Various Artists – Trevor Jackson presents: Science Fiction Dancehall Classics
There’s an argument to be made that On-U Sound is one of Britain’s most influential and forward-thinking record labels of the last three decades. While it will, naturally, always be associated with the cavernous, delay-laden swing of dub, Adrian Sherwood’s imprint has always embraced new sounds and musical ideas. This was particularly evident during the 1980s, when Sherwood – then developing a formidable reputation as a producer-for-hire –used On-U Sound as an outlet for all manner of weird-and-wonderful records that defied easy categorization. With Sherwood acting as producer, mixer and engineer, the imprint’s releases touched on everything from post-punk fuzziness, industrial and beatbox electro to wayward boogie, synth-pop, and heavily percussive world music. During this period, On-U Sound’s output perfectly encapsulated the wild, musically free-spirited outlook of post-punk DIY culture, channelling it through Sherwood’s dub-addled mind to deliver records that, some 30 years on, still sound fearlessly original, out-there and inspired.
Various Artists
Trevor Jackson presents: Science Fiction Dancehall Classics
On-U Sound
3LP, 2CD, Digital
It’s this defining – if often overlooked – section of the label’s sprawling discography that’s celebrated on Science Fiction Dancehall Classics. It was compiled by former Output boss, graphic designer, and one-time Playgroup bandleader Trevor Jackson, whose knowledge of 1980s alternative dance culture has already spawned two killer volumes of the Metal Dance series for Strut. Notably, those compilations – focused as they were on industrial, EBM and the darker side of new wave – featured numerous clattering, cacophonous compositions shot through with stuttering tape edits and dub-like production techniques. Then again, Adrian Sherwood did work with some of the most acclaimed artists from those scenes during the period, including Ministry and Cabaret Voltaire.
Certainly, if Jackson was recruited on the strength of those two sets, Sherwood made a wise choice. The formula Jackson utilised so successfully on both Metal Dance volumes – namely a mixture of personal favourites, overlooked gems, obscurities and unreleased material – seems to have formed the blueprint for Science Fiction Dancehall Classics. The result is an epic, 27-track selection that does a bang-up job of showcasing the weirder, wilder and more imaginative side of On U-Sound’s pioneering 1980s output.
Of course, there are pure dub moments – see Singers & Players’ “Kunta Kinte Dub”, Bin Sherman’s impressively percussive “Melody Dub” and Dub Syndicate’s “Over Board” – but even the most obviously reggae-influenced tracks here often come drenched in distortion, electronic noise and the controlled aggression so readily associated with the post-punk scene. For proof, check the odd-step insanity of Dub Syndicate’s “Drilling Equipment”, or the Tabla-laden exotic wonkiness of Suns of Arqa’s “Asian Rebel”.
The compilation’s real calling card, though, is not just the dizzying breadth of styles put through Sherwood’s dub blender – from sax-laden industrial funk (The Chicken Granny, Tackhead) and body-popping electro (The Circuit), to freestyle-influenced electrofunk (Neneh Cherry’s previously unheard hook-up with The Circuit), and suitably out-there post-punk rock (Allan Pellay) – but the way that many of these styles are fused in thrillingly bizarre ways. Check, for example, Mark Stewart + The Maffia’s “The Wrong Name & The Wrong Number (DJ Battle)”, which comes on like a Bristolian dub-punk take on “Grandmaster Flash’s Adventures On The Wheels Of Steel”, or Fats Comet’s suitably weird “Dub Storm”, which somehow melds crunchy beatbox rhythms, doo-wop and blues vocal samples, and all manner of trippy effects. Both, like Missing Brazilians’ proto ambient house weird-out “Quicksand Beach Party”, are nothing less than enthralling, offering experimentation and entertainment in spades.
Matt Anniss
Tracklisting:
CD1
1. Missing Brazilians – Ace Of Wands
2. Dub Syndicate – Over Board
3. African Head Charge – Off The Beaten Track
4. Creation Rebel & New Age Steppers – Chemical Specialist
5. Suns Of Arqa – Asian Rebel
6. New Age Steppers – Animal Space
7. Alan Pellay – Parasitic Machine
8. The Chicken Granny – Quit The Body
9. African Head Charge – Stebeni’s Theme
10. Neneh Cherry & The Circuit – Dead Come Alive
11. Atmosfear – When Tonight Is Over (US Thunder Mix)
12. The Circuit – Loudspeaker (alternate version)
13. Fats Comet – Dee Jay’s Program
14. Tackhead – Now What?
15. Keith LeBlanc – Move
CD2
1. Fats Comet – Dub Storm
2. Voice Of Authority – Stopping And Starting
3. African Head Charge – Latin Temperament
4. Mark Stewart + The Maffia – The Wrong Name And The Wrong Number (DJ Battle)
5. Singers & Players – Kunta Kinte Dub
6. Bim Sherman – Melody Dub
7. Shara Nelson & The Circuit – Aiming At Your Heart Pt.2
8. Playgroup – Forty Winks
9. Dub Syndicate – Drilling Equipment
10. New Age Steppers – Radial Drill
11. Missing Brazilians – Quicksand Beach Party
12. Little Annie – 77 Emerging Strips