- Dub is one of the most influential sub-genres ever. Without the spacious, mutant landscapes plowed by King Tubby and Lee "Scratch" Perry, we wouldn't have garage, drum & bass or the austere electronic palettes of producers like Pole. Thirty-five years in, labels like Mark Ernestus's Basic Replay still reverently reissue records from the echo-laden Jamaican diaspora, while the likes of Jahtari provide an outlet for new, freakish devotees. The latter, run by Leipzig-based producer Disrupt, issues "digital laptop reggae," acting as the first outlet for digi-dub productions made by UK producer Jackson Bailey, AKA Tapes. Bailey has been something of a mystery up to this point, but No Broken Hearts On This Factory Floor, a collection of old and new tracks, should clear things up.
No Broken Hearts... seems inspired by the digital-leaning productions released on Taxi Records, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare's label. Bailey uses synths like the Oberheim OB-X and Roland SH-101 along with a 707, effects and tape machines, creating an overdriven tribute to '80s digital dub—the liveness of the takes, along with EM's choice to press the entire record at a loud 45 RPM, lends a boisterous energy, even though many tracks are threadbare versions of traditional riddims played on analog synths. Questions of authenticity seem moot in a Jamaican genre that counts German music nerds among its most obsessive fans, but they're especially pointless here, as Bailey has the chops and knowledge to move seamlessly through a number of different moods and styles.
The selections alternate between a happy skanking vibe and weedy, paranoid gloom. Though there's nothing quite as beguiling as his contribution to Workshop 21, "Somebodies Baby," but "Skankless Tascam" is a major-key jaunt that moves at a leisurely 70 BPM. "Old Pan Sound" expertly deploys the vocals of veteran Vernon Maytone over a stepping bassline. Bailey matches his killer vocal hooks, dropping a chintzy, soaring lead at just the right time. "Pipe Cleaner/This Weed's Making Me Nervous," is a clear highlight. The track's maddening, three-note bassline creates a hypnotic pressure cooker not unlike Jah Warrior's "Dub From The Heart," but its melodic flutes ensure everything's going to be alright. In a note included with No Broken Hearts, Disrupt praises Bailey's work ethic and instrumental dexterity.
No Broken Hearts lifts the veil on Bailey's Tapes project: both the old and new tracks paint him as a young dub prodigy who doesn't take himself too seriously. The liner notes mention how Tapes used to traipse around London with a soundsystem in a trash bin, a comical image that also works as a metaphor for what's going on here. At the end of "Freak Riddim," Bailey abruptly finishes the track in a mess of effects and chaotic tape spinback, as though, in the midst of a heady take, he threw his hands up and said, "Good enough!" That kind of playfulness combines with unfussy, crack musicianship on No Broken Hearts to make each trip through the smoky archive enjoyably immersive.
Tracklist01. Helix Dub
02. Skankless Tascam
03. Dubbing in Bed
04. Gun Dance
05. Gold Love Riddim
06. Old Pan Sound
07. Brain Hunger Riddim (Digi Mix)
08. Atomica Riddim
09. Skanking to Riddim
10. Phyzikal Dub
11. Pipe Cleaner / This Weed's Making Me Nervous (Disco Mix)
12. Freak Riddim
13. Ticker Tape
14. Good Thing You Came Along
15. Oberheimer
16. Tape V