Androo / Tribute To Jackie Mittoo / Poly Dance Theatre

Androo’s new album might be a tribute to legendary reggae keyboardist Jackie Mittoo, but don’t go expecting any covers of Wall Street or Disco Jack. Only one of the 8 tracks actually features the briefest flash of Mittoo’s trademark Hammond B3. Mr. Mittoo instead was a jumping off point for experimentation, and his muse is now way, way in the distance. Androo’s music moves from filtered, fractured dub techno textures – pumping, propulsive, lashed by lightning effects and constantly shifting within its locked groove – through improvised sound design and ambient IDM tones, to field recordings and collages influenced by musique concrete and the movies of Jean Luc Goddard. Some moments are mellow, muted, submerged and aquatic. Acoustic piano ripples countering electronic abstraction. The proceedings get lighter, where flute and the resonant buzz of sitar-like create a kinda electro-acoustic chamber jazz – complete with a “free” breakdown – before getting darker and heavier. Sorta like Seekers International but shy of the rude, raw dancehall distortion.

Jennifer Barrett / Dub Is A Battlefield / Lion Vibes & Small Chop

Canadians Dubmatix and the Small Chop Sound System do for Pat Benatar what Shinehead did for Michael Jackson. While not quite as stripped back, this cool riff on Pat’s heavily rotated `80s MTV favourite has shades of New Yorker’s seminal shake of Billy Jean.

Daktari & Horace Andy / Rasta Forever / Mole Audio

Daktari is the Berlin-based duo of Oliver Linge and Olaf Pozsgay. Here they hook up with veteran vocalist Horace Andy. The music is a rich, warm Rhythm & Sound like reduction, a cavernous bass vacuum which, while exploring the dark, serves as a deep, soothing sonic sanctuary. A spirit-lifting plodding trodding where Andy sweetly chants and vamps, in fashion similar to the late great Lee “Scratch” Perry.  The 12 features 3 remixes, of which Zion Train’s is the most “Balearic” friendly. Fleshing out the skanking with prog-y house-y frequencies to create something chunky and chugging, Rockers Hi-Fi / Rootsman-esque. With bass squelches and belches that recall Ability II’s bottom-heavy bleep, this could have been an Andrew Weatherall spin on his Kiss FM radio circa 1993.

Disrupt / Kozure Okami / Jahtari

Jan Gleichmar aka Disrupt has repressed this digital landmark, which was originally released in 2008. All four tracks are fantastic. Blaze Dem’s Roots Defender has a fierce female warrior lead its slow, steady, hardware horn-assisted forward charge. John Trum’s January Dub is an organ-led shot of mediative minimalism, with a strung-out spaghetti western, Ennio Morricone edge to its haunting melody. Rootah’s Holy Mount Part II centres around a super sample of director David Lynch describing the delights of transcendental meditation. Downtempo dub techno surrounding his fall into “pure bliss.” The standout, however, is probably Gleichmar’s own Kozure Okami, a head-nodding homage to Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima’s legendary Manga, Lone Wolf And Cub. Snippets from the 1970s spin-off movies pepper the track, constructed from chunky, 8-bit building blocks. Competing with `80s arcade game SFX and a smart, spacey synth solo.

Komet City / Digital Reggae Party Vol.1 / Roots International

Geneva’s Komet City released their Digital Reggae Party back in 2022, in a limited pressing of only 100 copies. Dubwise Vinyl however recently acquired a few, hence me now sharing this review with you. This is gently dubbed-out drum-machine-driven guitar gear. A set of melodic and introspective 6-string-shaped soundscapes, somewhere between Vini Reilly and Ronnie Lion. There are vocal contributions from B.B. Seaton and the late Lee “Scratch” Perry. Androo provides keys and percussion. The 14 short sketches all crying out for extended versions.

Peckings All-Stars / Fela Rock / Peckings

A 45 of raw, rocking afro, here Grounation percussion backs massed brass, sax and trumpet solos. A tribute to the mighty Mr. Fela Kuti, the tune’s a ringer for `70s acts like Ghana’s Uhuru Dance Band, however, I’m pretty sure it’s brand new.

Prince Mamba Meets Geroges Dub / Junkanoo Is Coming To Get You / Georges Records

France’s Prince Mamba and Georges Dub join forces for a really nice heavily Lee Perry / Black Ark-influenced 12. Fire Ball rocks simple pro-Rasta rhymes at a resting heartbeat tempo. Submerged in a tickling, trickling sound similar to that which defined seminal sides by acts such as The Congos. Its dub features the pretty chimes of toy instruments and the chatter of happy toddlers. Bounced and bounced down again, buried, dug up and decayed, Junkanoo Is Coming To Get You is darker and more dread. However, its two versions get progressively lighter, so that the second showcases a series of jazzy Fender Rhodes solos, and could comfortably accompany few sunset cocktails.

Silvertooth & Danny Red / Just Check It / Silvertooth

A patter of programmed percussion quickly preludes a pounding, prog-y chug, and venerated, veteran MC, Danny Red announces a clash between Kingston, Jamaica and London, England. Red’s countless credits, from a 30-year career, include work with UK reggae legends like Conscious Sounds, Jah Warrior, Manasseh, Gussie P and Tuff Scout, but here he leads Silvertooth’s dance. There are hunting horns, rude flashes of organ, and huge washes, rushes of echo. The cymbals seem to have sirens attached, sounding at every incessant hit. Just Check It unapologetically channels Neil Barnes, Paul Daley and Leftfield, their remixes of stuff like The Sandals’ a Profound Gas. Taking a big bang on Arden’s bud. The E.P. includes instrumental and “dancehall dub” versions. The latter’s beat boosted with just a touch of delay. There’s also a housed-up take care of TJ Hookers.

Slowly / You Can Fly On My Aeroplane / Flower Records

Slowly’s latest single features his friends Yusuke Hirado, of Quasimode, on Fender Rhodes and Cro-Magnon‘s Tsuyoshi Kosuga on guitar and bass. The A-side is sung, via vocoder, by Sam Wish aka Swish Jaguar, while the B-side is sweet, swaying, swooning lovers rock. With orchestral strings and some great guitar picking, it’s like Philly soul set to a reggae rhythm.

Take Three / Can’t Get Enough / Freestyle Records

Freestyle have a compilation forthcoming called Music & Time 1983 – 1985, which collects the work of Take Three. A London collective, the group was fronted by singers, Jackie and Jean Heron and Marlene Richardson, and produced by S.H.E. aka Steve Sinclair, Peter Hinds and Kevin Ellis. The album is a cool cross-section of soul, funk and disco, but the reggae mix of Can’t Get Enough is the best fit here. The girls were formerly known as the lovers rock trio, Alpha, and this is a return to those roots. Upbeat, buoyant and bouncing, still funky, but fat, fat bass-ed.

Tengaku Dub / Tempura Dub / Mahalo UNLTD

This Japanese 45 features two remixes of Torao Mitsuyama’s Torao’s Big Fishing Boat. The original is a Hawaiian enka song that was, apparently a big commercial hit back in 2021. Nagano-based producer Jody Tengu, on his Tempura Dub, however, has given it a crazy On-U Sound-esque overhaul. Rolling, rattling, rimshots exploding, retaining just snatches of the traditional song and call-and-response chants. Showering Torao with syn-drum pops, and slashing the track with icy, The Edge-like guitar.