If dub music is a style and sound closely associated with Jamaica, and then the communities that some of its world travellers would later call home, I would argue that Jah Wobble has done more than most to broaden its horizons and expand the sound into something much more than the sum of those initial parts. Albums like Dub Volume 1 certainly underline exactly the point I’m making.
Across eight tracks, he takes that instantly recognisable dub sound —the dark and delicious, beat and bass-driven, heavy-grooving pulse —and soaks up all manner of influences and sounds from other cultures and climes to take it to new pastures. The art is to be adventurous without losing the identity of the core music; it is an art that Wobble has perfected over many years.
“Dub in the East” sets out his sonic stall perfectly, a blend of Caribbean cool and the East London flavours of his youth, the album being equally balanced and bookended by the scintilating blends that are “Old Jewish East End of London Dub,” where we find the echo of klezmer music, woven through his pulsating bass lines, music as multi-cultural as the place it describes.
“Existential Dub” is sax-soaked and trippy, “Tragic Slavic Dub” sees these western sound deftly dancing with Eastern European folk traditions, and “Losing All Sense of Balance Dub” is wonderfully adventurous, reinventing itself a number of times as it progresses.
The current single, “Tyson Dub,” is a graceful tribute to his sadly departed rescue dog, a creature of contradictions, and the tough and tender relationship between the two.
This is music that does much to open the genre up to a much wider audience, drawing a connective line between the original sound and not just world music, but also the reggae and punk of his own musical path, as well as the jungle and grime of more recent times that also call the same part of the world home.
Spotify
Dub Volume 1
Spotify album
Vinyl order
Vinyl & CD order
