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Dub Music Thread
What is dub music?
The word 'dub' today is used to describe a genre of music that consists predominantly of instrumental re-mixes of existing recordings. These re-mixes radically manipulate and reshape the recording through the use of sound effects. The production and mixing process is not used just to replicate the live performance of the recording artist, but audio effects and studio 'trickery' are seen as an integral part of the music. The roots of dub can be traced back to Jamaica in the late 1960s, where it is widely accepted that Osbourne Ruddock (aka King Tubby) pioneered the style Ruddock turned the mixing desk into an instrument, with the deejay or mixer playing the role of the artist or performer. These early dub examples can be looked upon as the prelude to many dance and pop music genres. Dub takes its name from the “dub plates” that were cut as instrumental B-sides to the hit ska, rocksteady, and–later–reggae singles of ’60s Jamaica. Producers routinely dropped vocal and rhythm tracks in and out of mixes to test sound levels. The dub sound–rhythms, bass lines, mixing sensibilities, and vibe is experiencing a massive resurgence that is stretching across contemporary music, from the bass-heavy trip-hop of Massive Attack and Portishead to new instrumental post-rock bands such as Tortoise to the manic, cut-time beats and subsonic rumble of U.K. jungle and even into some punk bands, such as Fugazi. Meanwhile, producers and deejays as Bill Laswell, Tricky, the Orb, Mad Professor, Adrian Sherwood, Dubmatrix, Thievery Corporation, Blackbeard, Peter Kruder and Richard Dorfmeister and others continue to push toward the 21st century and are taking dub along with them. |
A to Z Index of Dub Artists
This index is intended to be a work in progress. Eventually [/URL]I'd like to see a one or two sentence description of each group which would include the nation of origin, time era, the names of a couple of good cuts, and the sub genre of dub for each artist. I also want to include a link for each artist where the reader can listen to examples of each artist's work... I'll probably use the All Music Guide for guide for many of my blubs and musical links.
If you use an excerpt from All Music Guide please acknowledge them or any other source. The free use laws governing copyrighted material in the USA allows 150 word passages or less, provided you acknowlege the source. I'm not sure what the UK free use laws are but I imagine they're similar to the USA, since nearly every enforceble copyright is held by a global corporation. All Music Guide actually encourages free usage within legal limitations provided you acknowledge them as a source. This is by all means a collective enterprise and forum members should feel free to cut and paste the index and add artists, blubs and links to the index in the manner of the Wickipedia collaborative method of participation. If it's okay with Jackhammer I'd like him to assist me on editing the entries on the list for format, content and grammar. When you complete an entry use the [B] to highlight the artist name and add a space between your entry and the next entry. I wrote the first entry for 10 Ft. Ganga Plant as an example of format style I'd like to use. The only rule of thumb is that all new artists posted must have recorded works within the genre of dub. Non-reggae artists can be included if they have a significant body of work using dub studio techniques. ================================================== 0-9 Numerical 10 Foot Ganja Plant-No other American band has shown as much dedication to preserving the spirit of 1970s roots reggae as the mysterious 10 Ft. Ganja Plant, a group that deliberately keeps its lineup shrouded in a cloud of pungent smoke (though it's an open secret that the band shares several members in common with the Ithaca, NY-based roots collective John Brown's Body). Source- Recommended Album:Midnight Landing ROIR Records (2003) Source: All Music Guide A African Head Charge-Led by percussionist Bonjo I, African Head Charge formed in the early '80s and has released seven albums with a shifting lineup that also includes Prisoner, Crocodile, Junior Moses and Sunny Akpan. The band works in the same dub psychedelia territory as Adrian Sherwood's work, which isn't surprising since most of African Head Charge's albums have been released through — and produced by — Sherwood and his On-U Sound label. Recommended Albums: In Pursuit of the Shashamane Land Restless Records (1994) and Songs of Praise On U-Sound Records (1991) Source: All Music Guide The Aggrovators A key session band from the mid-'70s. Often employed by producer Bunny "Striker" Lee, the Aggrovators had interchangeable personnel with the Revolutionaries and both bands cut the majority of their sides at the legendary Channel One Studios. Recommended Album: Agrogrovators Meet the Revolutionaries at Channel One. Culture Press (1998) Source- All Music Guide Augustus Clarke- One of the great dancehall and reggae producers, Gussie Clarke has been a successful Jamaican producer since the early '70s, when he helmed Big Youth's debut, Screaming Target, and the 1973 debut from I Roy. More known in Britain than in America, many of Clarke's early records were issued there by the Trojan label and as early as 1975 a cult fan base began to emerge around Gussie's dub sound. Recommended Album: Ram Dancehall Mango Records (1990) Source-All Music Guide. Augustus Pablo - As any business person will tell you, the way to success is through the discovery of a niche or a previously unexploited market. Still, few business people, and even fewer musicians, would have believed that there was a market for the sound of the melodica. What next, they would have s******ed, a kazoo? Yet Augustus Pablo would take this child's toy and launch a revolution in Jamaican music. Not only was Pablo's melodica unique, it would sweep the entire island's scene and become an integral part of the music of the era. Recommend Albums: East of the River Nile Message Records (1977) & Rockers Meet King Tubby in a Fire House Yard Records (1980). Source AMG Asian Dub Foundation - Asian Dub Foundation formed in 1993 as an outgrowth of the documentary Identical Beat, a film shot at London's Farringdon Community Music House, the site of a series of summer workshops designed to teach Asian children the essentials of music technology. In charge of the workshops were tutor Aniruddha Das and youth worker John Pandit, also a noted DJ; with one of their students, a 15-year-old Bengali rapper named Deedar Zaman, they soon formed a sound system which they called the Asian Dub Foundation. Recommended Albums- : Rafi's Revenge Slash Records (1998) & Community Music FFRR Records (2000) Source AMG B Bad Brains- By melding punk with reggae, Bad Brains became one of the definitive American hardcore punk groups of the early '80s. The BB have experimented in dub reggae projects. Recommended Album: I and I Survived (Dub) Reggae Lounge Records (2002). Source:AMG Basque Dub Foundation - The Basque Dub Foundation started in the early 90s as studio project by Iñaki Yarritu, a London based reggae musician originally from the Basque Country (northern Spain). Iñaki moved into music production in the late 80's having being previously involved in Reggae since the late 70s as a radio DJ, journalist and promoter. In their early days BDF toured (as a sound system) supporting Mad Professor in the first ever Dub sessions to take place in Spain. Recommended Album: BDF Meets Loud & Lone Brixton Records (2005) Source: Wikipedia The Beat (aka the English Beat) Beats International Bedouin Soundclash Blackbeard (aka Dennis Bovell) Bonobos Brain Damage Sound System The Bug Burning Spear Dennis Bovell Glen Brown The Black Seeds The Bug Black Uhuru C Culver City Dub Collective D De Facto Digital Mystikz The Drastics Dreadzone Dry & Heavy Dub Band (Linton Kwesi Johnson) Dub Incorporation Dubmatrix Dub Pistols Dub Trio Dub Wiser Dub Syndicate Dubware Dubtribe E Easy Star All-Stars The Expendables F Fat Freddy's Drop Fishmans Free Moral Agents G Joe Gibbs Gorillaz Groundation H Derrick Harriott High Tone Keith Hudson I illScarlett J Jah Shaka Jah Wobble Jellybass Linton Kwesi Johnson Junior Reid K Kanka Katchafire King Chilla King Jammy King Tubby Kode9 Kora L Bill Laswell Bunny Lee Lee "Scratch" Perry Long Beach Dub Allstars M Mad Professor Massive Attack Mikey Dread More Rockers Marty Munsch Mute Beat Michael Gibson Manasseh Mutaburka N Niney The Observer O Orb Ott OPM P Lee "Scratch" Perry Prince Far I Prince Jammy Pitch Black R Roots Radics Roots Tonic Roots Manuva Ragana S Salmonella Dub Santogold Satori Scientist The Slackers Slightly Stoopid Sly & Robbie Smith & Mighty Sneaker Pimps Soldiers of Jah Army Sublime Suicide Bid T Tapper Zukie The Black Seeds Thievery Corporation Linval Thompson Tosca Trentemøller The Michaels U UB40 V Vibronics Victor Rice Vladislav Delay Y Yabby You Youth Z Zion Train |
This looks like it should be in the Members Journal if you want? I'll try and contribute once i get the format, looking forward to it.
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Forgot Blind Idiot God, though I guess they only touch upon the style.
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Regardless of where the index is ultimately placed, I'd like to keep up the Dub Music Thread because there seems to a growing interest in dub music among collectors and music fans currently. By the way the typeface is Georgia standard size, which is a bit easier to read. All you have to do is post your entry and I'll format it, edit it and add it to the Master Index. |
OK sounds good. Might make a good sticky when it's more complete.
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I still hate the fact that Fat Freddy's Drop get called a dub band. There is barely any elemnts of Dub in their music. Plenty of Soul, a little funk and Reggae. Root's Manuva is A Hip Hop artist who had a Dub version of an album released and Sneaker Pimps are guitar heavy Trip Hop. Is it your own personal list?
Nice thread though. I will chime in with my two penneth worth at some stage. |
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I've been on a break from reggae/dub for the last week or two, but I'll come back to my senses sooner or later. Great thread, keep up the good work. |
Jah Roots
Sure Dread Abassi All Stars are a few more to add to that list. |
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I saw salmonella dub live late last year
they were awesome great list man Can't say I agree on everything but still good. |
Gotta love ADF.
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I'll add any names that are suggested. I didn't realize it at the time but this project is going to take longer than I thought it would. But that's okay, I'll spend a little time on the index each day. I like mundane research tasks that most folks abhor because of my educational background.
By the way I'm doing quite a bit of remixing on my computer sound-board rig myself and I'll probably put something out in MP3 format by summer under the musical alias of Towering Inferno Dub. |
Hi, I just joined the Forum. I'm a big Reggae Dub Fan. I still listen to Lee Perry and Linton Kwesi Johnson(LKJ In Dub).
I wonder if anyone has listened to the CD Sound System Dub by Alpha & Omega. I absolutely love this CD. It's basically a best of Alpha & Omega CD. I have listened to it off and on for almost 2 years. It's ethereal and sometimes it's eerie or spiritual sounding. I believe they are from the UK. I recently purchased Disassemble Dub by Phase Selector Sound. There are 4 good tracks on there and 2 great tracks. Any recommendations for very rootsy dub music? |
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http://www.flyglobalmusic.com/fly/ar.../slynrobie.jpg and here is their version of 'Here Comes The Rain Again' originally by the Eurythmics: |
I checked out the Dubmatix album that was posted on here.
It was pretty good, nice to listen to at first, but I really found it hard to make it through the entire album. |
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The strength of dub music is that it wears well with repeated playings because you keep rediscovering things in the mix that you didn't realize were there. Dub cuts that appear to be unremarkable upon the first listen often flower into exquisite musical jewels after several listens. Unless you're a hardcore fan of the performer it's hard to sit through any album on a single listen, especially an instrumental album. If I purchase an album it will often take me a month or two to listen to it entirely. I spend a lot of time with each song to fully absorb the content. I'm a big fan of Charles Mingus but to this day I can't sit through an entire playing of one of his albums. Mingus' compositions are so emotionally demanding that listening to four or five Mingus songs in a row can be an exhausting experience. I'm more intrested in figuring out how I work a single Mingus' song into a set list of dance music so more people will get a chance to find out what he was all about. When I make a sound system playlist, I use dub riddims and other insturmental music as segues into otherwise abrupt changes in genre or tempo. What I'll do, for example, is play three consecutive roots rock songs, and use a dub instrumental as a segue into a three song set of early punk rock, then use a surf instrumental to segue into a set of three soul music songs and then use a brazilian insturmental to segue into a three song set of roots reggae to wrap the set. One of the tricks I learned from sound system selectors in Jamaican dance halls was the mystical power of the triad. The best Jamaican deejays always select music in sets of threes. By structuring a set of music using triads I learned that you could generate a lot more excitement to your sound system song list. It also helped that I spent a year or so in a Boston night club setting doing live dance hall deejay clashes with Jah Prince who was the was the leading reggae deejay on the East Coast in the late Seventies and early Eighties. Jah Prince was kind enough to let me share the booth with him at his own Thrusday night spinning gig, but he didn't need me to draw a crowd. You really do learn the technical skills and trade tricks to drop a smokin' good set of music, if you serve an apprenticeship with a highly skilled deejay with a good pair of ears. |
The Expendables and Slightly Stoopid are pretty amazing.
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Where does dubstep fit in this? I head some tunes by Rusko the other day which were bangin', but a mile away from my (admittedly naive) interpretations of sub...
He's on myspace if you want to have a listen |
That's electronica and has it's own thread in that forum.
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Dub Reggae Essentials Hip-O Records (2000) The Trojan Dub Box Sanctuary Records (1999) This Is Crucial Reggae (Dub) Sanctuary Records (2004) Towering Dub Inferno Roir Records (1990) Run It Red Blood and Fire Records (2005) Heavyweight Sound Blood and Fire Records (1995) Dubwise and Otherwise Blood and Fire Records (1997) Heavyweight 2 Blood and Fire Records (1997) The Rough Guide to Dub RGNET Records (2005) Arkology (Lee Perry) Island Records (2004) Those 10 collections cover nearly every essential dub artist in the roots style. It also adequately covers the respective territories of five giants of the golden era of dub: King Tubby, Lee Perry, Mad Professor, Jah Shaka and Scientist. I'll try and come up with a list of essential dub albums because the quality of the work done by each artist was very uneven depending upon the studio they were remixing in and other variables. |
An Inquiry
About 20 years ago I heard a Irish band that played traditional Celtic music using dub techniques. The band was even a guest on my radio show but I can't recall their name to save my life.
I thought perhaps one of our more musically astute UK forum members could assist me by venturing an educated guess on the name of the band. No, it wasn't any of the top-tier Celtic bands like the Chieftans, Clannad, the Bothy Band or the Pogues. These guys were not a household name, not even among fans of Celtic music or dub, but their album was fantastic. They were so impoverished they couldn't even afford to give me a promo copy of the album. As far as I know, the mystery band only did one American tour which was a short East Coast tour around 1985 or '86. It was 5 or 6 male performers with whom I had an extensive on-air conversation with about Celtic dub. I've been trying to figure out the name of the band for 20 years now. They've put out at least two albums in the UK but I have yet to come across the band's music in an American record store. Put on your thinking caps and lend me a hand! |
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I haven't a clue who that would be but it definitely sounds like something I would like to listen to! Let me know if you ever do find them out. |
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Celtic Cross? Maybe, *sigh* I'll look around. |
Thanks, Gavin B.
I will check out each and every one of your recommendations. |
If anyone here loves Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon Album, you might like a reggae dub version of it.
It's called Dub Side of the Moon by the Easystar All Stars. It's not all dub but there is plenty of dub in it. Although it's hard to imagine someone creating a reggae version of this album, they did a good job of pulling this off. The song with the female vocal(Great Gig in the Sky?) is my favorite track. |
I am slowly getting into dub. So far I have some Scientist, Lee Perry, King Tubby, and Easy Star All Stars.
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http://iyalion.com/lion.gif
Iration Steppas Meets Zion Train Dub Club 29 October 2000, Dingwalls, London length 1:09:24 Iration Steppas meets Zion Train.zip Soundsystem b2b 'clash'. A blend of dub, dancehall, roots, ragga. Hiss is not bad but if it bothers you lower the treble and it goes without saying push the bass. -Zion Train - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia -Iration Steppas Official Website - Vanguard of Dub |
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I'm getting that naow! There are a few more modern dub artists I could mention, but with such a huge database here, that would be a bit irrelevant. Maybe you should outline the essential dub-records alone? Besides, I find that a lot of modern dub isn't consistent throughout. More often than not, I end up listening to few songs and I'm off, which I'm actually satisfied with. Dub on a long stretch gives me an headache! |
Excellent. Cheers Molecules.
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of course i haven't heard everything on that list, hopefully i'll get a round to it.
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General Echo
Heavyweight Dub Champion Noiseshaper Sub Dub Recently I've been into the heavy, deep-driving bass, electro-type dub. The Mad Professor v. Massive Attack album "No Protection," The Orb and things-of-the-like. Anyone have any suggestions along these lines? |
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Dub Incorporation Salmonella Dub |
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mr jackhammer sir I need a starting list of dub albums worth checking out. I've got the Trojan box sets and Scratch Perry's 'Superape' on CD, that's it really.
I have been intending to get that Scientist album with the comic-book cover for ages...? |
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Sly & Robbie - A Dub Experience The Abyssinnians - Declaration Of Dub Augustus Pablo - This is Augustus Pablo Mad Professor Meets Scientist At The Dub Table will be a start! If you need ups just holler. |
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