Two of my favourite things. Together. In the same place. Joining forces to create something new from something … well, relatively new. If you’ve read this blog before you’ll know I’ve raved a fair bit about On-U Sound production maestro Adrian Sherwood. And you’ll know I’ve raved a fair bit about Aotearoa dub legends Pitch Black. Now I (potentially) get to have a rave about both in the same blogpost because Dubmission have just released Echoes of The Night on Bandcamp (link here); four Pitch Black originals re-purposed and re-energised by none other than Adrian Sherwood himself.
They say you should never meet your heroes, but for
Mike Hodgson of Pitch Black, meeting the legendary Adrian Sherwood has been a
transformative experience, leading to creative collaborations that have
benefited both of them.
Nearly 30 years after first being mesmerized by On-U
Sound’s releases, a cheeky bit of radio ripping serendipitously led to Mike
helping Pats Dokter, the label’s official archivist, with his work restoring
master tapes, and eventually to him creating visual content for Adrian’s live
shows.
A while after this collaboration began, Adrian offered
to remix some of Mike’s music, either by his solo project Misled Convoy or his
work with Paddy Free as Pitch Black, and it’s four cuts by the latter that
grace this heavyweight platter.
From the dreamy dub of Transient Transmission to the
rolling rhythms of A Doubtful Sound, Pitch Black’s originals have been
re-arranged and dubbed to $%># in Adrian’s signature style, with fluid
melodies, pounding basslines and vocal samples awash in a wall of effects.
Trumpets by David “Ital Horns” Fullwood bookend the
release, haunting in the first track and celebratory in the last, while Doug
Wimbish (Living Colour/Tackhead) added an extra bassline to the heaving version
of 1000 Mile Drift, which now also features the voice of the iconic Lee
“Scratch” Perry.
Reflecting on the collaboration, Mike Hodgson says,
“the whole experience has been slightly unreal, from working on Adrian’s videos
to being in the On-U studio and watching him dub-mixing the tracks I’ve made,
something I could never have imagined happening!”
Mike isn’t the only On-U fan in Pitch Black, as a
pivotal moment for Paddy was “watching Adrian mixing Tackhead at the
Powerstation in 1995 and seeing the cause-and-effect of what he was doing and
hearing the unbelievable sounds coming out of the speakers. It was the first
time I’d ever seen somebody dub mix like that.”
The cover of Echoes of the Night is based upon an
original artwork by long-time Pitch Black collaborator (and fellow On-U
aficionado) Hamish Macaulay, while the vinyl has been pressed using a 100%
recycled compound known as eco-mix, making each record totally unique as the
colours change across the pressing run (most appear to be green-ish).
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