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DUBBLESTANDART feat. LEE SCRATCH PERRY & ARIUP:
THE RETURN FROM PLANET DUB
out now in your Mailorder, iTunes, Amazon & Local Record Store
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Journalist David Katz about the RETURN FROM PLANET DUB Album and the Work of Dubblestandart:
One of the most important production teams actively
creating and mutating dub in Europe, Dubblestandart have been keeping a
uniquely inspiring version of the dub flame alive for the last two
decades, their formation coinciding with the general phase in which dub
was being abandoned in its Jamaican homeland. Formed in 1988 as a
reaction to the stagnant Austrian pop scene, the group was heavily
inspired by the sounds emanating from Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s legendary
dub space, the Black Ark, as well as Adrian Sherwood’s pick-and-mix
productions of the On-U Sound label, and pioneering sound system
operator, Jah Shaka, infusing these dub influences within their own
heady blend of hardcore reggae and new wave. In demand as a live
backing band as well for their studio creations, Dubblestandart were
soon supporting luminaries such as Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, the flamboyant
Jamaican genius that was one of the true pioneers of dub, but who
became a walking performance art piece after undergoing a dramatic
metamorphosis at the end of the 1970s, and the equally eccentric Ari
Up, the alluring, dreadlocked free spirit that was a key member of
post-punk female icons, The Slits, who went on to become a part of the
Jamaican sound system landscape through extended stays on the island,
where she gained the fitting moniker, ‘The Madussa.’
On Return From The Planet Dub, Dubblestandart thus beam Ari,
Perry, and noted house chanteuse Gudrun far into the dub stratosphere
for this current dubble-disc experience. When the dub mothership
finally reaches the Planet Dub, guided on autopilot by Dubblestandart’s
cavernous excursion into deep dub, chilling house and dubble-tough
dubstep, you will hear Perry dispense wisdom on various topics,
including his magic genie; musical wars; Natty’s dread lock; Mister
Rich and Mistress Bitch; blessed shit’s voodoo, which takes the form of
the rumbling bass lines that reach him when he sits on his toilet pit;
plus the lowness of Hell and extreme heights of Heaven. He revisits all
time classics such as ‘Disco Devil’ and ‘Blackboard Jungle Dub’ in a
new dub form, while ‘I Foo China’ is reminiscent of the halcyon days of
‘Jungle’ at On-U Sound. Just make sure that English-speaking children
are out of the room before you blast ‘Fungus Rock,’ in which Perry
takes it upon himself to be the moderator of bedroom etiquette! Ari Up,
meanwhile, is here relegated firmly within the dub zone, making her
vocal contribution more abstract, but no less important.
Dubblestandart’s handling of this mission has been exemplary: the
productions are pleasingly individualistic, retaining plenty of
originality and professionalism without seeming stoic, dull or
contrived (unlike other recent LSP collaborations). This sonic
exploration inches dub further into uncharted territory, taking Perry
and Ari Up beyond their own boundaries.
(written by Lee Perry’s biographer David Katz)
