![]() It’s one long mix and we ask, ‘Well how does this release sound next to that one?’ It’s one gigantic project that, when it’s all finished, will stand just fine on its own.”Ĭontinuity has coursed through Jahtari Records since its inception as a netlabel back in 2004. Harrison explains the sonic ebb and flow of the label as like “a really long mix”: “That’s how we imagine the 7” series going. “Who they think would be good on the label is all about their perception of the label, not ours, and it’s really interesting how the community actually contributes to the ongoing creative process of the label.” “What’s lovely about friends, contacts and colleagues putting us in touch with other friends and contacts is other people’s interpretation of the ZamZam vibe,” says Ereckson. Tracy Harrison and Ezra ‘E3’ Ereckson Photography by: ZamZam Sounds As the label built upon Ereckson and Harrison’s existing connections with scenes in Bristol and elsewhere, the A&R direction of the label took on a community aspect they hadn’t anticipated (they cite Ossia as key in this regard). Long serving steppers crews such as Disciples, Twilight Circus and Alpha & Omega sit alongside artists such as Beat Pharmacy, Jack Sparrow and Von D who cool their usual techno and dubstep tendencies to embrace the ZamZam vibe. Now with a catalog some 60 releases deep, ZamZam stands proud as an essential outpost for contemporary dub that reaches into different tempos and energies while retaining a discernible roots element. Part of the vision with the visual aesthetic and the strictly 7” format, that’s such a unified vibe in itself it gives us more latitude to reach more broadly in terms of the sounds.” “Not stray too much into dancehall or hip-hop like we did with B.S.I., but still touching on a lot of different aspects of dubwise. “We were clear from the beginning that we wanted to keep it a little bit tighter,” Ereckson says. After taking some time off, Ereckson and Harrison re-emerged with a concise concept behind ZamZam Sounds: a strictly 7” series that called upon their oldest dub-minded allies and fellow Portland-based operators like Strategy and Gulls. Records forged strong connections with WordSound Records in New York and the likes of Muslimgauze, Alpha & Omega and Henry & Louis in the UK, but the collapse of their distributor at the turn of the millennium saw their stock wiped out and a successful run cut short. ![]() “It’s interesting how the community contributes to the creative process of the label” Ezra ‘E3’ Ereckson Whether it’s Martin Hannett’s splashy FX surges on ESG’s ‘Moody’, the global creep of Adrian Sherwood’s production on African Head Charge, Imagination’s tripped out Night Dubbing remix album or Grace Jones’ adventures into ’80s island boogie with Sly & Robbie, dub has crept into all kinds of iconic music over the years. Beyond the pioneering work of King Tubby and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, dub has infected pivotal music movements from post punk and industrial through to boogie, house, jungle and trip-hop. It’s hard to overstate the impact dub has had on contemporary music production. ![]() Not all of these protagonists are in direct contact or collaboration, but they share admiration for each others’ work. “Dub will find you,” Davies retorts.ĭavies and Opland are part of a loose-fit network of artists and labels spread across the globe that, to varying degrees, take the principles of dub and apply them to strange new shapes. “Dub is the act of taking stuff away and using the mixing desk as a tool, so it applies to a lot of music.” ![]() “I think of dub as having gone through most things that we dance to these days, or listen to at home,” Davies adds. It’s a Monday night and we’re sat upstairs in The Surrey Vaults, a Bristol pub that has incubated just the kind of experimentation both labels deal in. Davies is a Young Echo member and co-founder of No Corner Records, while Opland runs Bokeh Versions. Between them, both are involved in exciting, unconventional permutations of dubwise music. “Dub techniques are so infectious, whether it’s using a delay or pushing the bass to the forefront – that already pretty much is dub,” Daniel Davies, aka Ossia, says to Miles Opland. Oli Warwick meets some of the artists and labels that still find promise in dub’s methodology. Across the globe, numerous boutique imprints are building on the dub template and pushing it into unusual places, from Jahtari’s mischievous 8-bit digi-dub to Bokeh Versions’ abstract experimentation. The influence of dub reggae has been a constant in electronic music for decades now, propping up jungle, dubstep, ambient music and techno with its bass-heavy swagger.
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