Description

The music suggests sunshine and sound systems, hot sand, and cool drinks; the bass shuffles calmly but also provocatively rebellious. Dub is the art of the disk jockey they first raised to stardom in Jamaica. In the fifties, there were music mobiles, the “sound systems,” the replacement for missing radio stations. The DJs, concerned about exclusivity, soon recorded their hit singles themselves, with instrumental backing for jokes and announcements. This Dub became independent at the end of the sixties due to technical progress. King Tubby and Lee “Scratch” Perry played with reverb, echo, and retrograde tapes. Dub broke away from Jamaica and went to New York or London, where his militancy goes well with punk. There is a Dub series that has been causing a sensation for years and has been since the release of “KING SIZE DUB 1” (back then in cooperation with the cult magazine SPEX) in 1994! In the series, there were always trips to obscure counting (Vol.69) and specials about certain regions (Dub In Germany), labels (ON-U Sound Records from London), or bands (Dubmatix from Toronto)! So it’s wonderful that with KSD 25, another compilation in the series, presents Dub as a multi-layered art of sound mixing. In this edition, Echo Beach friends old and new dub each other or offer versions of pop and reggae hits by the Ramones, Bob Marley, Blondie, Robert Palmer, and David Bowie.

About Echo Beach

Nobody knows precisely where that ominous Echo Beach exists, about which the new wave band Martha & the Muffins tell in their song of the same name. But dub connoisseurs agree that the fictional dream beach with the long reverberation is on the banks of the Elbe. For a quarter of a century, the label Echo Beach, headed by Nicolai Beverungen from the first to this day, has been supplying continental Europe with Dub music from Hamburg.

For more than 25 years now, ECHO BEACH has dedicated itself to the dissemination, maintenance, and development of that exquisite secret science that has been called “Dub” since King Tubby’s days. A niche product in the highly competitive sound carrier market, but one that has been stimulating the market without competition since then.

Nicolai Beverungen has given ECHO BEACH a personality. In doing so, he represents a specific type of music that he believes in and wants to inspire people. The beginning of his company’s history shows that he has succeeded successfully. In cooperation with the legendary music magazine “Spex,” ECHO BEACH presented the sounds of the British “Digidub” scene with “King Size Dub 1”. King Size Dub developed into a cult series with a total of over 14 episodes. ECHO BEACH also acted as a marketing consultant for Blood & Fire, the re-issue label from Manchester, financed by Simply Red, which saved the rare pearls of the roots reggae of the 70s from being forgotten. In addition, ECHO BEACH, in cooperation with Warner Brothers, paved the career path of the Berlin dancehall phenomenon SEEED and received gold and platinum for this first major signing.

Concentrating on one style of music is certainly not the only formula for success. But if you mix that style of music with know-how and passion, which Nicolai Beverungen calls “Dub,” a small idea becomes a solid company that is unrivaled even after 25 years. Above all, one in which the “dub” is lived with passion. “Dub and reggae belong together like sun and beach (= Echo Beach). It is a variety of reggae, and it is impossible to imagine modern and current dance productions without it. But regardless of a musical genre, it is certain that the earth will continue to rotate and the music will continue to sound as beautiful or disharmonious as the centuries before, ”summarizes the ECHO BEACH founder.