Jamaican Echoes

As they worked, Case gradually became aware of the music that pulsed constantly through the cluster. It was called dub, a sensuous mosaic cooked from vast libraries of digitalized pop; it was worship, Molly said, and a sense of community.

from Neuromancer, by William Gibson.

I want to point out a great new CBC radio documentary about dub music. You can listen to it at the Inside the Music Audio Archive - it's called Jamaican Echoes, and it's about an hour long. It does a good job of explaining what dub is, how it developed, and how it spread around the world. Dub techniques and innovations created by Jamaican artists went on to influence huge swathes of contemporary music, from hip-hop to disco to punk to bhangra, not to mention most any style of electronic music you care to mention.

I would've liked some mention of nyabinghi drumming but I suppose that would involve explaining lots of other facets of reggae music. It's a great introduction nonetheless, and includes excerpts from many classic tracks. Be sure to crank up the bass before you listen to it, or you'll miss the point entirely.

I can't be entirely sure, but I think my first introduction to dub was reading Neuromancer, so I've always been focused on both the mystical and science-fictional elements of the music.

PS: For further exploration of the original dub remixing process, you might want to check out this podcast. It contains 21 different versions of Jackie Mittoo's Drum Song.

Jah love

His gloved hand slapped a panel and the bass-heavy rocksteady of Zion dub came pulsing from the tug's speakers. "Maelcum not runnin', no. I talk wi' Aerol, he certain t' see it in similar light."

Case stared. "I don't understand you guys at all." he said.

"Don' stan' you, mon," the Zionite said, nodding to the beat, "but we mus' move by Jah love, each one."

Neuromancer, by William Gibson.

(I found out recently that at least one reader of Neuromancer thought 'dub music' was just a science fictional idea that William Gibson made up. Nope. It's real. You can check out some of these collections if you need an introduction.)