Dub is known to be a subgenre of reggae. But also Dub breaks down again into various sub-subgenres. Insanely, even a sub-subgenre, like Steppers, is made up of different ways of playing. There would be z. B. the old-school steppers we know from classic UK sound systems. Iration Steppers, Disciples or Jah Warrior are typical representatives. Then there is a younger school that is a bit more experimental. Alpha Steppa, Kanka or Jah Schulz come to mind here. And then there's the school that produces pure fodder for Sound Systems. A very special sound that is not so easy to describe. Instead of putting it into words, I recommend listening to this album: Benjah and EK: "Dust off the Dubs' (Lions Den). Benjah and EK are two young producers from France. They also operate under the name "Bedrin Records" and offer exactly the sound that forces the selector to rewind on sound system events. With a little imagination, the whole thing could be described as “technowise Dub" describe. The rhythm is XNUMX% reggae, but the productions have completely abandoned the mimicry of handmade music, the rhythm is maximally repetitive and all references are closed Dub and reggae in the form of samples, MC vocals and "jah" calls or sirens are absent.
The Berlin label Lions Den, which specializes in sound system music, has long been into the sound of the two Frenchmen and therefore decided to dedicate an album to them, on which they present the best Dubs of the last few years into a thick package of 20 tracks. I feel like Lions Den, I also like this uncompromisingly concrete sound, especially the polyrhythms forced by the drums did it to me. However, there are also some pretty bad ones among the 22 tracks (11 instrumentals plus Dubversions), in which sluggish synth orgies spoil my fun, or I'm overwhelmed by boredom because of the unimaginative beats. Maybe not everyone would Dub it deserves to be dusted off.