Search - Various Artists :: Planet Dub

Dub began with reggae producers like Lee "Scratch" Perry and King Tubby who reworked tracks they'd recorded by cutting vocals, dropping instruments in and out of the mix, and overlaying new sounds until they'd created a totally new composition. Instead of a final work, a recording became merely the raw material from which infinite new songs could be made. Today, dub music flourishes both by staying close to its reggae roots and also by courting new flavors from hip-hop and techno. Planet Dub, a compilation from England's Planet Dog label, collects the work of 16 dub masters from the U.K. (where the current movement is strongest)--including 100th Monkey, Children of the Bong, Eat Static, and Alpha and Omega--on two one-hour discs. While some tracks are more rootsy and others more electronic--and some more melodic, more up-tempo, or more spacey--generally all the dubs blend together indistinguishably. What stands out, however, is the flux and flow of sound: the trippy beats, the heavy bass, the echoing, hypnotic washes. Though it won't displace our beloved melodies on pop radio anytime soon, dub offers a new construct for how music can be made. And, after all these years, our ears are finally beginning to catch up. --Roni Sarig