Not Dub Step, just Dub.

I quote the Wiki here:

“Dub is a genre of music^[1] which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre,^[2] though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae. Music in this genre consists predominantly of instrumental remixes of existing recordings^[3] and is achieved by significantly manipulating and reshaping the recordings, usually by removing the vocals from an existing music piece, emphasizing the drum and bass parts (this stripped down track is sometimes referred to as a ‘riddim‘). Other techniques include dynamically adding extensive echo, reverb, panoramic delay, and occasional dubbing of vocal or instrumental snippets from the original version or other works.”

My first exposure to Dub was from The Clash believe it or not. On “The Clash – Sandinista”

there were some tracks that blew my high school mind. “One More Dub” and “The Crooked Beat” were the first time I had heard anything like this. “The Crooked Beat” in particular with the vocal from Mickey Dread made me wonder what the hell The Clash were doing, but glad they were doing it. All the echo and chopped up sound and reverb… I loved it. Though I wanted to hear “Train In Vain” over and over, these tracks touched something in me. I was just experimenting with Bob Marley at the time, so I understood the reggae part, but this was no Marley track. Not smooth and mellow. It was like they invited William Burroughs into the studio.

Then when I got the vinyl “The Clash – Black Market Clash”

and there were Dub tracks on there too, like “Robber Dub” and “Justice Tonight_Kick It Over” I loved those Dub tracks too.

You’d think that I would have gone out and investigated the genre and bought a bunch of Dub albums. Right?

No.

I was poor and unwilling to risk a blind purchase of unknown Dub. So, after several years… Dub and I parted ways for a time.

Anyway.

Fast forward to sometime in the early 90’s when I got from Dalton a bootleg of Jane’s Addiction: “Jane’s Addiction – Live And Profane” and I played the “The Scream, Los Angeles 2-14-87” part. Perry for some reason used echo on almost everything he says to the crowd and plays with it during several of the songs. Even the sound of the crowd is echoed. Pigs in ZEN ZEN ZEN zen zen zen zn zn zn z z z… For some reason I found myself listening to that over and over. I was totally into Jane’s but the echo show was my favorite. I remember painting the kids room and listening to that, as LOUD as my boombox would go.

When Podcasts became a thing… I found a podcast called “The Dubzone” (wow it’s still going strong):

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dub-zone/id254697192

and listened to them on my laptop at work for endless hours. Each episode was like an hour and a half and encompassed all sorts of styles and artists. The Dubzone was perfect for work, relaxed, soothing and mostly unfamiliar so I wasn’t singing in my head. The show is very good and not over the top. Good stuff.

Eventually I stopped making use of most podcasts and started compiling all my music to my external. I chose not to include all of the podcasts since they are free and readily available even once they stop being produced. So, again I drifted away from the Dub.

Recently though I have heard a few Dub tracks on WSUM’s “Morning Scramble” radio show. This is a show that features tons of different styles. Death metal followed by polka followed by acoustic and on and on repeating I have heard Dub on 2 mornings in the last month and it has rekindled my interest.

Knowing the Internet is at my fingertips, I searched for and discovered several sites that feature nothing but Dub.

Check out www.dubroom.com

I am sure that Dub will drift out of touch again, but clearly we were meant to intersect at certain times in my life.

And I still don’t own one single Dub album.

Wish I still had my “Black Market Clash”.