I’ve spent the last two weeks embracing summer heat and sweet laziness. Yet, there are some topics that enforce you to write a few words. This time it’s the premiere of not one but two Travelers All Stars singles and it’s definitely worth your full attention.
After almost 20 years, Long Beach Dub Allstars are back with a new record. A self-titled album often means a new opening, sometimes a big change of a band’s sound. Is it the case with this Californian legend known for merging reggae, punk rock, ska, dub, hip-hop, and pretty much everything around?
Do you sometimes order a record without first hearing it? Without knowing even one song? Steady Social Club’s album was the first in a very long time that I purchased without hearing a single second of it.
We have a 4-day weekend ahead of us in Poland and although we’re coming out of lockdown, sometimes it’s important to ask oneself if I really need to leave my flat. The promoters of virtual festivals made sure that it was worth spending the next few days in front of the screen.
Sometimes reality catches up with the words of a song. The new Dub Pistols single was released on June 4, when people in the United States were protesting and rioting after the death of George Floyd, who was suffocated by a police officer. “Stand Together” seems to be a song written for the moment, but it was created two years ago.
Have you ever wondered what do producers do after the last musician leaves their studio in the evening? Well, they just take all their toys – microphones, tape machines, echoes, reverbs, mixers, and any other retro junk and play with it the whole night long. They do dub!
Many great records have been released this year. Lots of good ska, reggae, even rocksteady. Yet, what Mango Wood created still managed to make a huge impression. Imagine that you put on the record, hear the first sounds, next tunes and suddenly you realize that something is not quite alright, it’s gotta be a mistake, someone has put the wrong record into the sleeve. It was supposed to be fresh stuff from this year, not an early reggae compilation from the 60s. I got conned!
