Dub
Deep sub-bass, clanging percussion, echoed beats dropping in the mix, otherworldly effects phased through either channel -- you could be describing the latest club single circa the late '90s, or the techniques of seminal dub producers more than three decades before. While dub remained a huge influence (in musical terms) decades after its development in Jamaica, it was the development of the studio-as-instrument aesthetic that heavily impacted just about every producer-driven style of music in the next half-century. Beginning with American disco and hip-hop DJs during the '70s (the latter of which owes much of its early inspiration to Jamaica-born Kool DJ Herc) and extending to every facet of dance music, all must relegate a large fraction of their influence to mighty dub.
What the rest of the world would come to know as dub debuted in the early '70s, when producers like King Tubby, Keith Hudson, Lee "Scratch" Perry and Augustus Pablo began dropping their own radically mutated remixes of current reggae hits. The more basic concept of instrumental reggae had already emerged as early as the mid-'60s, when Jamaican sound systems began getting good response with crowds by playing tracks with the vocals removed, for use by sound-system toasters or for the crowd to sing along. By the end of the decade, most of the big reggae hit records included the track itself on one side, backed with what was usually a simple instrumental "version" on the flip.
One of the best reggae engineers in the late '60s, King Tubby pioneered crucial dub production techniques like reverb, echo, delay, phasing, and complete drop-outs; each of these were applied to the vocal as well as the percussion, bassline and melody line. Out of the mix came skeletal rhythm tracks, with shards of vocals, flutes, pianos or percussion lines skittering over a bone-shaking bassline which frequently dropped out altogether. Several others proved crucial to dub's early development, including fresher faces like Errol Thompson and Prince Jammy as well as Jamaican veterans like Prince Buster, Clement Coxsone Dodd, Lee "Scratch" Perry and Augustus Pablo. Those "versions" became so popular that by 1973, several dub LPs appeared, including Lee Perry & King Tubby's Blackboard Jungle Dub. It wasn't long before dub LPs were being released in Britain as well, with Keith Hudson's excellent Pick A Dub and Niney the Observer's Dubbing with the Observer earning release by 1975.
The seminal single "King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown" (by Pablo & Tubby), was the first dub track heard by many who weren't explicitly reggae fans. The following album of Pablo/Tubby collaborations, also titled King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown, appeared in 1976. The productions which emerged from Lee "Scratch" Perry's Black Ark studios brought a somewhat smoother version of dub to crossover audiences, though Perry's lifestyle were among the most notorious in the annals of reggae -- Mad Ark burnt to the ground in 1979, supposedly torched by Perry in a bout of madness. Whatever the method, classic Lee Perry LPs like 1975's Revolution Dub and the following year's Super Ape used many of the classic dub techniques but often kept the vocals intact.
By this time, reggae had been brought to the world's attention through the success of Bob Marley and Island Records. In Britain especially, many figures in the punk and new wave revolution held the sound of reggae and dub close to their hearts (both were seminal sounds-of-the-street around London). The Clash and XTC were only two of the most popular groups to actually record dub-influenced work, with XTC releasing a "version" of an LP as early as 1978. A generation of British dub producers emerged, led by Adrian Sherwood and his On-U Sound Recordings -- the home of works by Dub Syndicate, African Head Charge, Creation Rebel and Tackhead, as well as originators like Lee Perry, Prince Far-I and Bim Sherman. During the same period, original Jamaican dub appeared to be dying out under a glut of similar-sounding records and few new talents at the production helm. The digital age injected new blood into dub, and young faces like the Mad Professor made inroads in the medium alongside more experienced producers like Tubby acolytes Prince Jammy and Scientist.
Since the days of disco, American clubland had relied on B-side remixes to diversify the reach of singles. The dub influence in electronic dance music became much more direct during the 1990s. Artist whose stylistic base ranged from ambient-house to hardcore breakbeat to hip-hop used dub rhythms and atmosphere -- resulting in, respectively, the Orb's ambient-dubscapes, much of the early jungle/drum'n'bass movement, and the Brooklyn-based illbient movement. The direct connections between dub and the new dance music became explicit with the remix soundclash of 1995's No Protection, which pitted the Mad Professor against the trip-hop collective Massive Attack. It was just the first instance of a new generation name-checking Jamaicans and re-invigorating their techniques -- the cover of No Protection featured Massive Attack zapping with laser guns while the Professor used his bare hands to level a tower development. The early dub pioneer Lee Perry continued producing excellent work long after his heyday; he even embraced jungle breakbeats with 1995's Super Ape Inna Jungle.
Dub remained a heavy influence for many of the most influential styles in the experimental/electronic scene of the 1990s, including such wide-ranging sounds as jungle/drum'n'bass, illbient, trip-hop, Chicago post-rock, much of hip-hop, industrial and ambient music -- a cast of artists including Bill Laswell, DJ Spooky, the Orb, Tortoise, Goldie, Pete Namlook and Techno Animal among others. In fact, it's almost misleading to list styles or artists influenced by dub, since the music and the technique has pervaded just about every style of music extant.
Recommended Listening:
1. Augustus Pablo - Classic Rockers (Island)
2. King Tubby - Dub Gone Crazy: The Evolution of Dub at King Tubby's (Blood & Fire)
3. Lee "Scratch" Perry - Arkology (Island)
4. Scientist - Dub in the Roots Tradition (Blood & Fire)
5. Keith Hudson - Pick A Dub (Blood & Fire)
6. The Congos - Heart of the Congo (Blood & Fire)
7. Tapper Zukie - In Dub (Frontline)
8. Prince Far-I - Cry Tuff Dub Encounter, Chapter 3 (Daddy Kool)
9. Mad Professor - Who Knows the Secret of the Master Tape (RAS)
10. Various Artists - Pay It All Back (On-U Sound/Restless)
11. Sly & Robbie - A Dub Experience: Reggae Greats (Mango)
12. Renegade Soundwave - In Dub (Mute/Elektra)
13. Massive Attack Vs. Mad Professor - No Protection (Circa/Gyroscope)
14. The Orb - U.F.Orb (Island)
15. Various Artists - Macro Dub Infection, Vol. 1 (Virgin)
