Recorded for // Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture // Echoes from the Dub Diaspora // Special Issue 7.2 dancecult.net
The sonic archives of the dub diaspora are as vast and unfathomable as the depths of the black Atlantic from whence they came. Thousands upon thousands of hours of audiowaves converse with a multitude of genres. This mix traverses but two routes: Jamaica to Berlin by way of Detroit, in the ecstatic decade of the 1990s; and through London’s expatriate burroughs, in the dreadnought ‘00s.
Sails are set. Depth charges at the ready. Haunted vinyl resurrected. For this DJ mix, I selected a few archival cuts of dub techno, dubstep, and dub riddims, replete with all the clicks, pops, and hisses of wax that is, in some cases, over 20 odd years old. Mixed entirely on vinyl in one take, with the crystalline sun setting behind snow capped mountains, and with the aid of a Roland RE-201 Space Echo to sound-out the seaborne soundwaves, Riddims & Routes is a two hour journey into the echoes, reverbs, and haunted spaces of dub. May this sound pull at but a few threads of the bass culture that has crossed genres and styles as well as continents and countries.
// tobias.dj — November 2015
TECHNICAL NOTE ON THE MIX — Vinyl is but an echo of itself, always dissolving and degrading: and my vinyl, as well as my Technics SL1200s, RE-201 Space Echo, and dj mixer, are in some state of disrepair. One could say the analog equipment plays itself in the mix. Listen for the solos — uneven channels, strange collapses of left to right, scratches and skips, cut-outs in volume. All attest to the autonomy of the analog machine.
TRACKLISTING
Arjen Schat – Stream Version II – Mountain / Stream – Silent Season (2013)
Loscil – Lake Orchard – Endless Falls – Kranky (2009)
The Bug Feat. Spaceape – At War With Time – Hyperdub (2015)
Kit Clayton – Nuchu – Nek Sanalet – ~scape (1999)
Kit Clayton – Purpakana – Nek Purpalet – ~scape (1999)
Pole – Streit – 2 – ~scape (1999)
Cyrus – Inversion – Basic Channel (1994)
Maurizio – M4 – Maurizio (1995)
Paperclip People – The Climax (basic reshape) – Planet E (1994)
Monolake – Static – Monolake (1999)
Rhythm & Sound w/ Tikiman – Music A Fe Rule (Part 1) – Rhythm & Sound
Studio 1 – Lila – Studio 1 (1996)
Maurizio – Domina (Maurizio Mix) – Maurizio (1993)
Round Three Feat. Tikiman – Acting Crazy (Club Vocal) – Main Street Records (1996)
Studio 1 – Silber – Studio 1 (1996)
Basic Channel – Phylyps Trak II – Basic Channel (1994)
Maurizio – M5 –Maurizio (1995)
Rhythm & Sound w/ Tikiman – Why – Burial Mix (1997)
Deadbeat – A Joyful Noise Pt1 – Something Borrowed, Something Blue – Blkrtz (2004/2014)
Burial – Raver – Untrue – Hyperdub (2007)
Basic Channel – Octagon – Basic Channel (1994)
Basic Channel – Phylyps Trak – Basic Channel (1993)
Vainquer – Lyot – Maurizio (1992)
Kode9 – 9 Samurai – Hyperdub (2006)
Skream – Midnight Request Line – Tempa (2005)
Kode9 + The Spaceape – Backward – Memories of the Future – Hyperdub (2006)
King Tubby – Invasion – Dub From the Roots – Clocktower Records (1974/2013)
Marcia Griffiths – Feel Like Jumping Pt. 2 – Studio One Dub Vol. 2 – Soul Jazz (?/2007)
The Orb – Slvg Dvb – Orbvs Terrervm – Island Records (1995)
DJ Spooky – Soon Forward – Incursions in Illbient – Asphodel (1996)
Burnt Friedman & The Nu Dub Players – Consider A Bigger Wallet – Nonplace (2002)
Watershell – We – Northern Circuits – Interchill (1997)
Twilight Circus Dub Soundsystem – Binshaker Dub – M Records (1997)
Kode9 & The Spaceape – Ghost Town – Hyperdub (2015)