Dub charts

Review: With Rod Modell putting the finishing touches to his next Deepchord album (due for release later in the year on Soma), Echospace partner Stephen Hitchell took the opportunity to record a new solo set of his own under the lesser-known Intrusion alias. "Amongst The Stars", a beguiling, 21-minute chunk of soft-focus dub techno smothered in spacey analogue electronics and the distant sound of traffic, is taken from that forthcoming album. Here, Hitchell's fine "Extended Dub" comes accompanied by a trio of varied but typically atmospheric translations from CV313 (AKA Hitchell and Modell), of which the astonishingly deep "Distintegration Dub" is probably our pick. On the second CD, Hitchell dons his ambient alias, Variant, and delivers an absorbing, CD-length "re-shape" that's as entrancing as it is quietly picturesque.

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: On the latest volume in the Late Night Tales series, Don Letts has dug deep into his crates to present a selection of some of his favourite dubbed-out reggae cover versions, alongside dub style remixes of more contemporary covers. It's a simple concept, brilliantly executed, with Letts offering up some exclusive, dubplate style remixes amongst the classic cuts and recent gems. Highlights include, but are in no way limited to, the full vocal dub of Capitol 1212's take on Joy Dvision's 'Love Will Tear Us Apart', Mad Professor's insanely weighty 2021 dub of John Holt classic 'You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine', Blackbox Recorder's oddball reggae-soul version of 'Uptown Top Rankin' and Easy Stars All Stars' deliciously mystical interpretation of The Beatles' 'Within You Without You'.