Juno Recommends Dub May 2020

Review: 2020 marks a decade since Sukh Gill started the Indica Dubs project, which now incorporates an online record shop, soundsystem and record label. Naturally Gill features prominently on the label's latest release, which begins with a soulful chunk of digital reggae goodness from Danny Red, "You No Better". Gill joins forces with Conscious Sounds to deliver the "Better Dub" rework, where echoing guitar motifs and delay-laden vocal snippets ride a denser and weightier revision of Red's groove. The partnership continues on side B, where the "Humble Thyself" version - an instrumental take on the EP's lead cut - is followed by the heavier, wilder and more sub-heavy "Humble Dub".

Review: J Robinson's productions on his own WhoDemSound label are always worth checking, and his latest missive - a hook-up with storied singer El Indio - is no exception. Indio is in fine form on "Roadblock", adding seriously soulful vocals to a Robinson digi-dub riddum (think crispy machine drums, booming bass and jaunty keyboard stabs). As usual, Robinson provides two top-notch flipside versions, "Road Dub" parts one and two. The first of the pair is deliciously rhythm-focused, with various tape delay-laden vocal snippets and piano stabs flitting in and out of the sound space. If anything, the second part is even more spaced out, with lengthy delay trails flitting back and forth across the stereo field. It's our pick of the bunch, though all three tracks are strong.

Review: For the latest release on his Dub Future label, in-house producer Kai Dub has joined forces with veteran artist Tenastelin, a British vocalist whose career stretches right back to the mid 1980s. He's naturally in fine form on lead cut "Stay Tuff", adding soulful toasting and patois vocals to a warm, baggy, synths-and-drum machine heavy reggae riddim from the effervescent Kai Dub. The latter flexes his dub mixing muscles on flipside "Tuff Dub", a relatively radical dub-wise revision that wraps delay-laden vocal and instrumental snippets around a beefed up, steppers style dancefloor groove. The synths are particularly special, as are the rumbling bassline and Kai Dub's judicious use of effects.

Review: The latest Dub Stuy release from label stalwart Blind Prophet is something of an all-star affair, with the Portland-based producer enlisting help from a variety of dub-heads stationed around the globe. He starts by joining forces with Russian toaster Tenor Youthman and Bristol crew Tailored Sound on the languid digi-dub bounce of "Dollar Trap", before going solo on the deep dubstep influenced weight of "Clash". GREAZUS and Redders lend a hand on the inventive dub/experimental D&B growl of "Just Another Soundboy". Elsewhere, "Conquer Yuhself" with Rider Shafique is an ultra-deep, Basic Channel style dub techno shuffler, and Titus 12 hook-up "Delay The Storm" is a heady chunk of sun-kissed dub-tronica.

Review: Earlier in the year, Babe Roots broke free of their hypnotic dub techno roots and delivered an ambient dub-influenced re-make of Earl Gateshead's "I Come From Gateshead". Here the Turn-based crew continues to blur the boundaries between dub techno, ambient dub and digi-dub via a first appearance on nascent Japanese label Newdubhall. Baba Ras lends a hand on fabulous A-side "State of Mind", delivering hybrid spoken and sung vocals atop a deliciously spaced-out dub rhythm that owes much to the work of Basic Channel. Even deeper and more alluring is flipside "Extent", an exemplary ambient dub excursion rich in bluesy trumpet solos, pulsing sub-bass and drifting, ultra-spacey chords.

Review: Marco Marastoni and Michele Iemmi are the Dub Hunters and now they're back with another big catch that finds them play all their own instruments apart from the horns by Vale and kete drum by Crucial Rob. "Christopher Columbus" is a shiny dig dub with dub swells washing to and fro beneath big horn leads that are filled with playfulness. On the flip you'll find the more meditative "Melodica Versions" performed by Michele Iemmi, and both sides are primed for some big summer action.

Review: It's been a while since we heard from B.R Stylers, a Northern Italian dub outfit who became one of the most popular reggae acts in central Europe during the first decade of the century. In fact, "In Dub" is the Paolo Baldini-helmed outfit's first new set since 2009. It's rather good, too, with Baldini conjuring up trippy, sub-heavy mixes - all weighty riddims, soulful vocals, slick patois toasting, laden East African percussion, glistening guitars and cheery melodies - that touch on a variety of reggae sub-styles as well as dub funk and ambient dub. Whether you're a casual reggae fan or a confirmed dub-head, the album is well worth checking out.

Review: Dubwise Productions main man Chris Jay has been plugging away at the fringes of UK dub and reggae since the mid 1990s, swapping an early fascination with jungle for a desire to great digital reggae and dub tunes. He's at the controls throughout this rock solid EP, first providing the cheery, synth and guitar heavy riddim behind Martin Melody's soulful "We Are Jah People", before reaching for the tape delay and reverb on the heavier and stripped back "Dub People" version. He repeats the process on the flip, offering up a jaunty, 90s style digi-reggae riddim for Mike Turner (the rather tasty "Can't Stop The Vibes") which is then re-imagined as a delay-laden, sub-heavy bumper ("Can't Stop The Dub").

Review: This one first arrived in 2013 and was pressed just 200 times. Nobuhiro Suzuki is the man behind it, a reggae and dub producer, musician and engineer from Tokyo also known as Shanty-Nob. The original, "Judgement Gate", is a busy and upbeat cut with clattering hits and big horns that endlessly ring out into the sky. The bass is big, the melodics is timeless and the whole thing defies its Far Eastern roots with some real contemporary dub authenticity. The "Dub Gate" flex on the flip is darker and more edgy for those late night sessions.