Oblique Saturdays

A series for Saturdays in 2026 inspired by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's set of cards, Oblique Strategies (Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas). Eno and Schmidt created them to be used to unblock creative impasses and approach problems from unexpected angles. Each week I'll turn over an Oblique Strategy card and post a song or songs inspired by the suggestion. 

Last week's Oblique Strategy suggestion was Don't be afraid of things because they're easy to do.

I opted for a JFK response, his 1961 speech about doing things not because they are easy but because they are hard. Steinski and Mass Media, The Wedding Present and Lou Reed all provided me with Kennedy themed songs. 

The Bagging Area community came up with some inspired choices- PTVL went for Genesis P. Orridge with Richard Norris and Dave Ball as Jack The Tab, arguably the UK's first acid house record, Ernie went for Lowell George and Little Feat, Al G with Mansun, Rol (arriving late after some serious jet washing) with The Walker Brothers and Walter with Nick Drake and Vini Reilly.

This week's Oblique Strategy cards reads thus- Is there something missing?

A obvious choice and one which has been in my mind recently is this...

Todd Terry's remix of Missing was everywhere in 1996, inescapable and irresistible, a crossover hit that deserved to be massive. Missing is a mood in song form. 

I also thought of Dub Syndicate's 1985 album, the mighty Tunes From The Missing Channel, Adrian Sherwood and Style Scott's hugely influential dub album that opens with Ravi Shankar Pt. 1 and with Jah Wobble appearing too, goes about pushing dub into sci fi/ ambient dub territories.

Out And About

But there's more to this Oblique Strategy stuff than just going with the most obvious, word related choices. 

Is there something missing?

Stephen Morris, drummer in Joy Division and New Order and authentic nice chap, has described the three surviving members of Joy Division in the pub after Ian Curtis' funeral. They sat their nursing their pints, not knowing how to talk to each other about death, suicide and loss, young men on the cusp of something big that has been wrenched away from them. A planned American tour cancelled. The second half of 1980 suddenly looking very different from what they envisaged. 

'See you on Monday then', one of them said as he left. 

'Yep, see you on Monday'.

Because they didn't know what else to do, they reconvened at Joy Division's rehearsal space in Little Peter Street and tried to make music as a trio. In Jon Savage's oral history, This Searing Light, The Sun And Everything Else, they each talk about the difficulties of making music with something (or someone) missing. Ian Curtis, frontman and lyricist, the object of attention at gigs, 'one of those channels for the gestalt' (said Martin Hannett), the intense and distinctive singer who set them apart from their peers, was gone. It was more than just missing a singer- he was a mate too and he was the rehearsal room ears and the editor. When the band jammed, Ian would pick out the parts that were good, get them to play that bit but put it with this bit and repeat it. 

They struggled on obviously- we all know the story. Ceremony (the last Joy Division song) and Movement (the last record they made with Martin Hannett). Movement is a sound, post- punk songs with a Hannett tone, but it lacks tunes. Apart from Dreams Never End (sung by Hooky ironically), nothing on Movement sticks in the memory for long. It's an album I have to play to remember what it's like. 

Dreams Never End

In 1981 they appeared on Granada TV, sonically moving forward with Gillian Gilbert on board but visually, physically, they all behave like there's still something missing. This clip has them playing, tentatively, five songs from Movement and Ceremony. The crowd, all local fans, look like they know this too. There's an absence, the band and the audience both feel it. 

They got there in the end of course. Discos in New York and Everything's Gone Green showing them a way out. 

Everything's Gone Green

Vini Reilly, mentioned above, had his own response to the missing boy...

The Missing Boy

'There was a boy/ I almost knew him/ A glance exchanged/ Made me feel good/ Leaving some signs/ Now a legend'.

Other bands have struggled with missing members. Is there something missing?

In 1998 R.E.M. tried to regroup following Bill Berry's decision to leave the group (a brain aneurysm onstage during the Monster tour being a key part of his decision). Bill admitted last year in an interview that he 'didn't regret it at the time but... sort of regretted it later'. Michael Stipe, Mike Mills and Peter Buck experimented with vintage synths and drum machines and eventually made Up but it nearly broke them. Bill Berry wasn't just the drummer, he wrote songs too- the beautiful Perfect Circle for one and worldwide smash Everybody Hurts for another. Without Bill they were destabilised, nothing worked the same way. Michael Stipe memorably but none- too- convincingly commented, 'a dog with three legs is still a dog'.

Daysleeper

In 1985 The Clash, or what was left of them, released Cut The Crap. Topper Headon had gone in 1983 and Mick Jones was sacked by Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon (and Bernie Rhodes) in 1984. 'We fell to ego', Joe remarked. This Is England may well be up there with the rest of Joe's songs but the much of the rest of Cut The Crap most definitely has something missing. Mick Jones. Topper Headon. 

This Is England

Strummer's 1985 state of the nation address evokes strikes, unrest, police brutality, unemployment, divisive right wing politics, war in far off places, poverty, racism, protest, marches, football and asks 'when will we be free?'. 

Feel free to drop your own responses to Is there something missing? in the comment box. 

An Hour Of The Jezebell Takeover

Last weekend's Jezebell Takeover at The Golden Lion in Todmorden was a lot of fun, two days of DJs and a live act playing to a full house. Saturday kicked off with Nessa Johnston getting things into gear quickly and setting the pace for everyone who followed. ACR's Martin Moscrop played a set that took in dub and disco, including a low slung dubbed out cover of Born Slippy, and at just after 8pm OBOST played a live set. 

OBOST is Bobby Langfield, ridiculously young, still in his teens- synths, keys, laptops, a microphone and an hour of uptempo electronic music that sounds like it has decades of experience behind it. Jamie Tolley took over at 9 and took things up a notch again, bpms and energy levels rising. At one point he dropped As I Ran by Yame, a bit of an ALFOS at The Lion moment last year and the pub erupted. The Jezebell headliners took over at 10, Jesse first and then Darren. The floor was packed, a mix of youth and older dancers...

I had to run for a late train back to Manchester so missed the last our of Darren's set but was back in the pub on Sunday afternoon where Jesse and Darren were starting proceedings off. Maybe they'd stayed up and played straight through. My guest slot was at 4pm and I had a few technical difficulties at first- I accidentally cued up a track from Jesse's USB instead of mine, then the right hand deck got stuck in an emergency loop and things took a little while for me to sort. Eventually Martin Moscrop turned the deck off and on again and as usual with piece of IT support advice it did the trick. Adam Roberts, due to play after me, was also official photographer. All the photos here are his and if nothing else he made me look like I know what I'm doing. 

I came off the decks feeling it had been a bit of a nightmare- technical issues, trying to cram too much into an hour- but looking at it now, a week later, it seems ok. The link below is the set recreated at home.

Bagging Area At The Jezebell Takeover

• Moon Duo: In A Cloud
• Durutti Column: For Belgian Friends
• The Charlatans: Trouble Understanding (Norman Cook Remix)
• The Beta Band: I Know
• Dub Syndicate: Right Back To Your Soul
• Soft Cotton County: The Future's Not What It Used To Be (Five Green Moons Remix)
• David Holmes: Blind On A Galloping Horse (Sons Of Slough Remix)
• Totem Edit 12: Feel
• Mogwai: The Sun Smells Too loud
• Orbital, David Holmes, DJ Helen and Mike Garry: Tonight In Belfast

Adam Roberts followed me, four four house and disco action and then Kim Lana. We had to leave so missed the remaining Sunday night fun, Stuart Alexander and then FC Kahuna, both of whom were outstanding by all accounts, Jesse saying Dan Kahuna was the weekend's highlight. Some hardy souls were back in The Lion on the Monday for St Patrick's Day celebrations, a live band and unplanned karaoke session. There's a second Jezebell Takeover planned for September. 

Jesse's been uploading recordings of some of the sets. His Saturday night hour is here and his Sunday afternoon set is here. 

I hadn't met Jesse or Darren before despite having had a several years strong online connection. It's always brilliant when people turn out to be as lovely in real life as they appear online and the crowd they drew to the Lion- regulars and newcomers- was testament to what they've built together as Jezebell. More power to them. 

Forty Five Minutes Of Dub Syndicate

The new Dub Syndicate album- Obscured By Version- has taken up residence on my turntable, nine new versions by Adrian Sherwood of tracks from the 1989- 1996 period, the original tapes redubbed. Style Scott's rhythms remain the centrepiece. Around them Sherwood constructs entirely new versions, the original track sometimes peeking through with classic dub FX bouncing in and out- door bells, lions roaring, bicycle bells, horns, tyres screeching. It's a wonderfully pulled together album, Adrian's tribute to his friend Style who was found dead in his home in Jamaica in 2014. 

Style Scott and Adrian formed Dub Syndicate in 1982, Scott having drummed with Roots Radics, Sons of Arqa and Creation Rebel. Fifteen albums followed, most of them on On U Sound and two recorded with Lee 'Scratch' Perry. 1985's Tunes From The Missing Channel, the third Dub Syndicate album, is a personal favorite, one of my favourite dub/ On U Sound albums. 1990's Strike The Balance is not far behind it. With all this in mind, I thought a Sunday mix was in order.

Forty Five Minutes Of Dub Syndicate

• Right Back To Your Soul
• Drilling Equipment
• Hawaii
• Pounding System
• Walking On The Edge
• Out And About
• 2001 Love
• Train To Doomsville
• Ravi Shankar Pt 1

Right Back To Your Soul is on Obscured By Version, a superb dub of a dub, the bass and riddim riding in, organ and melodica floating around and eventually jazz club piano, Sherwood's mastery of the desk and production at its absolute peak. The original track dates fro the 1993 Echomania sessions according to Dr Rob's excellent sleeve notes. 

Drilling Equipment was on 1991's One Way System and prior to that a cassette only release in 1983 on ROIR, uncompromising sound sculpture, industrial dub.

Hawaii is from 1990's Strike The Balance, an album with vocals courtesy of Bim Sherman and Shara Nelson along with a bizarro world cover of Je T'aime. Hawaii has a lilt and melodiousness to it that is entirely appropriate and naturally a Hawaiian guitar solo. 

Pounding System was the 1982 Dub Syndicate debut, members of Creation Rebel and African Head Charge throwing the heavy rhythms and dub FX around. I think this release actually predated Style Scott joining and then becoming the centre of Dub Syndicate. 

Walking On The Edge is from a live album, Live At The T+C 1991 (not released until 1999) complete with an echo- laden sampled transmission warning of the dangers of nuclear weapons. 

Out And About is from Tunes From The Missing Channel, a seminal dub album with contributions from Jah Wobble, Ashanti Roy, Keith Levene and Bim Sherman. Out And About is the album's closing track, a magnificent dub ending. Ravi Shankar Pt. 1 opens it, the sound of the sitar and dub crossover, a legendary piece of On U music. 

2001 Love is from 19993's Echomania and samples Allen Ginsberg's voice from the 1968 film Tonite Let's All Make Love In London, a documentary about Swinging London.

Train To Doomsville is from Pay It All Back Vol. 2, the series of wallet friendly compilations On U Sound have released periodically since the early 80s. Vol 2 came out in 1988, Train To Doomsville saw Dub Syndicate joined by Lee 'Scratch' Perry. 

Intercommunications

A new Dub Syndicate/ Adrian Sherwood release was announced yesterday, a brand new set of versions built on the rhythm tracks from tapes recorded by Adrian and Style Scott in the period between 1989 and 1996- a set of new dubs of old tracks, Adrian at the mixing desk pushing and pulling those faders around to reshape Dub Syndicate once more. The first cut from is this, Intercommunications, a low key and low slung four minutes and forty seconds of On U dub splendour. Intercommunications makes time disappear- it could easily be three times as long and not lose any of its charms. 

The album- Obscured By Version- is out next February along with a five CD box set anthology of Dub Syndicate from '89- '96 called Out Here On The Perimeter and single disc re- issues of four albums, Stoned Immaculate, Strike The Balance, Echomania and Ital Breakfast. Obscured By Version is available at all the usual places including Bandcamp. 

Back in 1985 Dub Syndicate released Tunes From The Missing Channel, a heavy duty collision of On U dub, Jamaican dub, Sherwood's industrial/ sampling, Ashanti Roy from The Congos and contributions from Jah Wobble and Keith Levene. Nine slices of classic mid- 80s On U Sound. I was going to post Ravi Shankar Pt. 1 but I've done that before- instead, try this... 'something nice is going to happen to your ears', as the man says.

The Show Is Coming

V.A. Saturday

In 1985 the first volume of Pay It All Back was released by On U Sound, a compilation that turned into a series that serve as budget priced primers and round ups of On U sounds as well as outlets for unreleased tracks and alternate mixes. Pay It All Back Volume 8 came out in 2022, another edition of Adrian Sherwood's singular vision of dub, reggae, electro/ industrial with umpteen legendary artists across the series. This is a trio of tracks as a selection, a mere scratching of the surface. 

From 1988's Volume 2, this is Dub Syndicate, a studio sample- fest with pots and pans percussion, electric drills, radio announcements and between station static, guitars and with the mighty Lee 'Scratch' Perry.

Train To Doomsville

From Volume 4 in 1993, Little Annie- horns, bass and Annie's so distinctive New York voice. 

Bless Those

Finally, from 2022's Volume 8, Tackhead and LSK, pummelling electro- dub from Doug Wimbish, Skip McDonald and the late Keith Leblanc with Leigh Steven Kenny on vox. 

Rulers And Foolers

Forty Five Minutes Of Weatherdub

At the time of writing this I've no idea whether yesterday's DJ escapades at the Golden Lion in Todmorden were a triumph or a disaster or somewhere in between. I took a bag full of songs and tracks to play including a lot of Andrew Weatherall flavoured dub- remixes, his own productions, songs and poems that he sampled, songs he played out when DJing or on the radio which I thought might go down well on a Saturday afternoon in early October, a pre- David Holmes pint accompaniment. All the tracks below were in my digital record box.

Forty Five Minutes Of Weatherdub

• Jean Binta Breeze: Dubwise
• Dub Syndicate: Ravi Shankar Part 1
• Lark: Can I Colour In Your Hair (Andrew Weatherall Mix)
• Count Ossie and Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari: Poem
• The Sexual Objects: Sometimes (Weatherall Dub)
• Yabby You: Conquering Dub
• The Scientist: Lovers
• Misty In Roots: Introduction To Live At The Counter Eurovision
• Meatraffle: Meatraffle On the Moon (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
• Steve Mason: Boys Outside (Andrew Weatherall Dub 2)
• Andrew Weatherall: Kiyadub 45

Jean Binta Breeze's Dubwise poem came out on her 1991 album Tracks and was sampled by Weatherall on his legendary remix of Saint Etienne's Only Love Can Break Your Heart (he also sampled Jean from the same album for his earth shaking remixes Galliano's Skunk Funk, worthy of a separate post at some point soon I think).

Dub Syndicate, a mainstay of Adrian Sherwood's On U Sound label, released Tunes From The Missing Channel in 1985. Opening track Ravi Shankar Part 1 was a Weatherall favourite and is often mentioned in connection with the famous Boy's Own party held on a farm in East Grinstead in summer 1989, Andrew coming on to the decks to play at dawn as revellers welcomed the sun and Ravi Shankar's unmistakeable intro bounced around the West Sussex countryside. 

Lark were a London band led and fronted by Karl Bielek. Weatherall's dub remix of Can I Colour In Your Hair was finally released on 7" vinyl in 2018, years after being played on Weatherall's radio shows and in his mixes.

Count Ossie and Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari's album Grounation album came out in 1974, a masterpiece of spiritual dub. The line 'Ever since I was a youth/ I've always been searching for the truth' was sampled by Sabres Of Paradise for their mighty Ysaebud track, which came out on one sided 7" in 1997, after Sabres had split and Weatherall had gone on to Two Lone Swordsmen. The track was discovered by Andrew Curley on cassette while clearing out the drawers at HQ and was felt to be too good to lie unreleased so came out as S.O.P. rather as Sabres (licensing issues or some such detail). I'd like to thank Dr Rob of Ban Ban Ton Ton for enabling me to track down the source of the sample. Another piece of the jigsaw slotted into place.

The Sexual Objects are/ were a band formed by David Henderson (formerly of Scottish indie/ post- punkers Fire Engine and Nectarine No. 9). Weatherall's remix came out on a wonderful  piece of 10" vinyl along with remixes by Boards Of Canada and WAVNE, only 1000 copies pressed. 

Yabby You was another Weatherall favourite, from Kingston Jamaica, a singer and producer from the golden age of roots reggae and dub frequently played by Andrew and mentioned in interviews. The same came be said of The Scientist, a protege of King Tubby, whose dub albums in the 1980s were a big Weatherall touchstone. 

Misty in Roots are British dub reggae pioneers, from Southall, London. Their 1979 album Live St The Counter Eurovision is a key British reggae album. The Introduction to the album was sampled to massive effect by Andrew on his Ultrabass 2 remix of The Orb's Perpetual Dawn, 1991.

Meatraffle's Meatraffle On The Moon album came out in 2019, a still superb sounding dissection of life in Brexit Britain (and much more). The Weatherall remix is bass heavy meandering dub, a remix of the band's song about un- unionised moon workers and the evils of late stage capitalism. 

Steve Mason's Boys Outside album came out in 2010. Weatherall remixed the title track twice, the second is a dub of a dub. 

Kiyadub 45 was a one off two track 12" only dub release on the Byrd Out label (with Kiyadub 47 on the flipside), 500 copies only, recorded with Nina Walsh. Heavy electronic dub business. 

On One

Two pieces of On U Sound for the last day of March. First up the truly inspiring African Head Charge and a track from their 1981 album My Life In A Hole In The Ground, a groundbreaking record from Adrian Sherwood and Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah. Sherwood crated the minimal backing tracks. Bonjo laid down hand drums and percussion on top. Chants and FX were added, creating an unholy stew combining dub and African rhythms with anything else that fired their juices- free jazz, post- punk, whatever. 

Stebeni's Theme 

Second, fast forward to 1996 and Dub Syndicate, a long running collaboration between Sherwood and Style Scott, which by the mid- 90s resulted in an album of remixes from a variety of UK dub producers. Iration Steppas remixed 2001 Love- a clanging riff, discordant horns, echo and delay and then a massive rhythm track rides in. Eventually Allen Ginsberg appears saying 'let's all make love in London', a sample from a 1967 film about Swinging London that features Pink Floyd and a cast of thousands- Lennon, Jagger, The Small Faces, Vashti Bunyan, Chris Farlowe, Julie Christie and more in all their summer of '67 glory. 

2001 Love (Iration Steppas Remix)

Double Dub

David Harrow, now a resident of Los Angeles teaching music, has had a wide and varied career in music from the early 80s onwards. Starting out with Psychic TV and Anne Clark and then in 1988 hooking up with the On U Sound collective before going onto work with Andrew Weatherall (as Blood Sugar and Deanne Day), making techno as Technova and future jazz/ drum 'n' bass as James Hardway and finding time somewhere in the mid 90s to write Billie Ray Martin's worldwide hit Your Loving Arms. He has been drip feeding music through Bandcamp recently, the most recent being a three track release called Melodica Session. Made up of three dub tracks- AtyipcalDub, GadgetDub and WaimeaDub- Melodica Session is a dub joy, modular synth rhythms and lovely, snaking melodica lines on top. Really smart modern dub from a man who has been steeped in it for several decades. Listen and buy here. You won't regret it, promise.  

Adrian Sherwood is On U Sound's mixing desk maestro and boss, the man for whom rhythm and delay is an artform. Sherwood's back catalogue as producer and remixer takes in some harder industrial sounds and a dash of mid- 80s electro too but it's the dub we're here for today. Back in 2010 the Test Pressing website kicked off a series of longer mixes in tribute to the great producers and began with a forty- five minute compilation of Sherwood tracks put together by Apiento and Tim H. I found the Sherwood one recently while digging around in the hard drive looking for something else and you'll be hard pressed to find a better soundtrack to three quarters of an hour today. 

The Producers Series Volume One

• African Head Charge: Pursuit
• Dub Syndicate: Ravi Shankar Pt. 1
• African Head Charge: Heading For Glory
• African Head Charge: No, Don't Follow Fashion
• Doctor Pablo: Doctor Who
• Creation Rebel: African Space
• African Head Charge: Dinosaur's Lament
• Dub Syndicate: Night Train
• African Head Charge: Throw It Away
• African Head Charge: Stebeni's Theme

An Audience With...

After last month's Flightpath Estate Zoom meeting with Hugo Nicolson (Andrew Weatherall's engineer and co-producer on Screamadelica, One Dove and a host of classic late 80s/ early 90s remixes) another Andrew Weatherall collaborator, David Harrow, offered to spend an evening talking to anyone who was interested in listening. On Wednesday night a group of us listened to David talk at length- he said at one point 'I warned you I can talk'- about his life, from London in the 80s to LA now, a fascinating account of a life spent in music, at times living in a fairly hand- to- mouth kind of way, trying to make a living from what you love. He talked about the problems encountered when musicians have to decide whose work the music is, who contributed what and who gets credited, whose name goes on the front of the record and whose goes in small letters on the back and how this is a big deal when you're young and hungry- and the problems those things can cause. He found his way in to music working with Anne Clark and then Jah Wobble. David spent a few years in the second half of the 1980s in West Berlin, asking for his tour pay and passport when a tour he was part of the band for ended in the divided city (an Anne Clark tour I think). He described his life as a 'full on West Berlin goth' and then his re- entry into London, first with Wobble, and then as acid house kicked off a visit to Shoom and The Clink and the subsequent change in outlook, mood and dress. In a matter of weeks he went from the long black hair and leather trousers of Berlin to brightly coloured cycling jerseys and caps, and the accompanying changes in drug of choice. David ended up not being invited to be part of Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart band and looking for something else began to work with Adrian Sherwood and On U Sound. He talked in depth about his role at On U Sound, what he learnt from watching Adrian Sherwood and working with him and the combustible mix of characters that made up the On U Sound groups- the On U Sound touring sound system, Dub Syndicate, African Head Charge, Tackhead, Gary Clail (and there was much about Gary and the situation that developed there). David's role in the On U Sound world was pretty central, playing keyboards (and being shown how to do this 'properly' by one of the On U team at one point), songwriting, programming and co- producing.



David and Andrew Weatherall's paths crossed in London in the early 90s and they worked together at various points. In 1990 David produced the London group Deep Joy, a three piece fired up by the acid house revolution and its possibilities. David's produced their song Fall which was remixed by Weatherall, a chunky 1990 floor filler with saxophone, a choppy guitar riff, some Italo piano, an example of Weatherall's expansive widescreen remix style in full effect.

Fall (Let There Be Drums)

Fall (Chunky Vocal)

Andrew said he'd release David's own music on his label, putting out various Technova releases on Sabres Of Paradise, memorably the Tantra 12" and Tantric album. They went on to develop the Blood Sugar sound, minimal, deep house/ techno, gritty but seductive music for nights in dark basements. David recalled Andrew telling him in the studio that they could only have four musical elements in a track at any one time and that if they wanted to bring another element in, something else had to be removed from the mix, the sort of detail that when you then go back and listen to Blood Sugar's Levels double pack or the releases they made together as Deanne Day, illuminates the music and its creation.



There are many parts of the story I can only remember sketchily- I should have taken notes I suppose. David wrote Your Loving Arms for Billie Ray Martin (a worldwide hit thanks to its inclusion on multiple compilations), a song David described as financially 'the best forty five minutes work I've ever done'. He talked about his decisions with humour and occasionally a rueful smile. He played keytar bass for Bjork but then turned down the position doing that on an eighteen month tour. He advised Tackhead singer Bernard Fowler not to take up the position of backing singer for The Rolling Stones (Bernard has sung back up for The Stones worldwide since the 90s and now lives among the super rich in LA). He found another musical life after hearing drum and bass and beginning to make music under the name James Hardway, a jazz/ drum and bass project that brought success around the world. He talked about his devastation at the death of Jamaican singer Bim Sherman in 2000 and his subsequent move to Los Angeles. This track has recently been finished, a song with the late Bim Sherman on vocals, remixed by The Orb, and it hits all the spots you'd expect it to.



David has continued to put music out. Sitting in his studio talking to us he laughed about the amount of technology available now compared to the kit available thirty years ago- a sampler, a drum machine, some records, a keyboard. David continues to make music as Oicho, and with Ghetto Priest, and has just put several dubs recorded during lockdown onto Bandcamp. This one, Main Earth Dub, has an elastic bassline, some distant percussion and then some of those rattling snares and kickdrums, dub techno sounds that aren't a million miles from the Blood Sugar sound of the mid 90s.



101 Steps (Lockdown 2) is cut from similar cloth, a deep, dubby, experimental drive round a city at night, the echo and stop- start rhythms building the tension.



David talked to us for what ended up being three hours, taking questions and speaking honestly about his life making music since the early 80s. There's loads more he talked about that I haven't mentioned not least his time with Psychic TV (a big influence on Andrew Weatherall too), the gentrification of Los Angeles, the club Flying Lotus emerged from and Billie Eilish and her mum, and some I've left out, but it was an entertaining and fascinating way to spend a Wednesday night.

Isolation Mix Six

I got this dramatic shot of the sky over the Mersey on Thursday night. One habit I hope I manage to maintain once this is all over, whenever that is, is taking regular walks. You miss so much sitting inside and even the most familiar and mundane places can look different when caught at a particular time. This week's Isolation Mix is a dubwise and post punk excursion from The Clash, some dubbed out Joy Division covers, Bauhaus, The Slits, Killing Joke remixed by Thrash, a bunch of Andrew Weatherall dub versions and some On U Sound from Dub Syndicate.



The Clash: The Crooked Beat

Steve Mason: Boys Outside (Andrew Weatherall Dub 2)

Jah Division: Dub Will Tear Us Apart

Jah Division: Dub Disorder

Bauhaus: Bela Lugosi’s Dead

The Slits: I Heard It Through The Grapevine

Dub Syndicate: Ravi Shankar Part.1

Sabres Of Paradise: Ysaebud

New Order: Regret (Sabres Slow ‘n’ Lo)

Lark: Can I Colour In Your Hair (Andrew Weatherall Version)

Killing Joke: Requiem (A Floating Leaf Always Reaches The Sea Dub Mix)

Pounding System

Not far to the north of where we live lies the River Mersey. The riverbanks on both sides are walkable and when you cross by the footbridge up near Ashton- on- Mersey golf club there are a maze of paths that wind their way through floodplains and fields, either east to the water park and then Chorlton or west through to Urmston. Much of this land is known as an Ees- Stretford Ees, Chorlton Ees and Sale Ees. Ees is an archaic word meaning a piece of land liable to flood or water meadow. The footpaths cut their way through the Ees, surrounded by trees, hedges and meadows. The M60 and its link roads are all interwoven but are very quiet at the moment. Usually from our back garden you can hear the M60. At the moment you can hear the birds and the occasional rattle of the tramline, a mile in the other direction. Our daily bout of exercise sometimes takes us along the riverbank, especially in the evening when it's much quieter and social distancing is easier and less fraught, and through these lanes and pathways. As the sun dips out west beyond Irlam and Warrington you can sometimes get to witness a spectacular sunset. This is one of the positive things lockdown is giving us- finding local moments of beauty, even in our fairly unromantic and ordinary parts of south west Manchester, and this is now life in 2020- taking the time under these restrictions to appreciate what's on your doorstep.

Here is some dub splendour to match the sunset above from Dub Syndicate, a key part of the On U Sound stable. I was going to post the majestic, far out sounds of Ravi Shankar (Pt 1) but it turns out I've posted that before, back in 2017. Pounding System was the opening track on their 1982 album The Pounding System. The bass and drums/percussion are so precise but so loose in Sherwood's hands. The horns seem to rise up from the mixing desk, levitating. Skanking guitar parts pop in and out. Every element in it's own space and with room to breathe.

Pounding System

Strike The Balance

Some On U Sound heaviness for Friday, from 1989's Dub Syndicate album Strike The Balance, a masterpiece of late 80s Sherwood dub production. This song is proper rootsy dub, all bass and echo and delay with Bim Sherman singing and a freaked out metallic Dalek vocal running through it. Towards the end some woodwind floats over the top. The rest of the album rocks too, the chanting of Hey Ho, a cover of Je T'Aime with Shara Nelson and closer I'm The Man For You Baby. Like most of Adrian Sherwood's back catalogue, it is worth shelling out for.

Mafia

Money Dealers

Let's end the week with some dub, a previously unreleased track from On-U Sound about to be part of a Dub Syndicate vinyl re-issue set (first four albums) and a cd anthology box (Ambience Dub 1982-1985). This is a heavy duty, wandering slice of Sherwood dub with Bim Sherman's vocals floating above the rhythms. Echo, reverb, hisses, wobbles, sounds dropping in and out. Friday has come and it's not a second too soon.

Ravi

Here's some spacey Adrian Sherwood dub from 1984 for your Sunday, making use of some Indian vibes and lashings of echo.

I had a longer post in mind but when it came to writing not much came out.

Ravi Shankar Pt 1

Shake The Nation

In 1996 I bought Prince Far I's Cry Tough Dub Encounter Chapter 3, a dive further into dub. It was a re-issue of an early 80s release, full of deep basslines and space and sound FX, mixed by Dub Syndicate (Adrian Sherwood). I found it again recently when rifling through my records, having largely forgotten about it. The Voice of Thunder, as he styled himself, is in full effect on this album. Good stuff for a Sunday morning in July.

'Prince Far I come shake the nation, Prince Far I come tell it to  the young generation'

Shake The Nation

Sherwood Forest

That Adrian Sherwood-LSK dub of Space Oddity I posted at the weekend got me back onto a Sherwood and On U Sound tip and going through my folders I found this from the Test Pressing website back in 2010, an hour long mix of dubbed out Sherwood delights. The original page is here, which also reveals the tracklist- African Head Charge, Dub Syndicate, Doctor Pablo (the Dr Who theme) and Creation Rebel. Sherwood's output is so vast and varied that one nine-song mix can't hope to do anything more than dip a toe into the waters. If you go here there's a live dj stunning set done for The Boiler Room, with lashings of delay and reggae vibes, and a crowd who possibly didn't know what they were in for.

Adrian Sherwood The Producers Series #1