The meeting of Vladislav Delay's electronics and Sly and Robbie's Jamaican rhythm section.
Vladislav Delay met Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare
(the most prolific Jamaican rhythm section and production duo)
thanks to a series of jam sessions. Trumpet player Nils-Petter
Molvaer had been asked by the Jamaicans to join them and
he invited Delay alongside guitar player Eivind Aarset to tag
along, which eventually turned into the Nordub project.
The result of these jam sessions turned into an album, mixed
and mostly produced by Vladislav Delay, released on the label
Okeh. It was also followed by an extensive series of live dates.
This one-shot reunion was the beginning of another story:
a trio composed by Delay, Dunbar and Shakespeare.
In January 2019, Vladislav Delay went to Kingston and spent
some days at The Anchor studios, to record drums and bass
with S&R, some voice takes and a series of atmospheric field
recordings. Back to Finland, Delay started to experiment with
this precious material, mixing and overdubbing, in the comfort
and quiet of his studio, based on the island of Hailuoto, Baltic
Sea, Northern Finland, giving another feeling to the Jamaican trip.
This became a tribute to the “dub spirit”, but in a very personal way,
far beyond any influence or “the obvious”.
500-PUSH-UP is two
worlds collapsing, merging, also showing some intriguing approach
of the Jamaican groove, used as a filigree, like the echo or the ghost
of reggae, converging and conversing with a post-industrial and
experimental approach. To file beside experiments—for instance—such as
Lee Perry's
Scientist Rids The World Of The Evil Curse
Of The Vampires or the On U-Sound productions.
From
Mille Plateaux to Leaf, Staubgold and
Carsten Nicolai's Raster-Noton, ~scape, among others, or on his own label Ripatti, the Finnish artist Sasu Ripatti (born 1976) aka Vladislav Delay has been exploring various iterations of the “dub culture vs. Electronica”, since 1997. His sonic crafts and unique signature sound has been sought after by an eclectic range of bands and artists, ranging from Massive Attack, Hauschka, Black Dice, Autopoieses, Animal Collective or AGF. Somewhere between the old-school electronica culture, the soundscaping, the experimental paths of
Lee Perry and Adrian Sherwood, ghostly clubbing anthems, minimalism, pop, jazz, without being influenced, Vladislav Delay is building a drifting and coherent sound enigma.
Lowell “Sly” Fillmore Dunbar (born 1952 in Kingston, Jamaica) is a drummer, best known as one half of the Jamaican rhythm section and reggae production duo Sly and Robbie.
Robert “Robbie” Shakespeare (born 1953 in Kingston, Jamaica), bassist, is the other half of Sly and Robbie.
