Last year Britain’s leading heavyweight dub bassist, Jah Wobble, was wowing crowds at Womad 08 (Charlton Park) with his Chinese Dub project (along with his zither-playing wife , Zi Lan Liao).  [Check out the album 'Jah Wobble and the Chinese Dub Orchestra: Chinese Dub' on the 30 Hertz label: 30HZCD30] .

This year he’s added tabla and sarangi onto his trademark bottom-end sound on a new release to pay homage to one of the UK’s best noir films: “Get Carter” (famously featuring Michael Caine as the anti-hero Carter - a role reprised and, of course, mutilated by Stallone more recently in the ubiquitous and unnecessary American re-make).

Released on Reggae/Dub re-release specialists Pressure Sounds this 10″ vinyl has a more edgy version (The Cliff Bumby Mix - named after a character in the film) as the B side also.

Wobble’s bass is placed beneath almost everything else in the mix of the A side, so that what you perceive is more like the memory of the bass than the raw sound itself; yet it frames everything else - the in-your-face tablas and ‘tambourine’ sound, the piano, flute, sarangi etc - to perfection.  [If you want more info on sarangi check out our review of Surinder Sandhu's "The Fictionist" (WorldMusic.co.uk - 2008 - Saurango Music 101)]. With words like ‘thunderous’ and ‘monstruous’ being applied to this bass-line and a moniker like Wobble, it might be worth sandbagging your valuables before turning up the volume control and pressing the ‘loudness’ button…

The 10″ vinyl “Get Carter” is available from Pressure Sounds (www.pressure.com). Price £3.  Pressure Sounds.  PSTI006.  2009.

Check out some of their other great releases and re-releases at the same site: eg King Tubby and the Clancy Eccles All Stars: “Sound System International” (PSCD65, 2009); Delroy Wilson: “Dub Plate Style” (PSCD64, 2009); Delroy Wilson/George Dekker: “This Life Makes Me Wonder” (PSS025, 2009); Tommy McCook & The Supersonics: “Pleasure Dub” (PSCD63, 2009).

They also have two other labels: Green Tea has a varied catalogue of new material from different genres and Maximum Pressure aims to present the best of the pioneers of dancehall and  more recent reggae music.

Glyn Phillips (WorldMusic.co.uk, 2009)

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Oct 29 2009