Dubblestandart

Dubblestandart have been operating full force since the early ’90s, cultivating a distinct dub style of their own that incorporates elements of psychedelia, alt-rock, electronic music, and other sounds not commonly explored within the reggae realm.

Over their lengthy career, they’ve collaborated with many of their biggest influences, making music with internationally celebrated stars like Marcia Griffiths, Dennis Bovell, Adrian Sherwood, the Slits’ Ari Up, and many others.

The band worked with dub legend Lee Perry multiple times, including on their critically acclaimed 2009 album Return from Planet Dub and on 2021’s Deep Cuts from Planet Dub.

Heavy Heavy Monster Dub
Dubblestandart formed in Austria in 1987 with an original line-up consisting of Paul Zasky, Robbie Ost, Johnny Heilig, and Operator Marek.

The group experimented with their sound on early releases like 1990’s The Stupified Eremit and 1996’s Dub Melange while perfecting their stage show with regular live performances. Ali Tersch came on as drummer in 1993, and guitarist Herbert Pirker joined the band in 2001.

Dubblestandart released new music regularly, getting into unconventional interpretations of dub on albums like 2004’s Heavy Heavy Monster Dub. They also regularly served as a backing band for reggae artists on European tours, connecting with future collaborators like Dillinger and Lee Perry by first backing them up in a live setting.

The group’s lengthy résumé of live performances included playing the SummerStage concert series in N.Y.C.’s Central Park in 2009, Goa, India in 2013, and Moscow in 2017. Zasky played bass for Lee Perry on all his U.S. dates between 2009 and 2017 as part of Subatomic Sound System, including two Coachella appearances 2013.

In Dub
Collaboration with big names in reggae, dub, and dancehall became commonplace for Dubblestandart, with highlights including their 2009 album Return from Planet Dub, which featured contributions from Perry, Ari Up from the Slits, and filmmaker David Lynch, among others.

U.K. dub master Adrian Sherwood produced the band’s 2014 album In Dub, and vocalist Marcia Griffiths appeared on many of the group’s tracks throughout the 2010s. They also worked with Sly and Robbie, Ken Boothe, Mad Professor, Soul II Soul’s Caron Wheeler, and many others. As the 2020s dawned, Dubblestandart continued producing new music often, with albums like 2020’s @ Repulse “Reggae Classics” finding them teaming with Dennis Bovell, and 2021’s Deep Cuts from Planet Dub excavating previously unreleased material the group had recorded with Perry, releasing it a few months after his death.

I have to admit that I have never been a huge follower of dub. This is not because I have anything against the genre; there have just been too many other albums to buy.

My main exposure to dub was seeing Twilight Circus open for the Legendary Pink Dots about 10 years ago and a Zion Train album that I somehow acquired.

I’ve listened to a bit of ska here and there and like everyone else in the world I have Bob Marley’s “Legend” in my CD collection. All of that to say that this review comes from an outsider’s perspective.

If I wanted someone to like dub, I would give them this album to listen to. It’s a lot of fun (for example, how can you not like a song called “We All Have to Get High”?) and makes you move whether you wanted to or not.

Here’s how they describe the album on their website: “An incredible fusion of hi-tech, vintage synthesizers and analog effect units, merged with solid dub beats, whilst experimenting with different styles that depart from the reggae norm.”

As for the music itself, for me the standout track was “Tiny Place Called Earth,” which seamlessly integrates Rod Serling’s narration to a Twilight Zone episode (“The Invaders”) into the music without sounding forced or cheesy in itself, an impressive feat. Other tracks of note include “When I Fall in Love,” the incredibly catchy “This One Is About Flying,” and the aforementioned “We All Have to Get High.”

There are several covers on this album: “Wadada” (Dub Syndicate), “MPLA Dub” (Tappy Zukie), “Money Money” (Horace Andy), and “When I Fall In Love” (with the original Ken Booth vocals).

This disc weighs in at 68 minutes and even features a video of “Island Girl,” which mainly consists of a dancing dreadlocked young woman and island scenes.

Dubblestandart, release their fourteenth studio album. Louder Than War’s Paul Scott-Bates is impressed.

When I met my wife, a fan of Ska, I soon expressed my fondness for Dub. She asked me to describe its sound and aside from telling her it was lots of echoes and bass, I struggled. To me, Dub is a feeling, a place you go to, something immeasurable to which I constantly drift away and relax. It is like no other musical genre.

Formed in 1988 by Paul Zasky, Dubblestandart are renowned for their self-named brand of 21st Century Dub popularised in their live performances in their own right and as backing to the likes of Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and Ari Up. They have also worked in the studio with Sly & Robbie, Dub Syndicate and Mark Stewart so they know their stuff!

In Dub contains fifteen tracks featuring artists ranging from Marcia Griffiths to David Lynch and with six dub remixes from the legend that is Adrian Sherwood. It’s an album in which vocals are used sparingly – Griffiths and Ari, for instance, appear almost as soundbytes in near instrumental pieces and the music is often minimised to singles instruments and effects.

Stand out track by far is the previously unreleased version of Max Romeo’s Chase The Devil. Probably most popular for its sampling in Out Of Space by The Prodigy, Lee Perry provides vocals in a way that only he can do. He also features on Chrome Optimism alongside David Lynch and a sample of Jean Michel Jarre’s Oxygene Part 4 telling us that ‘Hell is very low and Heaven is very high’. You’ve got to love him.

There is also some very clever track sequencing from the wonderful skank of Slow Motion to the delicate piano in Logics Of Liberation. It’s not all chilled dub either, dance orientated tracks like Golden Life and I’m A Warrior serve to keep the album surprising and fresh throughout.

Limited to just 999 copies, it’s an album for every dub fan to savour and one for newbies to the musical style to acquaint themselves with new songs that the Jamaican pioneers would approve of.

Dubblestandart released a selection of interpretations and dub versions of classic roots reggae tunes that have been pivotal for the inspiration of Dubblestandart’s bandleader Paul Zasky. The album, titled Dubblestandart & Firehouse Crew Present Reggae Classics, was released by the dub reggae label Echo Beach out of Hamburg, Germany. And now this album has been given a new interpretation due to label headman Nicolai Beverungen inviting Dennis Bovell to ‘repulse’ it at the GoEAST Studio of Dubblestandart’s Robbie Ost. Using selected vintage outboard analogue equipment, Dennis Bovell re-voiced the songs, added a couple of guitar lines and in, co-operation with Robbie Ost, also re-dubbed the album – mixing on a legendary E – 6000 solid state mixing board taken over from Tears For Fears studio in London.

Dennis Bovell
Barbados-born and London-based reggae guitarist, bass player, and record producer Dennis Bovell formed Matumbi in the mid-1970s and was a key figure in the early days of the lovers rock genre. He’s also known for attempting to fuse disco rhythms with reggae, most notably with the hit song Silly Games by Janet Kay. He has produced albums by a wide variety of artists including I-Roy, The Thompson Twins, Sharon Shannon, Alpha Blondy, Bananarama, The Pop Group, Fela Kuti, The Slits, and Madness. He has collaborated with renowned poet Linton Kwesi Johnson for much of his working life. In recent years his works regained interest, also due to the recent re-release of the 1980s movie Babylon for which he produced the soundtrack and his participation in Steve Mc Queens drama series Small Axe about the real-life experiences of London’s West Indian community, set between 1969-82.

Repulse
Actually, Repulse Reggae Classics is a showcase album as the six vocal tracks are directly followed by their respective dub versions. Back in the days, this album format was particularly useful when Jamaican producers were short of material by the artist in question. Although the songs on this album were written in the 1970s and 1980s, they’ve never lost their meaning. And thus, they still perfectly criticise and analyse the “pulse” of current political leaders and societies who have controversial views. This is instantly clear when listening to the album opener I Am No Robot, a great rendition of Twinkle Brothers’ powerful 12″ single from 1981 which then appeared on their 1984 LP Age Of Reggae in a different mix. And, obviously, also the matching Babylon The Bandit, originally Steel Pulse’s title track from their 1986 released Grammy Award-winning LP, deals with a topic that is still relevant in current times. The next vocal track is a solid reworking of Burning Spear’s little-known Fly Me To The Moon, a nice lovers piece from his 1988 LP Mistress. Joe Gibbs produced Culture’s 1977 single Jah Jah See Dem A Come across a ‘rockers’ style relick of Sound Dimension’s Heavy Rock riddim. And although Culture’s original piece is the ultimate version, Dennis Bovell does the classic roots tune more than justice. Then Dennis Bovell goes into trusted territory with his new interpretation of Hypocrite, a track from Matumbi’s 1978 debut LP Seven Seals about the wrongs of the Babylon system and those who maintain it. Last but not least, there’s the well-done rendition of Malcolm X. Written by Winston McAnuff, it was Earl Sixteen’s 1976 cut that was put out on a 7″ single by Joe Gibbs before he made Dennis Brown re-record the tune in 1978. Dennis Bovell is also an acclaimed dubmaster, and thus it’s obvious that the six dubbed out versions are a more than welcome addition to the vocal tracks. Each and every dub included here is candy for the ears.

In all, Repulse Reggae Classics is an album with all the ingredients you would expect from Dennis Bovell.

In 2008, NYC based Subatomic Sound teamed up with dub masters Dubblestandart to begin a series of limited edition 12” vinyl exclusives that brought together iconic originators in the history of dub reggae with the gritty underground vibes of the dubstep movement.The lead 12”, “Iron Devil”, included the first ever dubstep tracks from both Lee Scratch Perry and Prince Far-I, produced in collaboration with Dubblestandart and remixed by Subatomic Sound System and Paris’ Tom Watson.Released on hand stamped vinyl in vintage Jamaican jackets, “Iron Devil” disappeared from shelves worldwide in less than a week. In 2009, the follow up vinyl was dedicated to an explosive pairing of Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry with rising Brooklyn dancehall reggae star Jahdan Blakkamoore that revisited Perry’s ‘70s classic “Blackboard Jungle” off the seminal album of the same name, a cornerstone of dub reggae that featured Scratch and King Tubby at the controls. These collaborations are very interesting for their ability to conjure new trends with older sounds, showcasing how far dance music has come in the last few years.

The third 12” in the series is entitled “Chrome Optimism” and on this release Dubblestandart brings together the most unbelievable combination yet, a world class summit of mad genius : Jamaican dub originator Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry together with American filmmaker David Lynch, plus as an added bonus, famed French avant garde composer Jean-Michel Jarre. On “Chrome Optimism”, Scratch exercises his inimitable gift to juxtapose spirituality with humor through wordplay that walks a line between nonsense and profundity: “Hello, Hell is very low and Heaven is very, very high!”David Lynch responds with equally mind twisting metaphors like “Euphoric, chrome optimism” and mantras like “The ideas tell you how they want to be”, describing his powerful experience and obsession with transcendental meditation.The otherworldy melody from Jean-Michel Jarre’s famous composition “Oxygen Part 4” floats over the top. Dubblestandart, NYC’s Subatomic Sound System, & Bristol’s RSD switch up the musical vibes beneath, moving from hard charging dubstep to Perry’s classic dub reggae to spacey soundscapes typical of Lynch & Jarre aesthetics. And surprinsingly enough, it works like a match made in heaven.

The “Chrome Optimism” vinyl EP features two remixes from Subatomic Sound System, as well kicking off the A side with the first, a bombastic distorted sub-bass heavy beast that threatens to define a new genre somewhere between dubstep, dub reggae, and the twisted ambience of David Lynch’s film scores. A very mesmerizing EP that’s gonna rock dubstep crowd as well as old school dub heads.

Dub deconstructs and reconstructs reggae. Its sheer unlimited creativity, paired with knowing thoughtfulness, has always made it a catalyst for the development of reggae music in particular and musics in general. Worldwide. That is the context and tradition in which Woman In Dub is embedded, the latest album project of Dubblestandart.

Since 1988, they have been releasing dub productions. They really don‘t need to be introduced to dub fans, and those that aren‘t might well have seen them live on international stages as the backing band for Lee “Scratch” Perry, Dillinger, and many others. Woman In Dub is their thirteenth album. It exclusively features women on vocals and draws from lover‘s rock, dub poetry, R‘n‘B, and even indie pop. Their aim this time: to question stereotype role models. The selection of tunes featured reflects that in a congenial way.

While the vinyl version of Woman In Dub comes with just eight tracks, the CD and digital versions include fifteen. The digital version features eight bonus tracks on top of that. First up to be dubbed is Chezere‘s Another Life. The singer from Barbados is usually active in house, electronica, rock, and acid jazz, according to her facebook profile. Another Life is pure roots reggae, and Dubblestandart leave enough room for her honey-sweet vocals, using dub effects directedly to accentuate rather than break down the structure of the underlying song. Think Dubtonic Kru‘s last album Evolution here, which functions similarly. It is dub and instantly recognizable as such, but the songs transport a message that doesn‘t only lie in the music. Marcia Griffiths‘ golden voice is even more in the foreground of Holding You Close, a classic and laid-back lover‘s tune. Amanda Bauman‘s Slow Motion is an example for a more alienated song.

And so it continues: one gem after the other. Some are instant pleasers, others take a bit of time to catch on to. All tunes have been mixed with tremendous love to detail, so Woman In Dub is anything but a fleeting star. The deeper you dig into it, the more you‘ll discover. This outstanding album offers true musical treasures to enjoy, to dance to, to learn from, and to fuel debates.