After a month of pop music I need some soul cleansing. So I'm diving deep into the pool of soul-cleansing Dub.
"Ethereal, mystical, conceptual, fluid, avant-garde, raw, unstable, provocative, transparent, postmodern, disruptive, heavyweight, political, enigmatic … dub is way more than 'a riddim & a bassline', even if it is that too. Dub is a genre & a process, a 'virus' & a 'vortex'; it draws the listener into a labyrinth, where there are false signposts & 'mercurial' trails that can lead to the future, the past … or to nowhere at all."
from the Introduction to Remixology-Tracing the Dub Diaspora by Paul Sullivan (a must-read for any Dubhead).
Here're some early Dub releases from Adrian Sherwood paving the way for that On-U sound.
In 1980 Sherwood founded the On-U-Sound Records label. It was a collaborative project involving Sherwood working with members of the original Creation Rebel crew plus various musicians from the Jamaican Dub & London post-punk scenes, such as The Slits' Ari Up, who helped form New Age Steppers, Mark Stewart (The Pop Group), Keith Levene & Jah Wobble (after PiL 1.0 split), Neneh Cherry, Vivien Goldman, & Steve Beresford.
Sherwood recalls:
"I remember having gigs and in the crowd you would have the Sex Pistols, The Slits, The Clash, Billy Idol … sometimes all these people at our gigs on the same night. The crowd would be watching the crowd! That's how I met Ari Up – we did The Slits tour with Don Cherry and Happy House. We were guests with Prince Hammer, then the next month we would support The Clash. We had a bit of a ground swell. We knew The Ruts through Misty and Roots. With a lot of this I was in the right place at the right time and a complete fan."
On Dub from Creation: Tony Chinn - guitar; Clifton 'Bigga' Morris - keyboards; Doctor Pablo - melodica & percussion; Clinton Jack - bass; & Eric 'Fish' Clarke.
Side A -
Dub from Creation
Basic Principals
Rebel Rouser
Creation Vibration
Creation in a Iration
Side B -
Dub Fusion
Mirage
Liberation
Rising Star
Vision of Creation
At the same time, Adrian worked on Cry Tuff Dub Encounter, Chapter 1 , an album he had just finished mixing for Prince Far I , which was engineered by Dub producer & Gooseberry Sound Studios stalwart Mark Lusardi.
The first three chapters of Cry Tuff can be found here.
While Dub from Creation is a fairly traditional-sounding Dub album, the follow-ups, Rebel Vibrations (1979), the classic Starship Africa (truly unique in that it was mixed with the effects before the beats) & Psychotic Junkanoo (1981) grew progressively bolder in terms of using sound collage techniques to weave elements of world music, industrial noise, & ambient sounds into the Dub blueprint.
On Rebel Vibrations: Crucial Tony - guitar, bass, & percussion; Bigga Morrison - piano, organ, synthesizer, & percussion; Doctor Pablo - melodica & percussion; Lizard - bass & percussion; & Style Scott - drums & percussion.
Side A -
Rebel Vibration
Jungle Affair
Hunger & Strife
Ian Smith Rock (Dub)
Side B -
Diverse Doctor
Mountain Melody
Black Lion Dub
Doctor's Remedy
On Starship Africa: Bigga Morrison & Fatfingers - organ & piano; Doctor Pablo - melodica & synthesizer; Tony 'Tsungirai' Henry & Lizard - bass; Charles 'Eskimo' Fox & Style Scott - drums; & Ranking Magoo & Sucker - percussion.
Side 1 -
Starship Africa:
Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4
Section 5
Side 2 -
Space Movement:
Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4
On Psychotic Jonkanoo: Crucial Tony - guitat, bass & vocals; Lizard Logan - bass & vocals; Eskimo Fox - drums & vocals; & Ranking Magoo - percussion & vocals.
Although given the On-U catalogue # ON-U LP4, it was not originally released by On-U Sound.
Side One -
The Dope
African Space
Chatti Mouth
Threat to Creation
Side Two -
Highest Degree
Mother Don't Cry
Yuk Up
Drum Talk
"People get warped by dub … and they never recover." – Ian Penman
Madness coming soon,
NØ
Dub from Creation
ReplyDeletehttps://mega.nz/file/CskFwAIR
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Rebel Vibrations
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Starship Africa
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Psychotic Jonkanoo
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Thank You
ReplyDeletePraises to the most high! Dub will save us!
ReplyDeleteA lotta folks hittin' Creation Rebel hard & heavy. Thanks to all for your comments.
ReplyDeleteJah bless !
ReplyDeleteHello, thank you for this wonderful blog!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the wonderful comment.
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