"There’s more warmth and space in dub, more than in any other music," UK producer Adrian Sherwood told Time Out back in 2013. "It’s uncluttered, yet if it’s a good production, people can hear things that aren’t even there." Sherwood should know. Situated in London in the late '70s when punk, reggae, industrial, Afrobeat, electro, and hip-hop began to entangle and crossbreed, Sherwood was often in the producer’s chair to help dub out the results. His credits range from punks like the Fall and New Age Steppers to Lee "Scratch" Perry and industrial hip-hop band Tackhead. And his remixes—be it for Sinéad O’Connor or Skinny Puppy—accentuated both the sharp and corroded edges of the beats as well as the space in-between. The work he rendered in Brit-Jamaican mash-ups as Creation Rebel, Dub Syndicate, and African Head Charge on his On-U Sound label in the early 1980s remain the headiest amalgams of dub some three decades later.
Collaboration lies at the heart of Sherwood’s work, be it with Pop Group’s Mark Stewart or The Voice of Thunder by Prince Far I, so it makes sense that in the 21st century, he’s gravitated towards a new generation of producers who also favor the concuss of Jamaican bass, primarily dubstep producer Rob Ellis, aka Pinch. Dub oozes from Ellis’ production portfolio and he, too, favors collaboration, be it with old drum and bass producer Photek or the likes of Shackleton. Ellis and Sherwood’s collaboration stems from a 2011 DJ night at London superclub Fabric and singles followed.
On their first full-length collaboration, Late Night Endless, the two draw on their formidable pedigree, yet at times the album feels cluttered with sound. A lumbering drum pattern underpins "Shadowrun", sounding like a jungle 12” pitched down, hinting at Pinch’s dubstep heritage while "Music Killer Dub" draws from Sherwood’s lengthy CV. The voices of Jamaican legends like the Congos and Lee "Scratch" Perry—with a sample of now-deceased reggae-punk icon Mikey Dread—all intermingle on the springy track, squelches and gurgles spurting out every few bars. Daddy Freddy’s well-deep growl rumbles underneath "Bucketman" as the other sounds push into the red and back. "Gimme Some More (Tight Like That)" might have the most telltale dubstep wobble of the set, infused with menacing horror soundtrack synth chords and growling dancehall vocals sped into chipmunk territory.
On the back half of the album, the collaboration settles into a flat middle ground somewhere between Sherwood’s '80s dub-punk productions and Pinch’s 21st century tracks, namely the '90s genre known as downtempo. A female vocal sample talking about birdsong, another sampled voice asks "Did you get lost on the trip?" gets tossed with a little diddle on piano, all of it wedded to a soggy drum track that is uncharacteristically generic for the two. "Precinct of Sound" also sounds staid, a voice croaking "sound" as alarm-like sound effects swirl around, lasting barely two minutes. If the hand drums of "Africa 138" had a bit more space, and didn’t have to tussle with another disembodied vocal and guitar line, the beat might have stuck. The most classic dub-sounding track of the album, closer "Run Them Away" best blends the two producer’s formidable skills. Though coming as it does at album’s end, the otherwise lovely chorus—sung by Sherwood associates Bernard Fowler and Bim Sherman—sounds like an exit strategy.
