Downpressor: "Cold War 2 Dub"

By Jonti Davies

downpressor: "cold war 2 dub" (download mp3 here)

Legendary Jamaican engineer King Tubby described dub music as being "Jus' like a volcano in yuh head!" and there's magma all over the place in this smoldering production from Tokyo resident Chris "Downpressor" Barker. Taking one of his own cuts (built from the ground up, with real instruments and hardware) in a dubwise direction, "Cold War 2 Dub" showcases Downpressor's finely honed skills as a sound engineer. He knows exactly when to bring in snippets of vocals, horns and guitar, and he also understands when to drop the faders and strip the rhythm back to its bare essentials of drum and bass. This is the kind of music that loses something when heard through earphones, but trust me, hook it up to your soundsystem and blast it through some big bass bins and the true richness of Downpressor's mix will be revealed. It's powerful stuff.

Chris Barker recently collaborated with Jamaican deejay Trinity on a 7" release (along with Los Skauters, Downpressor gets bonus points for releasing material on vinyl) and is planning a "new direction" in his production work this year, but you can also visit Tokyo's One Blood to find him spinning the platter as a dub/roots/steppers selector every month. It's good to hear a gaijin keeping the bass culture alive in Japan.   

dubbing-in-tokyo.blogspot.com
Upcoming live dates in Tokyo: Every second Saturday of the month at One Blood (Ikebukuro)

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