Asherman Meets Dub Street Rockers

I came upon this album a couple of months back and what a little beaut it is. Dub Street Rockers is / was the brain child of former Aggrolittes bass man Jason Bonner. If from the use of the word “dub” in the name you are expecting some kind of effect heavy laden instrumental tunes you’ll be very disappointed as this a really top rate roots reggae album with a very prominent spiritual vibe as vocalist Asherman touches on various subjects from mother Africa, repatriation, and giving praise, love and thanks to god. This is no more apparent than in the opening track ‘Armour of God’, which is a stripped down nyabinghi styled piece in which Asherman reads from the bible quoting Ephesians chapter 6. This is followed by the sweet lovers’ style of ‘Wake Me Up’.
After this point the rest of the tracks up to 11 are put together in a back to back style of roots tune followed by a more rub-a-dub, dancehall, DJ version a kin to those 12” mixes of the late 70’s and early 80’s. What I love most about this LP though is it has a very live all done in one take feel. The way it flows with its laid back feel is a joy to behold and the instrumentation is spot on with subtle bits of keyboard and percussion blended with the throbbing bass and delicate guitar licks. The drums have an almost muffled tone to them that helps to give the whole thing that earthy almost acoustic feel on top of everything else. The album finishes on the up-tempo and joyous sounding ‘Moving On’.
Finally as Mr Asherman says in the song ‘Crucial Vibes’, “Asher have the vibe” and so should you.

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Tracklisting:

1. Armor of God
2. Wake Me Up
3. Keep Steady
4. Steady As She Goes
5. Stop Fighting
6. Jah Seed
7. Seed Grow
8. Zion Ready
9. Africa Ready
10. Crucial Vibes
11. Asherman Vibes
12. Moving On / Disco Mix

Players:

Jason "Cool Breeze" Castillo: Drums

J Bonner: Bass, Guitars, Piano, Organ, Percussion

Josh Whittemore: Bass

Joel D'Amico: Tenor Sax

Produced By: J Bonner

ID:JUMP048