Echomania

This disc finds Dub Syndicate back to full strength. Thanks to an all-too-brief distribution arrangement with Restless Records in the U.S., this is one On-U title that should be relatively easy to find in the States, and it will make a fine introduction for newcomers to the band's strange but wonderful art. Drummer "Style" Scott and bassist "Flabba" Holt keep everyone together with monstrous reggae riddims, while Adrian Sherwood tears things up around them from his perch at the mixing board. Lee "Scratch" Perry makes a couple of hilarious cameo appearances, in one case sentencing all "heads of government" to "poverty and famine and hardship and bad luck." When guitarist Skip McDonald sings, you can hear echoes of his past work with Tackhead and intimations of what will come with Strange Parcels. Everywhere the rhythms are airtight and relentlessly propulsive. One song manages to quote successfully the American gospel standard "Walking in Jerusalem Just Like John." A rare and wonderful recording.