Isolation Mix Eight

An hour and five minutes of lockdown vibes and an attempt to lift the spirits and up the tempo a bit this week. This one is a global trawl of tunes taking in Dubwood Allstars and their splicing together of King Tubby, Dylan Thomas and Richard Burton, a classic 70s Lee Perry production from the Black Ark in Kingston, Jamaica, Moon Duo doing Black Sabbath in very laid back style, groove- based melodic noise from Scotland (Mogwai) and Norway (Mythologen), some funky 80s crossover dance pop from NYC, Natasha Khan and Toy as Sexwitch, Paris duo Acid Arab and South London's Rude Audio, all on a Middle Eastern tip, and early 90s Balearic dub house majesty from Sheer Taft (Glasgow) and Underworld (Essex). Bank holiday weekend. Take it easy. Stay safe.

Dubwood Allstars: Under Dubwood

Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and Zap- Pow: Riverstone

Moon Duo: Planet Caravan

Mogwai: The Sun Smells Too Loud

Mythologen: Trust

Tom Tom Club: Wordy Rappinghood

Sexwitch: Ha Howa Ha Howa

Acid Arab: Club DZ

Rude Audio: Rumble On Arab Street

Sheer Taft: Cascades (Hypnotone Mix)

Underworld: M.E.

River Stone

This muddy stream is in the woods in Sale, a dirty tributary that I'm guessing ends up in the Mersey. Musically, today I offer you a delightfully strange song and its dub, both from the magic hands of Lee Perry and Zap Pow, recorded at Perry's Black Ark at some point in the 1970s (1977 I think). The original track is slowly wonky, vocal harmonies and horns and a lilting rhythm. The dub, River Stone, is dubbier and less strange, strangely. A river that smells of sweet herbs and drifts towards the sea.

River 

River Stone 

Some Dub For Sunday

Some dub for Sunday to warm the cockles, especially as it's hovering around zero outside. This is Lee Perry's dub version of Zap Pow's River, which I posted a couple of weeks ago. River is a hazy, semi-psychedelic reggae tune, and this dub version is equally good. In true dub style Bagging Area recommends you play them back to back. If you didn't download River it's still there, alive on the internet all the way from the mid 1970s.

Lee Scratch Perry_06_River Stone.mp3#1#1

Some More Dub For Friday

It seems remiss of me to have posted various bits of dub without anything from Lee 'Scratch' Perry, whose legend goes before him and surely requires no explanation from me. This track, River, is stunning. It's from an album that came out in the 90s called Voodooism, a collection of 1970s rarities from Perry's Black Ark Studio, which he himself burnt down convinced it was haunted. The original artists here are Zap Pow, and River is a dreamy, hazy, almost psychedelic piece of dub reggae, chock full of Perry's trademark phasing. Most of the songs on the compilation are present in original form and their dub version, although the original vinyl version I've got didn't include some of these. There's a dub of this track- River Stone- which is equally good, as are any number of tracks on the record. You can get the whole 20 track set from emusic. I've done it, mainly for the extras, but the whole thing is a laid back but out-there joy. Go on- it could improve your weekend.

Lee Scratch Perry_05_River.mp3