Dub Syndicate - Ital Breakfast

Ital Breakfast is Dub Syndicate at their most relaxed and deadliest, a 1996 On-U Sound record finally reissued in its rightful place.

The group has always operated in two cities. Style Scott, one of reggae's greatest drummers, was recording beats in Jamaica with musicians from the Roots Radics, Soul Syndicate, Joe Gibbs' Professionals and Bunny Lee's Aggrovators, a list that reads like a history of the genre. Then the tapes would travel to London, where Adrian Sherwood would do what Sherwood does, taking them apart and putting them back together with overdubs from Skip McDonald and Akabu until the whole thing breathed differently. This transatlantic method is why On-U records are unlike any other dub.

The title track opens with I Roy making an appearance over a rhythm loose enough to stumble. The Corporation spans over five minutes with a bass line that never stops digging in, Throw Down Your Gun carries its message without preaching, and The Captain's Trance Mission closes the album with Lee Scratch Perry doing exactly what one would hope, completely unconcerned with anyone else's plans.

Nine titles, without any rush. Dub albums this generous with space are rarer than the genre's reputation suggests.