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I have seen – this abstract effect-filled tune came out in October on Dubmission Records (O.G. UK circa 1995). E.R.S. is Hainfield, Austrian dub electronica producer Manfred Bruche, whose been putting out bass-heavy dub for the past few years.

love like this – an album track from the 2013 debut from Wild Belle, an extra-handsome brother sister duo from Chicago Illinois. Her voice reminds me of Erykah Badu a little bit (I said a little). I threw in a couple dub FX and drop outs to make it more heartikal, seen? Check out the whole album HERE

tunnel one – dope 1976 Studio One version of the foundation “hot milk” riddim, originally created by Jackie Mittoo in 1970. I copped this on the excellent Downbeat The Ruler “Killer Instrumentals” compilation that came out in 1988 on Heartbeat Records. DJs like me all picked it up back, then because it contained Sound Dimension’s “Real Rock” – a hard to find NY reggae club staple.

time a run out – early Johnny Osbourne on the same riddim. Barely even sounds like him IMO. Coxsone Dodd at the controls. The web claims this came out in 83 or 86 but that had to be a repressing. The sonics are peer 70s niceness.

100 weight of collie weed – St Mary’s parish bredren carlton livingston started out as a sound system DJ in the early 70s with Lone Ranger on mic. He recorded his first album in 1978, but this 1983 tune on a slower rendition of the hot milk riddim is probably his biggest hit. Production is so damn crispy too, thanks to Hyman Wright & Percy Chin.

murderer (12” Jah Life version) – just had to drop this, just for a hot second. Never gets old. I saw Barrington 2 years ago and he’s still whoa-o-o-ing like a champ.

the road- lea lea jones is a sultry Hackney vocalist whose been bubbling up since about 2009, recording for BBE and Wah Wah 45s. Here she teams up with legendary Dancehall crooner Horace Andy, and I feel like her vocal phrasing borrows heavily from Aswad’s Brinsley Forde. She also got some attention for her weird, Bkorky cover of the Talking heads’ “psycho Killer” which I still can’t decide if I like.

revolution 909 dub – a cover of Daft Punk released in June by French reggae producer Thomas Blanchet. The whole album is decent in that Easy All Stars kinda way. Nothing groundbreaking but I love the first Daft Punk album so why not.

money flow – as many of my friends know, I’m still waiting for modern Dancehall to stop using the fucking auto tune. Seriously, it’s been like 15 years now. But I can make an exception for Busy Signal, whose dope Xmas song on the Shang I Shek riddim is just a natural head nodder. Props to him for putting Eek A Mouse in the video too, since he copped his whole “Wa Do Dem” vocal flow for the chorus.

human body – classic 80s vibes from Papa San, on the same Shang I Shek riddim. Papa San turned to Gospel in recent years, after a series of horrible deaths befell his family.

clippin – The vanity riddim never disappoints. This one from Jim Brown, aka Paul Sinclair, who started making plates on Studio One around 1983. He still performs at festivals and dances to this day. This song is actually called Kipling, which you can hear in the lyrics, but the vinyl pressings were all mislabeled.

rub a dub style – big up to Jules Gayton, who pretty much never left home without this album in his crates. The whole record is dope. I think Sound Dimension was the backing band, and the drum rolls never sounded better.

sound bizness – more Parisian dub, this one a bit harder and heavier on the double-timed 160bpm side. I’ve never quite figured out when people started hearing 80bpms as 160bpms, but I find it fascinating. This came out in July on Om Unit’s “Cosmology” compilation on Cosmic Bridge (UK)

i wanna do something freaky to you – Leon Haywood inna dub style. What’s not to like? This was the B Side to the Brighton producer’s “Thriller” release on Wah Wah 45s, which you can hear on my recent Afrogalatica mix.

blaze bright – Speaking of Brighton, I am in love with this song, produced by UK O.G. Nick Manasseh, who has been making dubplates and DJing since the mid 80s, holding down pirate radio shows and several recording studios and record labels. I discovered this 2013 track on the simply amazing David Rodigan “Masterpiece” compilation, which showcases why he’s still the fucking DON.

where I come from - Chronixx may not be the deepest of lyricists, but i love this minimalist riddim so much I can’t really care. The organ reminds me a bit of Mikey Dread’s “Junco Pardner” dub for The Clash.

get your freak on (taggy matcher remix) – how I ended up with all these French reggae-heads in my crates i will never know. I blame the whole “if you bought this,m you’ll like this” algorithm. Most of the Hip Hop acapellas over rockers beats are throw-aways, but this one is a party starter.

when will they learn – Liam Bailey first hit my radar with his 2013 UK hit “Soon Come”, which you can hear on my Spectral Energy mix. I just like this dude’s voice, and his Roots sound old and new at the same time.

ranglin doddlin – Ernest Ranglin is a foundation reggae guitarist who blessed a million and one ska, rock steady, mento, and dancehall tunes at Studio One and elsewhere. This is a nice little number on Delroy Wilson’s “Movie Star” riddim, which touched down to earth in 1969.

everyday is a gunshot – 1982 niceness on Jah Thomas’ “Midnight Rock” riddim, which put him on the map in 1976.

dance inna new york – I’m still waiting for the big Supercat comeback. He showed up at the 2013 Hot 97 Summerjam looking like a crazy prophet. Still, he was one of the deejays that really got me in to Dancehall in the 80s.

gunshot – nice dubby version just to stretch it out a little bit

buju movin’ – a somewhat lesser known buju track from the early 90s on the College Rock riddim via Dave Kelly’s Penthouse label. College Rock is a Big Willie Studio One original from 1972, but it actually lifted the horn line from this Eddie Floyd track on Stax from 1968.

will power – 30 years later, nobody sounds like shabba. Respect.

jungle stabbing (rootikal mix 6) – 6Blocc is the guy basically credited for bringing jungle music to LA under his original DJ battle name, R.A.W. He started focusing on dub step about 6 years ago. Lately he’s been releasing a lot of Dancehall-heavy dubstep. Finally an American producer that hasn’t forgotten the soul of the sound lies within reggae. Here he brings back Chaka Demus, who sounds raw as ever.

dread – A dope piece of deep dubstep that came out in 2012 on the Deep Medi Muzik label (UK). I love a lot of this new dub that, while techy, still feels rooted in King Tubby. That said, a lot of it is so fucking dark and gloomy that you start to feel like you’re living in a Cylon’s nightmare. So I play it sparingly. Maybe they mix Nyquil with their weed over there or something.

miracles (commodo remix) – this came out on wax in 2012 and good god is it wicked. The crazy push and pull of the bass on this track is the kinda shit that makes me squint up my whole face and just say ‘oooooh damn!!!” the first time I hear it.

da funk dub – one more track from the Daft Punk dub record. It just works.

two face rasta – Cornell Campbell, the original Don Gorgon, voicing a tune for Bunny Lee from 1975. Cornell recorded his first track “My Treaure” at age 11 in 1956.

rocking time – Winston Rodney in 1974 at his most raw, before he got with Jack Ruby Hi Fi and soon signed with Island Records, morphing into the mystical rasta preacher we know today. On this track he’s channeling James Brown to great effect.

back to africa – beautifully soothing roots track from their classic self titled debut on Mango/Island in 1976, also found on the Rodigan compilation I mentioned above.