Dub 131 Items

Tropicantesimo is a music ritual extended over time and a celebration of sound and dance. It all started 10 years ago at the Fanfulla club in Rome. Nothing more than a party that over the years has transformed into a collective listening experience out of time and space. Meanwhile the collective animated by DJ Hugo Sanchez, Lola Kola, Rocco Bartucci, Gabor and Egeeno moved to a new club called Pescheria, and opened up to spontaneous live jams and collaborations with musicians and DJs from various backgrounds. Rhythms are incessant while the BPM is slow and hypnotic. Voices flow between songs, messages and pure sound, while music is an organism which produces energy. The fruit of all this lives through extensive production work based on recordings collected over the years. "Tropicantesimo Session 1" is the first of a series of three EPs presented as anticipations of the Tropicantesimo Gitania album release. This first EP contains three songs recorded and mixed at Pescheria, laboratory and home of Tropicantesimo. "Don’t Bla Bla Bla" is an anathema and an explicit manifesto about the need for uncompromised sounds and joy in life. When the music kick in, the usual blah blah blah becomes disturbance, as Lola Kola and Egeeno clearly sing. This is a spontaneous live session, an usual practice that generates the Tropicantesimo sound flow. "Samba e Amore" is a cover of a Chico Buarque and Ennio Morricone's song, written in the late 1960s during Buarque exile in Rome. Here the song has been processed by the Tropicantesimo sound machine with Gabor and Lola Kola claiming for freedom and self-determination in life. "Samba and Love" belongs to the Tropicalist music classic repertoire, a great inspiration for the Tropicantesimo sound and vision. "Luna Jamming" is the result of another kind of experiment. Here the DJ culture is hybridized with the improvised live performance, a meeting that can generate unpredictable encounters. Lola Kola and Egeeno bring Loredana Bertè and Bob Marley together for an unprecedented classic Reggae duet on a contemporary techno dub beat. Needless to add that such a combination of elements generates new visions and reaffirms important values such as sharing and getting together.

Released in 2012 as the opening song of the CD album " Far Eye " featuring Daba Makourejah, Calabash Rock have remained unknown for most rockers reggae aficionados. And that was a shame. The Rockers Disciples and Dig This Way Records decided then to strengthen their collaboration by releasing this wonderful instrumental piece of music, deeply influenced by Aswad’s « Warrior Charge '' and Rico Rodriguez’s vibrant music. A 7 ‘’ record, including a vertiginous dub version on the flip. Enjoy the Calabash style!

One of the goals of our label is to create special connections and this release is perfectly matching this. Around a couple of years ago we started discussing with our friend Daniel Tuffs from Shaolin Sound (uk) about joining forces to create some positive musical projects , between the various ideas we asked him to create for us an heavy Roots or Rub a Dub riddim and what we got in return exceeded our expectations...Fyah RUB A DUB , a new style of riddim that gave us a sure feeling about who to ask to voice it! Awa Fall , also known as Sista Awa , I guess for many needs no introductions , she is a super talented and versatile singer based in north Italy with countless musical contributions. We remember seeing her years ago , still very young and already felt she had a great artistic future ahead. So it is! We are glad 100% to have her included in this project , part of our little label's family. Be ready for her Powerful lyrics as this riddim deserves! Sounds Heavy!

Dubwise is handled by Shaolin Sound too

"The Wiseman & The Fool" , the last brand new Roots & Culture track arranged & played by mighty Abeng , extra deep mood with horns , falsetto voice and an extra Dark dubwise by Eeyun Purkins. Around April/May 2020 , during the toughest Lockdown we had a very productive and constructive period , Abeng aka Claudio , which arrange, play and sing almost all the instruments of all the chunes we released by him , did a great job finalizing a number of demos he sent us in the previous month and ourself as a label tried to create some fresh connections , we like , when possible to be able to work with a wide number of artists so that each production have some unique magic into it. Eeyun Purkins from the Co-Operators (uk) is surely one of the brightest lights in this Roots & Cultures movement that is bringing to light some fresh fantastic music and during that period he helped us mixing some of Abeng's chunes and passed us some of his riddim (Check Dtws009 "The Moonlight Runner") , he did a majestic job mixing this track , and we are extremely thankful for this. Last but not least , we had the shining Rootikal Horns how did some special horns finalizing and some tuff Sax and Trombone solo....that by now will remain unreleased. Final Touch by Pressure Mastering that did put all the things in order to be pressed and spreaded!

Wairunga finds the Freddy juggernaut digging deep to debut five songs and revisit two classics captured in an outdoor performance sans audience but with wild weather elements playing an important creative role in producing this unique live album.

Recorded in Wairunga, high above Waimarama Beach in New Zealand, it is place etched into the DNA of Fat Freddy’s Drop who’ve roamed here for over 20 years; to party, relax between tours, make a song Wairunga Blues in its honour and even to get married. Farmed by the Parker family for a century, Wairunga is an oasis of green pasture and native tree filled valleys that fall away to the ocean below.

In inimitable Freddy's fashion the new tunes run a gamut of genre busting styles. Coffee Black is layered with cosmic hot buttered soul and cinematic wigged out psyche-blues while Shady continues Freddy's Afro-Acid adventures with Fitchie’s beat-making tapping into a South African township brand of techno Freddys experienced on tour. Bush Telegraph is a reggae classic featuring MC Slave aka Mark Williams on the mic with freshly minted yum char spiced rhymes of hope. The other new tracks Leave Your Window Open and Dig Deep are loose rhythmic experiments that the band have been working on for a long time. Versions were developed, rehearsed, but then set aside – dismissed, demonised - only to be revived with new energy in some future moment of creative cohesion. The results are loose-limbed; broken and bruised beats smashing into subterranean bass and twisted up melodies. Bones and Wairunga Blues are the two classics from Freddy's vast back catalogue. Off the Blackbird album, Bones has aged beautifully - like a fine wine - the song’s component parts matured and melded together in harmony and balance. DJ Fitchie rates this 2021 vintage superior to the 2013 original. Wairunga Blues has been a work-in-progress since it was released on Bays in 2015. Kuki dials up some appropriately off-kilter keys to match the wonky-funk laid down by Fitchie’s bass line and the horns. It’s a mighty comeback – and a fitting tribute to this magical place.

Twenty years on, The Black Seeds mark the 2 decade anniversary of their debut album ‘Keep On Pushing’ as a first ever vinyl release. In 1998, The Black Seeds formed their roots in Wellington - a creative, 90s rock based community that was embraced by the sounds of the likes of Shihad, Fur Patrol and Weta.

2001 marked the beginning of the Welly Roots sound and the release of The Black Seeds – ‘Keep On Pushing’ – reaching platinum sales in New Zealand and shaping the funk, soul, Afrobeat and other eclectic elements over their dub/reggae foundation.

Keep On Pushing’s bold themes of love, optimism and solidarity has resonated with fans across the world, shaping them as the creative, vibrant 8 piece band they are today.

"This album marked a change culturally as well as in sound, a south pacific take on soul, where we were proud of our multicultural heritage and our accents. It was a move away from DJ’s to a big band sound. It was the beginning of The Black Seeds as a party band, we wanted to create a funky feel good sound that embraced everyone who experienced it."

- Barnaby Weir, Lead singer and founding member

This special anniversary vinyl edition will feature mixes of all ten tracks from the original album.

Akuphone is pleased to present the first compilation dedicated to musician John Bolloten, aka The Rootsman. As a precocious punk, he formed his first band, State Oppression, in his teens. Yet he is best known for his dub music, a genre that gave him international recognition. Largely influenced by the rhythms of North Africa and the Middle East, he built his musical identity around samples from these regional repertoires. His encounter with Bryn Jones — better known as Muslimgauze — further defined his artistic path.

This selection offers an overview of his work from 1996 to 1998, a prolific period when Into The Light, 52 Days To Timbuktu, Union Of Souls (with Celtarabia) and Distant Voices (with Pachakuti) were released. A visionary production that predicted today’s growing international predilection for the musical heritage of the MENA regions.

The compilation is enriched with an explanatory preface by Mabrouk Hosni Ibn Aleya and illustrated with rare archival photos— all of which are contained in a superb jacket designed by the artist Ghiya Haydar.

Freestyle Records mark the recent passing of the great Lee "Scratch" Perry with this gem of 45 showcasing 2 of his stellar early Black Ark-era productions - plucked from the To Love Somebody LP reissue project from earlier this year, which unearthed the Perry-produced debut from Bunny Scott (aka Bunny Clarke aka Bunny Rugs, later of Third World).

The Blaxploitation-influenced funk track 'Kinky Fly' features members of The Chi-Lites' backing band (passing through the infamous studio whilst in Jamaica for a series of shows) - their horn section and Chinna Smith's wah-wah guitar shine through with synth overdubs adding to the mood, underpinned by the ghostly click tracks of the Conn Rhythm Unit (constituting one of Scratch's earliest experiments with drum machines). On the flip, the upbeat 'Sweet Loving Love' boasts a jaunty synthline high up in the mix and a stellar rhythm section augmenting Bunny's soulful tenor.

Beat smith RED ASTAIRE (AKA FREDDIE CRUGER) returns with some crucial instrumental cuts from the 3 volumes of the "NUGGETS FOR THE NEEDY" series. The NUGGETS INSTRUMENTALS DLP features 'FOLLOW ME","MOVE YO ASS","COME DOWN " & more sounds of Lo Fi Hip Hop, Downtempo & Latin in full color jacket!