East Coast Dub Cartel: November 2009

The Dub Cartel's East Coast DubCast is up and running with 26 mins of the hardest dub for Episode 1. It also features a written piece on the late, great King Tubby by our own Selecta King Stout. Download and enjoy!

Podcast URL: http://eastcoastdubcast.podOmatic.com.

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King Tubby: Original Dub Organizer

      If you listen to Dub, or reggae in general, the name King Tubby should ring a bell. In my mind, it rings more of a spring reverb crash, or a snare-drum hit that echoes for about 30 seconds. The man was truly the originator of Dub, and therefore the originator of the concept of the “remix” that is now hugely popular across many genres in Western pop music.
      He was born Osbourne Ruddock in 1941 in Jamaica. He ran an electronics repair shop in Kingston, where he would often repair musical equipment for the local Sound Systems that put on huge dances around town. He then created a Sound of his own to rival his very customers. He would use unique effects and equalizing on the records he would spin, and, of course, the quality of sound coming out of his speakers was absolutely tops. He was then asked to use his sound equipment expertise to mix special instrumental versions of popular Jamaican songs to use as backing tracks for “DJ’s” (what would be called an MC in hip-hop) to toast over both live at sound system sessions and in the recording studio, as toasting records were to become the new big thing in Jamaica. His instrumental mixes began to comprise the b-sides of Jamaican singles for Duke Reid’s Treasure Isle label, and his instrumental mixes became in-demand all over the Island. He used his signature echo effects, as well as his keen instinct for manipulating the controls of the mixing board to drop in and drop out various instruments in the mix, to turn the plain old instrumental B-side into a whole new piece of art equal to or better than the A-side. Thus, Dub music was born.
      Tubby’s influence on Jamaican music was vast, as throughout the 70’s producers and label owners would send most of their singles to Tubby to mix a “Dub” side for. Many then began to imitate his technique, and he even trained some youngsters to help out and take some of the work load off of his shoulders. He’d start them in his repair shop, teaching them how to repair and create equipment, before letting them loose in his mixing studio. Huge names in Dub, such as Scientist and Prince Jammy (later King Jammy) got their start in this very way. Jammy’s “Jammy’s” label would be responsible for changing dancehall forever by having the “first” and arguably biggest hit digital dancehall riddim, “Sleng Teng.” Tubby’s own Firehouse label would release the “Tempo” riddim around the same time, which was nearly identical and almost as big a hit.
      Tubby was gunned down in 1989, sadly ending the life of one of the most innovative and important, if largely unsung, musical minds in our century. He didn’t write the music or sing the songs. He didn’t even play the instruments. However, his work behind the mixing console would forever change the way the B-side of a vinyl single was looked at. No longer just a “throwaway” song that no one would pay much attention to, he turned it into its own animal that lived and breathed and showed great imagination, inspiration, and creativity. To this day, most electronic music mediums have King Tubby to thank as a grandfather to the music they produce, spin, and listen to. His importance can’t be overstated. Long live the King!
      -King Stout