A Brief History of Dub Part 2: King Tubby

As with a lot of reggae albums, just about any dub album is liable to claim King Tubby as main auteur, just because so many were mixed in his studio. This is a guide to the ones that'll sell you if any of Tubby's music will. I think of him as the Mozart of dub, always playing with perceptions in different ways.

Recommended:

• King Tubby Special 1973-1976 . The birth of genius.
  
  
• King Tubby & Prince Jammy, Dub Me Crazy and Dub Me 2 Crazy (Blood and Fire) Megaton mixes. Everything Blood & Fire Records does is quality, a labor of love. These are the cream of a bumper crop.
  
  
• King Tubby & Soul Syndicate, Freedom Sounds in Dub (Blood & Fire) There must be thousands of these dub b-sides, but Blood and Fire have harvested well.
  
  
• The Sound of Channel One: King Tubby Connection (Guava Jelly) What's that you put in that big cigarette we were smoking?
  

Cultural Engagement 1

Tonight went to see the opening of Clerks 2 at the Crossroads Cinema. For those unfamiliar with the suburbs of Greater Seattle, these theaters lie to the north of a shopping mall that's 1/3 discount stores and outlets, 1/3 little local stores and 1/3 food court. The neighborhood is pretty dense and (for Bellevue) economically and culturally mixed: Russians, East Indians, Spanish speakers, Southeast Asians. And for the 7:45 showing, it looked like every swing shift worker had called in sick to the mini-mart so he/she could attend. For once I didn't mind it being a little loud. To my ears, most anticipated of the summer movies for which we saw previews was, what do you know, Jackass 2. New sig: "They're not gay, they're Hobbits."

What I'm Listening To: 7/8/06

Rhymesayer with Kanye West, "Brand New" (J) Just got hooked into this one--and since I guess Rhymesayer's worked with Kanye on Kanye's wonderful albums, it figures that the two of them together would be twice as inspired and rocking.

Espers (Locust Music) Hushed and dreamy, this sounds like a 21st-century update of the kind of music Fairport Convention made in 1969-70. Very beautiful, if you're into that kind of music.

First Listen: TV On the Radio

Return to Cookie Mountain (4AD) Where their first recordings sounded compressed, concise little packages of soul singing and noise rock. This album is more expansive--longer songs, more crazy textural variations in one song than most bands put on a whole album. The other thing I like about this band is that I can't think of another band that sounds anything like them--except for the washes of amelodic synth buzz that appear and disappear without warning, which reminds me of the genius racket Allen Ravenstine created on old Pere Ubu albums.

Dream insane neo-progressive-rock double bill: TV on the Radio and Mars Volta.

Here's a fascinating interview with David Thomas that I just stumbled on. Smart and mouthy, who'd have guessed?