Rather like house and techno, most of dubstep’s early producers were young lads without much production experience, but they knew their reggae, had a vision and raw energy. Shackleton was always deeper, having played in live bands before immersing himself in machine music, his productions were more refined, better produced and prone to fusion; his tunes compared to your average dubstep banger were what deep house was to rave - they catered for your hips and your head.
Then after a few years he seemingly got fed up with the scene, the fusions became wilder, the experimentation started daring you to follow, vocals became more prominent and some LPs eschewed the dancefloor entirely. Everytime he drops and LP I listen start to finish, but I have to admit I was hitting repeat less and less - a lot of it just wasn't quite my cup of tea, although he never lost my respect for a moment.
This last year has seen him collaborating more and with some highly unexpected names, I'm still in shock he released an LP with Six Organs of Admittance a few weeks back, I mean how did that even happen?! Well here he is again with a new collaboration and it’s something of a TSMM dream team as dub deviants Holy Tongue are his new partners in crime.
Holy Tongue are percussionist Valentina Magaletti and producer Al Wootton and I was smitten from their first EP - live, bass heavy jams with all the right effects plus some twists, a bit of post punk attitude and some late night moodiness without being oppressive.
From a personal perspective they’ve also been a good influence on Shackleton, as I guess they laid down a more recognisable dub framework before sending it to Shackleton to augment in his studio rather than letting his imagination run wild from the offset. This is an album you can skank to, though it’s more Adrian Sherwood than King Tubby.
The riddims are a mixture of the righteous, ritualistic & downtempo waywardness, and apart from Magaletti’s percussion who know’s who did what? The soundscapes are dense with plenty for the hi-fi/headphone crew to explore. Free jazz gets a look in, unindentified spectral vocals haunt the soundscapes, the Fourth World’s most forgotten corners are explored and aired - their dwellers encouraged to unite and fight, as familiar instruments jockey with abstract electronics and sound sources unknown. It’s dense, intense and right up my twisted, forward looking dub street.
Need More Dub?
There’s a TSMM playlist for that. Check out some classic JA vibes, low frequency evolution & bass mutations from the dub continuum in the Slow Dub Playlist. Available on Tidal, Apple Music, Youtube, Youtube Music, Deezer, Soundcloud and Spotify (if you must).
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