals, including the world-famous Notting Hill Carnival. The group combined an admirably brave, open and unironic mix of musical forms with community outreach, non-cynical and untainted by preachiness or "social work." Good feelings from good hearts. 

This EM reissue consists of Steel an' Skin's 1979 debut 12 inch single "Reggae is Here Once Again", featuring "Afro Punk Reggae (Dub)", a fine disco-dub workout, plus some tracks from their 1984 recordings, as well as one unissued track.

We enjoyed comping Volume one so much and had such a positive response, we went right onto producing For the Love Of You Volume 2.

Having bumped this in the car for months I can assure you Sam’s selection here probably betters the first. Again it is strictly soul covers featuring interpretations of Grover Washington Jr., Midnight Star, Meli'sa Morgan and Simply Red and loads more.

Its been great working with Sam brining attention to such a wonderful UK music scene and we both would like to thank all the artists and producers who went the extra mile to make this happen…

…The end of 2021 just got a bit sweeter.

Jamaican singer-songwriter Micah Shemaiah, who has been producing a musical message with a keen focus on the relief of Rastafari and the unification of Africa for more than 10 years, has released the latest album of 21 years from for the first time in 3 years. The work consists of eight vocals and two dubs, produced by Zion I Kings. Following their trademark hardcore roots reggae style, Micah's vocal genius is greatly introduced.

Seekers international's own label, , a super-limited cassette album by musician DOCTOR NACHO, whose details are unknown except that he is a member of their artist family, has appeared! Enjoy the profound smoky sound image of the 2010s obscure music that demonstrated the acid & mysterious zone dub & dance hall sound that can only be drawn by these people, which gives off a strange pop while derailing abnormally. One that can be done. Limited to only 74 copies!

From Mille Plateaux to Leaf, Staubgold, and Raster-Noton, ~scape, among others, or on his own label Ripatti, the Finnish artist Sasu Ripatti, aka Vladislav Delay, has been exploring various iterations of the "dub culture vs. electronica", since 1997. His sonic crafts and unique signature sound have been sought after by an eclectic range of bands and artists, ranging from Massive Attack, Hauschka, Black Dice, Autopoieses, Animal Collective, or AGF. Vladislav Delay met Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare (the most prolific Jamaican rhythm section and production duo) thanks to a series of jam sessions. Trumpet player Nils-Petter Molvaer had been asked by the Jamaicans to join them and he invited Delay alongside guitar player Eivind Aarset to tag along, which eventually turned into the Nordub project. The result of these jam sessions turned into an album, mixed and mostly produced by Vladislav Delay, released on the label Okeh. It was also followed by an extensive series of live dates. This one-shot reunion was the beginning of another story: a trio composed by Delay, Dunbar, and Shakespeare. In January 2019, Vladislav Delay went to Kingston and spent some days at The Anchor studios, to record drums and bass with S&R, some voice takes and a series of atmospheric field recordings. Back to Finland, Delay started to experiment with this precious material, mixing, and overdubbing, in the comfort and quiet of his studio, based on the island of Hailuoto, Baltic Sea, Northern Finland, giving another feeling to the Jamaican trip. This became a tribute to the "dub spirit", but in a very personal way, far beyond any influence or "the obvious". 500-Push-Up is two worlds collapsing, merging, also showing some intriguing approach of the Jamaican groove, used as a filigree, like the echo or the ghost of reggae, converging and conversing with a post-industrial and experimental approach. To file beside experiments -- for instance -- such as Lee Perry's Scientist Rids The World Of The Evil Curse Of The Vampires (1981) or the On U-Sound productions. Somewhere between the old-school electronica culture, the soundscaping, the experimental paths of Lee Perry and Adrian Sherwood, ghostly clubbing anthems, minimalism, pop, jazz, without being influenced, Vladislav Delay is building a drifting and coherent sound enigma. Personnel: Vladislav Delay - electronics, sampling, percussion; Sly Dunbar - drums; Robbie Shakespeare - bass.

A miraculous sequel to the 2001 Mo Wax raga/dancehall compilation "Now Thing" is now available on analog. The legendary first compilation, which became a gateway to a different dimension of dancehall sound for many people, was released by Chrome, a label run by London DJ Felix Hall, who also boasts a cult following with his mixtape cassettes for The Trilogy Tapes and Cav Empt. Just as roots reggae and dub influenced disco and post-punk in the '70s, jungle, rap, garage, and even pop and rock have all come together in the same way. From Dave Kelly to Steely & Clevie, NYC's Bobby Konders to Ward 21, only the most important cuts from the scene's leading producers are featured. Mastered by Rashad Becker, with art & design by Will Bankhead & Oliver Payne. The album was mastered by Rashad Becker, with art work & design by Will Bankhead, Oliver Payne, and liner notes by Lloyd Bradley.

Pressure Sounds, a renowned label known for its archival reissues of rare and high-quality reggae and dub material, has released a superb compilation of Lee Perry's music from the golden age of Black Ark. The compilation includes an unreleased dubplate mix of Junior Murvin's "Roots Train" and an unreleased dubplate mix of Jimmy Riley's "Woman Gotta Have Love," as well as hard-to-find 7" and rare 12" mixes.

Pavement’s sole long-player is the stuff of legend, a record so rare that in-the-know vinyl connoisseurs have questioned its very existence. As one of the many vinyl anomalies of the day, Pavement’s obscure story is very much about a particular place and time, in this case, the fringes of the multi-cultural London music scene that existed at the tail end of the swinging sixties. According to the liner notes of the original LP, Pavement was formed in 1968 after ‘Dexter Pat and John had left their original group,’ and ‘Tony and George left theirs to unite with them.’ Then, ‘an express letter to Beirut brought Mick, who was playing there at the time.’ We are told that these musicians were ‘digging the solid soul sounds’ and ‘the exciting rhythms of the Caribbean, ska and reggae,’ and after two months of steady rehearsals, the band ‘launched themselves into the rat race of popular music’ in November 1968. They supposedly had so much success as a warm-up act after playing up and down the country in support of various unnamed groups that they were ‘soon being booked as top of the bill,’ hence the need for this. Pavement’s self-titled debut album was the first LP released by Crystal, the subsidiary of President Records that was established in 1968 by Jack Price, a songwriter and harmonica player that had just replaced Siggy Jackson as label manager at Melodisc Records. Price had his finger in a number of different pies: in addition to promoting Melodisc’s ska and reggae catalogue, he was soon to produce the ground-breaking various artists album Rock Steady Hits Of 69 for Fontana with London-based reggae performers, which helped bring Caribbean rhythms into non-specialist music shops for the very first time, and enjoyed the publishing on The Cats’ massive ‘Swan Lake’ 45, a hugely successful pop-reggae adaptation. Jack also ran a recording studio of his own, reputedly the first London facility with eight-track recording equipment. The original liner notes suggested that we should ‘rest assured that there will be more singles and albums to come from this refreshing group’ and that ‘this news will please a lot of people.’ Of course, things didn’t quite work out that way, yet this reissue of the Pavement LP reminds that reggae, soul and other foreign forms were spicing up the London music scene as the 1960s drew to a close. Delve into its contents and ponder further on its particulars.

If you are in search of the origins of Jamaican music this is a great album to start with. Mento was the original Jamaican folk music that predates Ska and Reggae. Played Exclusively on acoustic instruments Mento was based on both African and European elements. The 1950s was Mento’s golden age, as many artists recorded songs using a variety of rhythms and styles. It was the peak of Mento’s creativity and popularity and the birth of Jamaica’s recording industry.

Completely unreleased song 10 "! Another take of the famous song History by Carlton Jackson + its dub version by Lee Perry & The Upsetters, Upsetting Rhythm Pt 1 of The Upsetters on the other side." Black Ark "instinctive smoke It's full of smoke !!

An unreleased take of a black lamentation sung by a one-way raster singer released in 1977. The recording of the heyday of Black Ark, the harmony of vocals and meditations, which is more vivid than the original take, is this the first take? I feel more enthusiastic than 12. B- This is also an instrumental number by the upsetters of cool drums and bass with unreleased minor tones. Nobody knows vocals, DJs, instruments, or any take, even though it looks so good.

Clint Eastwood followed his older brother Trinity onto the sound systems of western Kingston, becoming another microphone fiend to impact during the mid-1970s. After recording singles for Ossie Hibbert, Manzie Swaby and Joe Gibbs, Eastwood teamed up with Bunny Lee for a series of sublime LPs, African Youth a super 1978 set voiced at King Tubby’s and mixed by Prince Jammy over some of Lee’s tough Aggrovators rhythms. Highlights include tough deejay takes of Johnny Clarke’s ‘African Roots’ and Cornel Campbell’s ‘Stars,’ as well as a cut of Black Uhuru’s ‘Eden Out There,’ from Jammy’s archive. This is a crucial roots classic with all killer, no filler status!

produced by Brad Osborne and a dub mix of Bunny Lee's roots classic by King Tubby.

Phillip Fullwood's 1979 dub album "Words in Dub" (1979), which he produced with Winston McKenzie, Black Ark and Channel One, fully utilized the skills he had cultivated with Burning Spear. The combination of great content and extreme scarcity has led to a frighteningly high evaluation of the album, and the original version is always sold for a very high price, a work that fans continue to crave. This is the world's first reissue with the original sleeve faithfully reproduced.

The 1988 album by Dr. Alimantado, a reggae singer & DJ from Kingston, Jamaica, who ran independent labels such as Ital Sounds and was part of the Rastafari movement, was praised by Johnny Rotten and popular among punk rockers. This is the first official reissue in 30 years! The Serananding Doc," with its laid-back synths and floating mix, and "Musical Selenographyseismic Rock," with its good vibes and dub rhythms straight out of the Ariwa recordings. This album is also recommended for those who like ON-U!

This 1973 album by Lee Perry's The Upsetters, released on the eve of the birth of Black Ark and their last album for Trojan, has been reissued on vinyl by Superior Viaduct's Antarctica Starts Here. This is a classic album that already combines elements of funk, reggae, and dub, as well as the reggae remake of Al Green-Love & Happiness.

Pressure Sounds reissues "Super Star-Disco Rockers" released from Weed Beat under the umbrella of UK Dynamic Sounds in 1977 for the first time, a famous album by a genius producer Bunny Lee! Tommy McCook, a famous saxophonist, was fascinated by the free jazz of John Coltrane who was active in the Jazz world at the same time, and King Tubby and Prince Jammy mixed the deep and beautiful music that he arrived at through repeated experiments with percussion of Rasta and militant beat. King Tubby and Prince Jammy mixed this masterpiece.

Augustus Pablo's first album, released in 1974, is a masterpiece of his stoic and exotic Far East sound.

The Kingstonians were a Jamaican reggae trio formed in 1966 by Cebert Bernard (aka Jackie Bernard), his brother Lloyd "Footy" Bernard and their mutual friend Lloyd Kerr. The Kingstonians, a Jamaican reggae trio formed by Lloyd "Footy" Bernard, Lloyd Kerr and their mutual friend Lloyd Kerr, released their only album in 1970 on vinyl reissue from Antarctica Starts Here, a 60s/70s label affiliated with Superior Viaduct. Recorded at Dynamic Studios between 1969 and 1970 and produced by Derrick Harriott. Recorded at Dynamic Studios between 1969 and 1970, and produced by Derrick Harriott, the album features a number of classic songs, including the skinhead reggae classic "Sufferer," which was like a soundtrack for the British working class in the 1970s.

Produced by King Jammy, this is a computerized, dancehall album. This is a dancehall album produced by King Jammy with computerized, great out-of-key vocals.

Produced by Linval Thompsonp, Revolutionaries' 1979 dub masterpiece has been reissued in 180g weight.

Originally released on Hit in 1977, "The Best Of Freddy McKay" is not a best of album but Freddy McKay's third album, recorded at Channel One and Harry J's studio and backed by the Revolutionaries. The Best Of Freddy McKay" is not a best of album but Freddy McKay's third album, recorded at Channel One and Harry J's studio and backed by Revolutionaries.

Pablo Moses's deep roots reggae, released in 1980, is a quietly feverish, isolated Rastafarian masterpiece. Official vinyl reissue.