Dub Recommendations March 2014

Review: Given their long individual commitments to the dubwise cause, you'd expect a collaborative album from dub techno type Scott Monteith (AKA Deadbeat) and sometime Rhythm & Sound vocalist Paul St Hilaire to be a formidable proposition. And so it proves, as the duo apply their dub techno credentials to a more traditional dub framework on The Infinity Dub Sessions. St Hilaire is at his beguiling, soulful best riding Monteith's riddims, which veer from floor-friendly dub-house and dub-techno grooves (see "Little Darling" and "Rock of Creation"), to heady trips into more traditional dubwise territory (check the celebratory "Peace & Love" and tumbling "Hold On Strong"). Throughout, there's a loving authenticity that's extremely appealing.

Review: 1970s dub specialists Jamaican Recordings' pride themselves on reissuing "Jamaica's best kept secrets". Here, they keep that pledge with an excellent collection of previously unreleased and rarely heard dubs from Bunny 'Striker" Lee's Jackpot label (one of the best-known reggae labels of the 1970s, thanks to their alliance with UK imprint Trojan). There's no details of the artists involved, though some track names suggest the presence of legends such as King Tubby and, of course, Lee himself. In some ways, it doesn't matter; the sheer quality of the dubs - rhythmic, melodic, and pleasingly delay-laden - suggests that this should be mandatory listening for anyone with even the remotest interest in Jamaican dub reggae.