WhoDemSound Vinyl & CDs

Review: The long reliable WhoDemSound imprint is once again coming correct here with a heavy 7" of futurist dub pressure. Kai Dub is the man behind the music and lays down a woodpecker like percussive line, with synths melting and drifting off to the horizon as the fat bottom drums wiggle below. Oodles of echo and revel make the track as full as you could imagine, then the flip side dub does away with the lead to really drag you down into the depths of bass. These are two rolling rhythms that you will never want to end.

Review: London's Kibir La Amlak continues to breathe new life into the traditional sound system on this new one on WhoDemSound. He does so with respect, always, and with plenty of knowing nods to the culture. "Ascension Rock" has tons of reverb and delay and a mesmerising flute lead that floats high above the stumbling drums and tumbling toms. Flipside "Twists & Turns Dub" is a more heady workout with extra fx, analogue trickery and swagger to spare.

Review: Donovon Kingjay's one and only album so far, Higher Meditation from 2014, is well regarded in dub circles despite being only previously available on CD. It now seems some of the leading cuts from it are making their way to wax, which will please sound system DJs across the world. This one from WhoDemSound focusses on 'Compromising Done', a fresh cut with elastic bass that bobs up and down as Kingjay muses on living in a concrete jungle. The reverse has a badman dub for more direct applications.

Review: "In this time of war and crime... in this time of frustration and tribulation... guide us!" A veritably desperate prayer against the vagaries of a newly established Babylon, Whodem's latest Christmas offering on wax hears stalwarts J. Robinson, Whodemsound and Bopper Ranking team up to scramble together every flammable resource possible, to produce something, anything, resembling a guiding light. In other words: desperate times call for radical, rootsier methods. The dub here is just as affecting as the A, basking in the pure freshness of verbed-out rims and lonesome metric-modded delays.

Review: As Whodemsound races towards its 50th outing, it presses up yet another great little 7", this time with Bopper Ranking delivering some great spoken word roots. 'The Man That I Am' is just under four minutes of super clean dub with digital synths adding a future-facing feel to the sultry horns that drift up top and the traditional dub rhythms that roll deep down low. The conscious lyrics make this an even more heady experience and on the flip is a dub version for those who prefer to whittle things down to the bare dub essentials.