Dub Recommendations Best Of 2015

Review: Not all remixes make sense, but there's something fitting about British dub-reggae and post-punk producer Dennis Bovell reworking tracks by Glaswegian misfits Golden Teacher. Put together by Bovell at Glasgow's infamous Green Door Studio on a day off from touring, these dub revisions take the hard-to-pigeonhole six-piece's adventurous productions and add an extra layer of spaced-out goodness. While Bovell has provided some overdubs - mostly dub organ stabs - for the most part he's just made everything extra-dubby, extra-freaky and altogether weightier. The results are, predictably, mesmerizing, turning "Like a Hawk" and the previously unreleased "Instigator" into dancefloor dub masterpieces.

Review: Two years after Congo Natty announced the jungle revolution on Big Dada, he's back with yet another paradigm shifting selection. Effectively this is a remix album but the artists have been hand-picked to ensure the same consistency and complete finish as the original. Dub maestros old and new lay down some serious twists; Sukh Knight fires up "Get Ready" with bellowing synths, Jinx In Dub adds an obese bulbous digidub version of "Nu Beginningz" while the hugely influential UK pioneer Adrian Sherwood unleashes his inner ragamuffin with the skank-happy junglist "UK Allstars In Dub" shakedown. Another smooth and explorative session, the revolution will be dubwised.

Review: As part of the Young Echo posse and all round dubwise Bristol music fraternity, Ishan Sound has already been wowing the most switched on heads with his strongly rooted soundsystem craft, popping up on ZamZam Sounds and Tectonic for singles in the past couple of years. Now his style is properly documented with this double pack release on Peng Sound, finding his authentic digi-dub sound represented across eight deadly cuts. There's chirpy bounce aplenty in "Elemental (Part 1)", dread-filled drama on "Kala", and captivating steppers business on "Wickedness", contributing to the fine lineage of dubwise music that continues to emanate out of Bristol.

Review: Modern dub doesn't get much more authentic than Scrilla's output. At points overwhelmingly spacious and coded with deep, warm bass; both "Higher Plane" and "Maroon" instantly envelop... The former lives up to its name as the kicks double up with hypnotic insistency that's borderline techno until the snares come back into the mix. "Maroon" takes the funkier route with wafting melodica notes bent and tripped out to the max with some perfectly positioned reverb and a beautifully bubblesome bassline.

Review: Kenzo's Lion Charge machine fires up for a new year with this spectacular slab of modern dub from Croatian producer Egoless. "From Dust To Dub" is a tightly coiled bouncer with a bassline so bulbous technically it requires diet advice from its GP. "Broken Tape Dub" keeps its feet in the same dance but its head is miles away thanks to tripped out mourns and outer planetary textures of the high and low variety vie for our attention. The perfect balance of roots fire and future.

Review: Trevor Jackson continues on plundering the vaults of classic genres of yesteryear. Following up the sterling effort of the Metal Box series of industrial and EBM classics, he now gathers the very best of Adrian Sherwood's seminal On-U sound imprint for this extensive compilation. All the usual suspects are here; Dub Syndicate with "Over Board", African Head Charge's "Stebeni's Theme" (amongst others) and how could we not forget Tackhead, who appear with the heavy "Now What?" Also appearing are Keith Le Blanc, Mark Stewart & The Maffia and Jackson's own Playgroup project plus many others, covering the imprints' illustrious history over three LPs. Essential listening.

Review: A second record to this Junior Dread name comes in remix form, with Moonshine Recordings plucking versions from Joseph McGann & Sam Barrett's Gorgon Sound project. The two Peng Sound artists deliver a harmonic remake of cheerful flutes, light backing vocals and walking basslines with keys to match. Hungarian producer DJ Madd, who has close ties with the Bristol's Black Box, sits Junior Dread's vocals deeper in the mix which lightly expels the word 'freedom' behind a wall of bass and 808 kicks, while frenetically designed percussion will keep the feet moving while the heads are down.