Pressure Sounds Vinyl & CDs

Review: Superb package here for dub heads: Dub Cuts: Mixed By Paolo Baldini Dubfiles on Pressure Drop is an LP made up of different Al Brown obscurities. They're given plenty of trippy studio effects and heady reworks by Paolo Baldini Dubfiles at his studio in San Foca in Italy. The tense and moody sounds are finished in places with some top vocal work from Al Brown. This is the sort of collection that works in many different environments from sunny sound systems to darker stoner sessions on a Sunday afternoon.

Review: Dub producer Herman Chin Loy who was one of the pioneers of the style in the early 70s, and this reissue of two formerly unnammed and mislabeled, all but lost LPs - now combined to make up a compilation known as Musicism Dub - perfectly captures the earliest incarnation of the sound. 'Musicism' is a good term to describe the spectacular character of Loy's dub. Dub as a genre itself has been at times described as one of the first popular music styles to use the sound of the beat as a point of intrigue in itself, rather than relying solely on melodies or lyrics. The Chin Loy sound flaunted here is as indicative of this approach, though it is also staunchly rooted in the vintage style of analog production, with the likes of 'Armagideon War' and 'Don't Fight The Man' nailing that undeniably early chillout sound: nicely-glued lows and spitty tops.

Review: Bobby Ellis is behind 'Ska Baby', which was produced and directed by the Upsetter and now comes backed with a lush dub and a custom bag. It's actually one of the more subtle instrumentals to come from the famous Black Ark studio founded by Lee "Scratch" Perry and epitomises a warm day, beer in hand, dusty dry earth beneath your feet as you saunter though downtown Jamaica. Well, we assume this is how it must feel, never having been there during the 70s or 80s ourselves. Whatever, it's a perfectly organic and authentic vibe that is perfectly transportative.

Review: The Skatalites' incendiary ska bombshell, Ska-Boo-Da-Da, first surfaced after the Chinese-Jamaican record producer Philip Stanford 'Justin' Yap first clocked onto the genre's earliest burblings. After hearing word of his rival Clement Dodd's receipt of hundreds of ska demo in mid-1964, Yap saw dollar signs at such a critical juncture, and unhesitatingly pulled his pre-rigged strings to gather of the cream of his session talents (not yet quite collectively crowned the Skatalites) for a mammoth all-night session in 1964 at Dodd's Studio One on Brentford Road. Successfully occupying the studio of his competitor, the culture cow that was to become the Skatalites thus further came into being. The November session lasted 18 hours, and was described as a monster - so riveting, in fact, that it compelled the studio to double the usual going rate for the instrumentalists. Though many of its demo takes still languish in the vaults, the Skatalites' second-ever LP amounts to a well-chosen curation of cover versions (Juan Tizol and Duke Ellington originals included) first laid down on that fateful, deal-sealing day.