Juno Recommends Dub August 2020

Review: Italy's Babe Roots crew show off their silky dub techno credentials here with a couple of immersive new singles. "Music Mission" (feat Galas) is a bottomless cut with warped bass rumbles and endless echo overlaid by a classic reggae vocal from Galas. "World Struggle" (Ambient dub) casts you free from the dance floor with its floating chords full of grainy greyness and cloudy tension. The EP highlight might be "World Struggle" (feat Danny Coxson), a heavyweight, slow motion dub with earth shattering kicks and a deeply buried low end oscillation that's detailed with thunder claps and a soulful Danny Coxson musing on struggle up top.

Review: Hot beer sounds pretty unappealing to those of us who don't live in warm climates, but "Hot Beer" is killer. Named after the fact that a warm beer actually cools you down more than a cold one, it's a rugged roots reggae roller from O.B.F. & Nazamba that is limited to 500 copies and comes with a well worth seeing animation. The slow motion grooves come laden with piano riffs and snaking bass that slows your heart beat to a crawl, and on the flip, the studio trickery is upped and plenty of effects make it an even more heady roller.

Review: Centry's essential In Dub set gets a welcome reissue from Partial Records. It first came out in 1993 with all 10 cuts making a devastating impact with varied roots sounds and heavy dubs keeping you locked. Band members Nigel Lake, Chris Petter and Dougie Wardrop also layered in plenty of horns and guest vocal drops by the likes of Danny Red, King General, and Barry Issac, and the whole record is dubbed out and phased to infinity and beyond. Limited to just 500 copies, this timeless document of dub is sure to move fast, so don't sleep.

Review: A recent collaboration between dub producer Manasseh and virtuoso violin-viola player Praise gave rise to a full length called Manasseh Meets Praise. It's a fresh blend of classical and reggae that has heavy rhythms and gorgeous instrumental layers that carry you away. The lies of David Roddigan were a huge fan and now some of the key cuts from it are presented don this vital standalone 12" by Roots Garden. There are breezy summer rollers and pained dub anthems included along the way.

Review: As the small but well formed Nunki label traces towards double figures, mainstay Ivan Dubious comes through with more of his haunting, spooky and spacious dubs. "Crystal" is the opener, with a wobbling low end that is fat and fizzing with meance, with echoing hits ringing out up top. ON the flipped, "Answer" is a little lighter, with upbeats and mesmeric harmonicas bleeding out of the mix and taking you on a spiritual trip. It's a tight and well crafted 7" once again from this German label, then.

Review: Having road tested these jams at huge gigs around the world before the lockdown locked us down, Fat Freddy's Drop now unleashes these dub wise detonations. Special Edition Part 1 is said to be the first edition of a long promised double album with separate chapters. There are plenty of song writing skills on show here as well as technical innovations and real studio magic with soul drenched dub, old school reggae and new school vocal riddims all sounding super fresh.

Review: For those who know, Eugene 'Yonachak' Cline is a genius producer, singer and multi-instrumentalist who hails from St Lucia. This new long player on Hornin Sounds shines a light on that with some of his finest cuts from the 70s and 80s serve dup in all their glory. Opener 'Too Much Confusion" is a a deep roots joint filled with suffering, Yonacha's vocal fluttering at the top end as he relives his pain. An instrumental version and two different dub versions close out the first side, with two different takes of the more ponderous dub joint "Rejoice In Jah" taking care of the flip along with the much busier "Calypso Fever". Vital stuff.