The first two releases in Jahtari‘s new series of diskette-styled 7″ singles bring out two sides of the label’s commitment to the finest of worldwide dub and reggae artists.
Label head technician Disrupt has crafted eye-poppingly convincing replicas of 5.25″ diskette sleeves for wrapping up the the vinyl, and it’s yet another stage in the evolution of the Jahtari aesthetic where ancient digital technology finds its place alongside the vintage warmth of the analogue synths too (witness his handmade Montoron Delay conversions of the retro-styled Korg synth into a phenomenal piece of signature dub equipment whose sound is found on his many and varied productions — all housed in a Commodore 64 floppy disc drive, of course).
Monkey Marc‘s “Post Traumatic Dub” hisses and wheezes with a sprightly stepping rhythm, wonky noises infusing the steady groove with a sense of cyberpunk fizz. The melodies almost flicker out with a flavour and mood much more upbeat than the title might suggest. It’s a nice piece of work, cooked up in Marc’s Melbourne dub kitchen, appropriately enough with the help of a venerable Emulator III and an MPC 3000. On the flipside, “Deception Dub” ups the ante somewhat, a cycling tune introducing some earth-shattering fractured beats and a thumping low-end bassline that gets the speakers quivering. Here the oddity comes in trails whispering out in the echo and peaking filter squitters that drip vaporously around the tune, and it soon becomes a engrossing instrumental meditation on the interplay of heaviness and lighter-than-airiness.The party atmosphere of UK soundsystem originator Peter King‘s chiptune-infused “One Shot Of Vodka” ripples off from where the classic blues number “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” led its many singers on a merry chase(r), but King’s got heftier backing and a livelier vocal style going on here. The dancehall vibes are strong, and not just musically, King boasting and toasting as he drinks his way through the bar, chatting all the time and demanding that the audience “Bring me drink over here… If I drink a lickle wine, I will feel well fine, and if I drink whisky, I might feel frisky”. So far, so ironically bombastic, and as he progresses through the boozing it seems that his beer goggles are in full effect — but he soon becomes the victim of his own self-deprecating misadventures.
-Linus Tossio-
