Dub Your Brains Out

One of the best dub compilations of 2002 came, somewhat surprisingly, from one of the best hardcore punk labels in the U.S. (Though this is a bit less surprising when you consider that all of the material on the album was licensed from RAS, one of the two or three best reggae labels in the U.S.) What makes this particular collection so satisfying is the combination of a wide variety of styles and consistently high quality from track to track. It opens with a bang, with Scientist's aggressive, jungle-flavored take on a Culture album track, then slides into a more traditional dub version of the Bunny Wailer classic "Fighting Against Conviction" (rendered here as "Battering Down Dub"). Elsewhere, Mad Professor gives Yellowman's "Wild Wild West" the Ariwa treatment, while Sizzla and Ninjaman collaborate on the dancehall-based "Look Who Is Laughing Dub" and Mystic Revealers and Gondwana do their modern roots thing in fine fashion, remixed by David Rowe and Jim Fox, respectively. This is an excellent introduction to post-roots dub reggae.