mysticisms

Long-hidden dub recordings from Nick Barber, better known as Doof and celebrated as a pioneer of ’90s UK trance, finally see vinyl release via esteemed imprint Mysticisms. Spanning four tracks brimming with immediacy and raw energy, each piece was captured through live desk dubbing and on-the-fly improvisation. Title cut “Love Dub So” reworks Augustus Pablo’s classic riddim into a fusion of ambient drift and heavyweight bass pressure. The variations that follow—“Mantra,” “Skunked On Planet Dub,” and “Sticks And Stones”—stretch across dub house, trip-hop, and breakbeat, channeling the fervor of the UK underground at its peak. Mastered anew from the original tapes, this release encapsulates the true essence of dub where tradition and experiment collide.

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.