Maybe not necessarily Balearic, but a few recent reggae and dub releases that are a little way different...

Hollie Cook  & Prince Fatty / The Beat Goes On / Mr Bongo & Jetset

This is by far my favourite Prince Fatty and Hollie Cook collaboration – their brilliant cover of The Whispers’ 1979 soul smash, And The Beat Goes On. The title always seemed like a throw away line, but Ms. Cook here gives it proper gravity. By slowing things down to a lovers rock tempo, the two reveal the blues at the heart of what’s actually a bruised love song. Once I heard the lyric, “Do you ever wonder that to win, somebody’s got to lose?”, and realized that it wasn’t such a lightweight disco number, I was hooked. Funky clav, Jackie Mittoo Hammond organ, and Hollie’s harmonies, it’s all authentic enough, personally, to trigger strong flashbacks to late `70s teenage parties. Originally released in 2012, Japan’s Jetset have teamed up with Mr. Bongo for a fresh 45 pressing. 

Masis / No War Dub / Challenger Deep

Originally released on French label Challenger Deep in 2019, Masis’ No War Dub is a deep dub techno drift. A super chilled call for unity, drug-like in its hypnotic effect, like some potent smoke. Skunk, sonically speaking. On the flip, Unearthed Dub, is similar but adds a head-nodding beat and high-pitched dream-piercing synth arcs, which pull you back from the brink and prevent you from getting totally lost. A big thank you to Tom Dubwise for flagging up this repress. 

Muggy Man / Sound Man / Plenty’s Recordings 

A new single from Japanese MC Muggy Man on Osaka-based label, Plenty’s Recordings, where the version is a little bit special – producer Moony replaying the whistled melody from Ennio Morricone’s The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly and marrying it to a chunky, clunky, Sleng Teng-like beat. The Rhythm maybe slow, plodding even, but a liberal splashing, soaking more like it, with sound effects and echo, stop the tune from ever sitting still. 

The Orb / Golden Clouds (Youth’s Gigantic Dreadnaught Dub) / Cooking Vinyl 

A cockerel crows, like an old familiar friend, as The Orb, with the assistance of the mighty Lee “Scratch” Perry revisit their “ambient house” classic Little Fluffy Clouds, reinventing the tune as Golden Clouds. Perry riffing on Ricky Lee Jones’ reminiscences, and adding his own. The track first appeared on the album The Orbserver In The Star House, in 2012, while Youth’s Gigantic Dreadnaught Dub came a little bit later as a digital bonus. It’s now been pressed onto vinyl as part of the Record Store Day package, The Upsetter At The Starhouse Sessions. It features flashes of fairground organ, and a beast of a b-line, which sounds like a vamp on the one Jah Wobble delivered for the outfit’s Perpetual Dawn, while echoed drums crash, cut in and out, like an ecstatic Andrew Weatherall manning the cross-fader. There’s also a magical Mad Professor mix of Ball Of Fire, which is a masterclass in reduction and restraint. Minor key, and mournful maybe, beneath layered flute-like lines, it features a morphing, mutating bottom-end. The same kind that characterizes much of the Prof’s righteous remix work, such his seminal seismic stuff for Massive Attack.

Ruffy & Tuffy / If The 3rd World War Is A Must / Shella Records

Brothers Omar and Otis Newton recorded this super nice slice of slow squelchy synth-heavy dancehall under their stage names of Ruffy and Tuffy in 1982. Lyrically concerned with nuclear disarmament, and decrying all global conflict, and produced and mixed by Errol Brown and Scientist, it features funky fried keys – like a pitched down Patrick Adams solo – while tripped out vocoder treatments make it even stranger. The latter perhaps twinning the track with Danny Wolfers’ recent wicked remix of Pampidoo. To tell the truth I was expecting the version to be bananas but it’s actually slightly tamer. A mellower meditation. Seance Centre’s Brandon Hocura remastered the whole lot. 

Trance Vision Steppers / ReAction Dub / Mysticisms

The latest addition to Mysticisms’ Dubplate series is a double pack from Trance Vision Steppers – a set of groovy dub and trance-influenced late `90s gear from Hanover-based musician Felix Wolter. To be honest, I’ve only heard half of the tracks so far, but this one, ReAction Dub, immediately leapt out. A really rocking piece of powerful, punchy, bass-line-led digidub, its details are relentlessly shaken by delay and pushed through filters as it races, rockets, along. There are brief flashes of strings, frantic rhythm guitar, and ethereal female vocals, while its keys are caught, kinda at random, like a piano dropped down a spiral staircase. It’s something that could easily have slot in alongside the selections on Andrew Weatherall’s legendary 1993 late night “Giving It Up” sessions for Kiss FM, and enough to convince me to click on pre-order. 

Tunes provided by the following tried, tested and throughly trusted dealers, Dubstore, Jetset, Rana Musica, and Sounds Of The Universe.