Back catalogue: Reggae

Review: Indica Dubs rolls out more of their steel-plated warrior anthems here with the in-house production team stepping up next to Nando for Eternal Dub. This crucial 12" opens with the title cut, which is a collab between the two that rolls on moody drums and has an enchanting melodic lead up top, snaking its way to a better future. The rework is 'Eternal Dubwise,' a more wet and bottomless affair, then Indica Dubs and Nando reunite for 'Sacred Fire' which is busier, more energetic, with broken beats and playful leads. Last of all comes the dub-wise rework that is menacing and dark for those late-night hours.

Review: Indica Dubs is a gold standard when it comes to fresh digs-dub. Their sounds are both ancient and steeped in dub traditions but clean and crisp and designed to withstand the onset of time. Kicking off this latest outing is Indica Dubs & Nando with 'Eternal Dub' which has muted but uprising leads and Indica Dubs then go it and for a heavier, more stepping version, 'Eternal Dubwise.' On the flip is Indica Dubs & Nando with the more wonky and off balance sounds of 'Sacred Fire' which has bold leads and crashing hits. A fine dub completes this essential platter.

Review: The mission continues here for Reservoir Dub Records who have been working most recently on putting out this one "Aim High' tune on a 10" with four different cuts from four different artists. This one features the legendary Macka B and the talented saxophonist Guru Pope bring their skills to a rhythm that was originally produced by the one and only dub-making don that is Jacin, while all the cuts have been expertly mixed by Gamma Sound's N-Tone DUB. It's a heavyweight package of fresh dub sounds with nods to the old school but plenty of new school cool.

Review: A repro of the much in-demand Flames cut first made by the Nairobi Sisters in 1974, 'Promised Land'. Infamously sampled by Q-Tip for 'Whateva Will Be' as well as on a range of earlier 90s boom-bap era productions, it is not at all hard to figure out why it's a coveted record. The Nairobi Sisters were singers Terrie Nairobi and Judy Mowatt, and 'Promised Land' was first recorded with the band The Gaytones, under license to the Gay Feet label. Later cut to Winston Jones' Flames Records, the track and its dub version came to define the Brooklyn reggae scene, owing to the enduring interest it commands today.

Review: Nephews of Phela debuted in 2005 with 'Mulah 2' but haven't done anything that we can find since. This mysterious outfit have now resurfaced with this vinyl-only limited edition 12" of fascinating electronic Afro sounds that are hypnotising and intoxicating. 'Innaghetto' opens with some hefty percussion over corrugated basslines and raw slapping hits. It's got a playful flute adding a little light to the otherwise mood vibes. 'Ozymandias' is a lively tune with twisted funk sounds and hints of Ethiopia in the magical melodies that lead you late into the night.

Review: A double-barrelled shot of classic soul and Motown, LA-based soul flippers Night Owls are back again after their LP earlier this year with their first 45 transforming songs with their unique Jamaican flair. Side A steals the show off the bat, with 'Cramp Your Style' pricking up hip-hop fans' ears as the groundwork for Cypress Hill's 'Real Estate'. N'Dea Davenport's vocals are silky smooth against the grooving instrumental - you can't help but smile. Side B's 'Your Old Standby' is a slower, more emotional affair with vocals from Trish Toledo that hearken back to the original in magical fashion.

Review: Night Owls are well known and loved amongst funk fans and dropped a superb album not so long ago. But they don't rest on their laurels and instead come back with more goodness in 7" form here on the F Spot label. 'I Only Have Eyes For You' (feat Chris Dowd & Tippa Lee) is more of their heavy-hitting funk and soul goodness with some uplifting vocal work next to the sound signature rhythms. The back side of this limited edition 45rpm is taken up by the equally fresh 'Live And Let Live', this time featuring Miles Tackett.

Review: Night Owls are coming off the back of their best-selling tune yet and follow-up 'Ain't That Loving You' (feat. Chris Murray) backed with 'Are You Lonely For Me, Baby' (feat. Malik Moore) is likely to be just as hot. It finds the Night Owls stepping up their game as they flip Johnnie Taylor's super sweet Stax classic ballad into a delightful dancehall anthem. On the flip is another version of a 1966 classic with all-new bass and bounce, a tough rhythm and deep vocal delivery from Malik Moore of The Lions and Ocean 11 association.

Review: Former Grid member and now ambient superstar Richard Norris delivers two new oracular divinations for his very own Group Mind label, the imprint formed in and after the COVID-19 lockdowns to help mindfully assuage the creeping anxieties of the age. A six-track 12" limited to just 30 copies - numbered and signed by the artist himself (move quick, hares) - these six tracks segue between dub and deep listening, fronting the bass and keeping percussive elements spread and panned. Best on the obverse is the A3, 'Mystery Dub', whose endlessly delayed stabs and cutoff conga samples well convey a vacuum-of-space vibe. The B-side moves into snake-charming dancehall territory, the punning, chordophonic 'Rockers Sci Fi' and the vocal blissout 'Stronger Together' being the ethereal highlights.

Review: Johnny Osbourne remains one of the most popular reggae vocalists of all time, and he is still turning out the jams now, well into his 70s. This one finds him billed alongside Jah Sawdem, about whom we know nothing and in fact this is the one and only entry next to his name on Discogs. A fine one it is, though, with a blissed out reggae rhythm topped by smooth as you like vocals and authentic instrumentals and keys. The flips side version from Natural Vibes & Pappa Tullo is 'Be Wise', featuring the same rhythm and different verses. Another big 12" from Jammy$ Jamaica that is primed and real for sound system deployment.

Review: As the months warm up we all tend to lean towards the warm and fleshy sounds of dub, which makes releases like this one on Newentun all the more crucial. 'Sugarman' is a classic bit of lovers rock with those earthy guitar plucks, big wood block hits and steel drum sounds. The vocal is silky smooth and full of yearning while heat damaged organs and lazy harmonica further flesh things out. The Ska version has a more clipped and swiping rhythm with a great height to it and then the Jonas Sanchez Trombone Version has big fat wind leads that scream summer.

Review: Soul II Soul have been performing their cover of Sinead O'Connor's Prince-penned classic, 'Nothing Compares To You' in live sets for some time, though this is the first time it has been released on vinyl. This 7" inch single boasts two mixes by similarly long-serving reggae duo Mafia & Fluxy. They begin with a full-blown vocal version - a sun-soaked, hybrid organic/electronic reggae revision rich in dancing strings, booming bass, hazy horns, jaunty synth stabs and simply superb female lead vocals. As you'd expect, it comes accompanied by a seriously skeletal, sub-heavy Dub mix that's worth the admission price on its own. A killer cover all told!

Review: A heavyweight slab of UK roots and dub, originally released on the Jah Warrior label in 1997 and which now hears a welcome reissue via Partial Records. Presented in a showcase style, with each vocal followed by the dub counterpart, One Of These Days was produced by Jah Warrior and mixed by Dougie Wardrop in London. Clean but oppressively weighty in the sub-200-hertz range, every vocal and version here slaps harder than a frozen fish round the dome, but as evidenced by the top end, Warrior sees this as no excuse not to work in endearingly cute flute, Melodica and sci-fi motifs, to which the delays are applied liberally in almost every case. Prime your ears for snappy SFX-laden snake-rattlers such as 'One Of These Days', amid headier, heavier cuts like 'Pollution Dub'.

Review: The eclectic Canadian superproject New Age Doom are pretty un-pin-downable, with their contributing band members including Bowie Blackstar bandleader Donny McCaslin, and bassist Tim Lefebvre. While their last album was a drone metal epic known as 'Himalayan Dream Techno', their latest is a dub-inflected curveball, dedicated to the mastery over space and atmospherics commanded by the late producer Lee 'Scratch' Perry. Remix The Universe is a compilation of new perspectives on their final collaborative album, 'Lee 'Scratch' Perry's Guide to the Universe'. If ever we needed a spiritual guide for space exploration, Perry would be our go-to; it's evident from this short LP that Perry's influence is felt much further and wider than merely dub music, with gross-genre remixes from the likes of Daryl Palumbo, Quicksand, Tuvaband, Nick Reinhart and Andy Morin all in tow.

Review: 41 years after its original release, it's hard to grasp just how revolutionary the New Age Steppers self-titled debut album was. The brainchild of the Slits' Ari Up and producer Adrian Sherwood, the set brought paired the cream of the post-punk scene (including the Pop Group's Mark Stewart and journalist Vivian Goldman) with a string of experienced dub-wise players to create a set that genuinely took dub and roots reggae in thrilling new directions (think alien noises, industrial sounds, experimental effects and squally guitar textures). Now available on vinyl for the first time since its original release, New Age Steppers is an album that should genuinely be in every serious music-head's collection.

Review: Having previously delivered a must-have, quintuple CD retrospective of African Head Charge's influential albums, On-U-Sound has wisely decided to give the same treatment to Slits singer Ari Up and Adrian Sherwood's equally as influential New Age Steppers project - an outfit whose rotating cast of guest musicians included a string of British post-punk greats. Discs one to four showcase, in sequence, the collective's spaced-out, often experimental dub albums released between 1980 and 2012 (The New Age Steppers, Action Battlefield, Foundation Steppers and Love Forever). The fifth and final disc, subtitled Avant Gardening, gathers together rare dubs, unreleased tracks and "version excursions" from the archives. Throw in extensive sleeve notes from Oli Warwick telling the story of the project and you have a nigh on essential boxset.

Review: Zasky & Smith are the producers behind New Blade Runners Of Dub and this is their debut self-titled long player. Zasky's European sound is well known for defining his Dubblestandart band while LA native Jed Smith has a fresh new school sound. Together they cook up real magic having worked with the likes of Lee Scratch Perry and Dennis Bovell many times over the years. The album explores all their many different sounds and styles across a deep dive into dub that is as heady as its is propulsive.

Review: Night Owls are an LA-based group made up of members of The Lions and The Aggrolites, pooling their skills into a seriously slick stew which splits the difference between roots reggae and funky soul. Sonically, they achieve a perfect 70s sound with plenty of choppy guitar licks, cool organ and light dubby touches on the desk, but first and foremost comes the songwriting. These tunes have an instant classic kind of feel to them, helped no end by the revolving door roster of vocalists reaching from Kendra Morris to Malik The Freq Moore and so many more besides lending their croon to the exquisite musicianship.

Review: By the close of the 1960s, a number of dynamic, independent record producers were beginning to make their mark on Jamaica's fast-developing music scene. Chief among these initially small-time music-makers were the likes of Lee 'Scratch' Perry, 'Edward 'Bunny' Lee and the man whose music provides the focus of this 2CD collection, Winston Holness AKA 'Niney'. As the 70s dawned, the ingenuity, innovation and determination of these three talented individuals saw their influence match and often exceed that of long-established major operators. But while the music and careers of both Perry and Lee have been rightly celebrated, the achievements and influence of Niney have been largely overlooked. This collection is the first in a series of sets that aims to set the record straight, presenting the very best of his output during key parts of his music career. Featuring numerous hits, including the ground-breaking 'Blood and Fire', 'Message To The Ungodly', 'Hiding By The Riverside', 'Beardman Feast', 'Rasta Bandwagon' and 'When Jah Speak', the 2CD set presents 20+ tracks that have remained largely unavailable for over half a century.

Review: While not as celebrated as some of his Jamaican contemporaries, Winston Holness AKA Niney The Observer was a hugely successful record producer. This excellent two-disc set does an excellent job in rounding up the best of his output between 1973 and '75, a period where he enjoyed countless hits at home and over in the UK. There's naturally plenty of goodness to be found amongst the 49 tracks on show, with cuts featuring now well-known Jamaican scene stars - think Junior Delgado, Delroy Wilson, Big Youth, Max Romeo, Junior Byles, Horace Andy, U-Roy and ska survivor Tommy McCook - being joined by more dubbed-out 'versions' (credited to his studio band The Observers') and local hits by artists whose fame rarely spread beyond the Caribbean (Winston Wright, Hubert Lee, Earth & Stone). In an indispensable introduction to one of Jamaica's finest producers of the 1970s.

Review: Nigerian singer, songwriter and actress Nneka takes it independent for the release of her new album Love Supreme. It is a response to majors refusing to allow her the artistic and creative autonomy she wants. The record is packed with emotive ballads like the opener, impassioned tunes like 'God's Love' and the empowering 'Yansh'. Written during lockdown, the record "became about self-reflection, and seeing how connected our inner world is to the outer world." It's a poignant work with rich creativity throughout, infectious gospel energy in places and moody synth jams.

Review: On its 20th anniversary comes a reissue of No Doubt's 1992-2003 singles collection, which brings together the very best of the ska and pop rockers' contributions to music at large over their first decade of stardom. Known as the alt-rock group fronted by Gwen Stefani, No Doubt were a formative act for the spreading of a distinctly American, pop-oriented form of ska punk. With Gwen's brother Eric on keys, and with bassist Tony Kanal and drummer Adrian Young also in tow, No Doubt's career was a slow-burning exponential curve skywards, which saw a successful takeoff despite some early flops. A huge team backed their recordings; notable on this compilation is two production features by Sly & Robbie, 'Underneath It All' and 'Hey Baby'.

Review: The Beacon Street Collection was a 1995 album from legendary US rockers No Doubt that they self-released. It was written across several different studios around Southern Claiborne, including at their home in Anaheim. There are 10 tracks in all here and they came in a fertile period for the band just ahead of them exploding with their smash hit Tragic Kingdom album. It has not been available on vinyl before now but comes here on nice heavyweight 180-gram wax and bears all the hallmarks of the sound they would soon be known for all around the world.