Creation Dub

Dub is a producer’s medium, and few producers can boast a more immediately distinctive sound than Lloyd "Bullwackie" Barnes, a Jamaican émigré to New York who started the Wackies label in the furthest reaches of the North Bronx in the late '70s. Barnes and his band of seasoned in-house musicians cut some of the era's finest roots LPs, with legendary artists like Horace Andy, Sugar Minott, and John Clarke. From the fruits of these sessions Lloyd Barnes created spectral, dubbed-out instrumental versions that rival the mind-expanding work of legendary producers like Lee Perry and King Tubby in sheer musical inventiveness. Creation Dub first appeared on the Wackies imprint in 1977, and it's one of the producer’s most experimental releases. It features menacing, near-psychedelic versions of rhythms originally voiced by singers like The Chosen Brothers, K.C. White, and Joe Auximite. The great John Clarke delivers an impassioned performance on “Tell It to Them Roots Dread,” providing the otherwise instrumental album with its sole vocal showcase.