DubRaJah - Nilotic

Dubrajah, one of the most prolific Dubophonic artists, is back with his new release.  The ethnomusicologist from Russia continues to follow the path he started in year 2014, demonstrating with each release his ability to fuse a deep digital dub style with organic sounds, traditional African melodies and chants. After Enkang (2014) and Reprise (2017), the Russian artist Sergey Gabbasov returns with his new EP entitled Nilotic.

Nilotic is a group of people indigenous to the Nile valley. Dubrajah’s new music is a journey inspired by the cultures of East Africa and specifically by the Nilotic people. All compositions include samples of traditional music and singing of Twa, Karamojong, Maasai & Swahili people.

The first track Mji Mkongwe (which means "old town" in Swahili language) is inspired by an old part of the Zanzibar city, which is also known as "Stone Town". This town from the time of its foundation has been the melting pot of people and cross-point of cultures of Indian ocean - from Madagascar to Iran, from Congo to Indonesia.

Karamoja, the second track, applies to a region in the North of Uganda. its main inhabitants are Nilotic people, Karamojong and Ik, who are semi-nomadic pastoralists.

The last track refers to Bwindi, a large primeval forest in southwestern of Uganda (means "impenetrable" in Runyakitara language), which includes the half of the world's population of mountain gorillas. Previously it was inhabited by Twa pygmies - hunter-gatherers, first indigenous people, who have been resettled by the government outside of the forest, because of creation of the National Park.

01 Mji Mkongwe / 02 Karamoja / 03 Bwindi

Foshan Roots - The Wing Chun Album

The peaceful ZEN-warriors are back! It is a joy when a project, which has been inactive for over five years, comes back to live. It is even more interesting; when this happens because of the feedback it received by the listeners.

Such is the case of Foshan Roots. Founded back in the summer of 2012 by Brad Turner and Thomas Dewey, the duo made an impact when their first album Sky Attack Dub (written in 2012 to be released on the now obsolete label Springline Records, but never got released until the end of 2017 when it was discovered by Dubophonic, saving the master recordings from destruction) was awarded by Roots Reggae Reviews as one of the best albums of 2017.

Having received countless positive reviews and airplay and feeling the love they received, the duo was motivated enough to enter again the CAF Studios in East London and produce their new awaited album.

The Wing Chun Album consists of 10 new tracks with a dubwize feeling. Staying true to the style they introduced in their previous album, their 2018 sound is rootical and deep, with a strong stepper feeling, great bass lines and the addition of horns, oft accompanying the guitar and the melodica.

Credits: All instruments played by Brad Turner & Tom Dewey. All tracks recorded & mixed at CAF Studios East London and mastered at Med Dred Studios in Cyprus.

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01 Root Fyah Dub / 02 Thunder Dub / 03 Running Dub / 04 Tsunami Dub / 05 Conscious Dub / 06 Wisdom Dub / 07 Minds Eye Dub / 08 Movement Dub / 09 Mount Zion Dub / 10 Power Dub

Dub Riots / Indamouse / Bluez - Creation

Dub Riots were formed in 2008 in Athens, Greece. They have been featured on a few compilations on Dubophonic (Explorations in Dub 2013, Legal Rmx 2016 and Reggae Sunjam Vol.I 2017 and Vol II 2018) and also on the Greek label Reggaewise with their first EP State Of Life in 2013. 

Having performed live as a dub duo all over Greece, but also in Cyprus, Belgium and Switzerland, it was about time to release their second EP and their first one on the label, doing their own dub-manipulations of some of the greatest reggae anthems. 

On this release they meet Indamouse aka 3voice, another member of the Reggaewise crew based as well in Athens; a selector and producer influenced by the Jamaican soundsystem culture and the UK stepper style. Alongside the mystical sound of Bluez on the melodica, they offer a fresh conception of well established tunes like Creation, Rat A Cut Bottle and A Still Tongue, tribute to the foundation artists of reggae music. We hope you enjoy them! 

 

01 Dub Riots & Indamouse - Creation / 02 Dub Riots - Rat a Cut / 03 Dub Riots - Silience is Gold / 04 Dub Riots & Indamouse ft. Bluez - Creation (Melodica Cut)

The Dubwegians - South of the River Clyde

The Dubwegians where founded in the UK back in 2010, when Gary had the idea of starting a dub band. He, therefore, approached his old school friend Richy, whose guitar skills were always thought highly of. He just wanted to play bass in the band and not do any producing.

The band that Gary dreamed, never really managed to pull off. It kind of fizzled out after a while as people came and went, up for a jam and a smoke, but not up for putting in the hours of practice a band needs.

Gary and Richy decided to work as a duo, laying down some reworks of their favourite dub tracks. Having spent most of their life growing up in the south side of Glasgow, the River Clyde has been a great inspiration for them. This is how South of the River Clyde came about. The reference of course to the great Augustus Pablo is more than obvious.

Gary remembers: “We tried to capture the energy of a live band. In the absence of a drummer, it was a struggle for us to use a software, trying to capture the original warmth of analogue dub. It was a real learning experience; listening and trying to emulate these dub masterpieces. We have never done dub producing before and were slowly realizing some of the techniques used.”

South of the river Clyde includes 5 instrumental tracks; dub reworks of some great roots reggae masterpieces, produced back in 2011 with love and lots of passion. Richy played melodica and keyboards (and also guitar on "Sun is shining Dub), Gary played bass and covered all other sounds and production, using a laptop to overdub and edit their takes. Give thanks to Robert McWilliams for granting us the license to use the photo of the river Clyde in the artwork.

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01 Augustus Pablo Dub (Rockers Rock) / 02 Creator Dub / 03 Southside Dub Skanking / 04 Sun is Shining Dub / 05 Too Hot Dub

Various Artists - Reggae Sunjam Vol. 2

The Reggae Sunjam Festival is being held every summer in August in Cyprus. It has been running since 2016 and it is the biggest reggae gathering on the island of Cyprus, strongly supporting the local reggae-dub scene, while it is dynamically reinforced every year with special international guests.

In the second compilation we have included artists mainly from the local scene plus a few international guests like Dark Angel and Sister Ruby on riddims/remixes by Blend Mishkin (GR) and Daddy Vertigo (GR), as well as tunes by Utopian Sound (UK), Hermit Dubz (UK), Med Dred (CY), Christina Polycarpou (CY), Kyri Roots (CY), Supernova (CY), Bunfyah (CY), Sunjaman (GR), Manwel T (Malta) and Dub Riots & Indamouse (GR).

Give thanks to all the artists, musicians and producers, who have been supporting us from the day one of the festival. All tracks were mastered in Cyprus by Med Dred.

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01 Utopian Sound - Reign Dub / 02 Hermit Dubz - Last Chance Riddim (ft. Chr. Polycarpou & Med Dred) / 03 Med Dred - Zoogie Bun (ft. Kyri Roots) / 04 Sista Ruby - Think and Wanda (Daddy Vertigo Edit) / 05 Supernova - Tell Me Something / 06 Blend Mishkin ft. Dark Angel - Herbsman (Red Eye Riddim) / 07 Bunfyah - Wake Up / 08 Sunjaman - Outta Here (Manwel T Mix) / 09 Dub Riots & Indamouse - Dino

The Manor - Walk With Jah

Reggae has been oft characterised as a music of feeling over technique. It is a fact that reggae rhythms were rarely rendered or produced with any competence by foreigners until the last two decades or so.  Walk with Jah, the first album on Dubophonic by the UK reggae & dub artist/producer Brad Turner aka The Manor is an example of such competence.

Being one of the main artists behind the Foshan Roots project and having released a few works on the discontinued Springline Records label, which can be found on compilations and EPs (some are now obsolete, others are still to be found scattered all around the internet), this is first complete album of The Manor.

Walk With Jah features eleven pure and heavy roots & dub tracks. The Manor has an authentic cultural vibe about his musical works, which is showcased throughout the album. It is obvious that he is influenced by the works of past masters, mainly Lee Scratch Perry. All tracks were recorded in CAF studios in the UK, which is becoming the boiler room of creativity akin to Black Ark in the 1970’s.

This is an album for the lovers of roots reggae and dub music, the way it used to be; a sincere tribute to the music of the 70s and a nicely crafted window into one man's journey through the music and the culture he loves. We hope you love it too and you enjoy the journey!

Alll tracks of the album were composed, mixed & performed by Brad Turner (The Manor). Give thanks Alan Blizzard (Yabass) for the cover artwork.

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01 Closer To Jah / 02 Closer Dub / 03 Down Inna Ghetto / 04 Ghetto Dub / 05 No WW3 / 06 WW3 Dub / 07 These Times / 08 These Times Dub / 09 Wicked Ah Come / 10 Wicked Dub / 11 Matic Manor

Moune - The Legacy Of The Sun

Moune (pronounced “moon”) is a 21-year-old French artist who produces electronic and instrumental dub. He started to play the guitar in 2008 and discovered electronic music in 2014. After many experiments with very different styles like hip-hop, house, trance, glitch hop and electro swing, he finally started to create dubwize music in 2017.

Being a multi-instrumentalist, Moune plays guitar, melodica, saxophone, flute and percussions. He also uses his voice in some of his compositions, sending out his conscious message.

He loves to mix the dubwize/electronic sounds with acoustic instruments and ethnic melodies, which results in the creation of very melodic and energetic dubwise music ... and all this produced in his bedroom studio!

The Legacy Of The Sun is the first release of Moune on the label. It includes altogether five tracks; two with vocals by Moune himselfand three instrumentals, all with a heavy ethnic dubwise feeling. All five tracks of the EP are composed, mixed and performed by Moune himself.

The best way to describe the style of this young French artist is not with words. You have to listen to it yourself and we are sure you will enjoy his musical adventure.

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01. La Root / 02. Fight For Your Rights / 03. Ideals / 04. Eclypsia / 05. The Moune Cult

Culture Horn ft. Madi Simmons - I Am A Rootsman

Culture Horn Sound System is a weighty and heavyweight Russian dub sound system from the town of Kremenki in the Kaluga region in Russia. Built in year 2012, it managed to gather at least a dozen musicians are around it, forming a big musical family from all over Russia. Armed with dubplates from local and international artists produced exclusively for CHSS, their sound is constantly being improved. Culture Horn Sound System plays a very important role in the local sound system culture and scene of Russia, not only playing uncompromising roots reggae and heavyweight steppers, but also releasing their own reggae and dub compositions on vinyl.

On their first release on Dubophonic, Culture Horn collaborate with Madi Simmons, hailing from the USA and Dubophonic resident artist Med Dred, representing the likkle island of Cyprus. Madi has been performing and recording music for the last 20 years, going through lots of blood, sweat and tears in the music industry. Having toured the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii, California and the Midwest and being just recently voted as BEST MALE INDIE REGGAE ARTIST of 2018, Madi had a lots of ups and downs, nevertheless loving every minute of it and enjoying not following the rules of reggae music (whatever they are).

The EP includes alltogether 6 tracks:  The first one is done ina dubplate style followed by a melodica version by Jahpapu and an uncompromising CHSS-dub. The second one is the title track, followed by a special melodica dubmix by Med Dred and a heavyweight dub by CHSS, demonstrating the uncompromising style of the artists. Culture Horn Sound System is coming to shake your town!

1. Culture Horn ft Madi Simmons - Dubplate / 2. Culture Horn ft. Jahpapu - Dubplate Version II / 3. Culture Horn - Dubplate Version III / 4. Cultre Horn ft. Madi Simmons - I am a Rootsman / 5. Culture Horn ft. Med Dred - Rootsman Dub (Dubophonic Dubmix) / 6. Culture Horn - Rootsman Dub Version III