Roots Manuva Dub Come Save Me

From his idiosyncratic delivery and leftfield lyrics to his rootsy basslines and dubwise studio tinkerings, Mr Manuva has always paid homage to his Jamaican roots. That he has always fancied himself as something of a dubmeister was made apparent on the dub version of his lauded single "Witness" (which appeared on Zero 7's Another Late Night compilation), but even before then he was remixing (as Walworth Road Rockers) Big Dada Sound's "Showtime" among others. Here, he gets to explore his "mixing-desk-as-instrument" ethos to the max, reworking tracks from his recent Run Come Save Me LP into spectral dubshadows of their former selves, as well as presenting a few tracks that didn't make it onto the LP and one or two cuts previously only available as limited MP3 downloads. Cuts like "Highest Grade Dub" and "Brand New Dub" are direct descendents of the King Tubby/Augustus Pablo school of smoke-filled trickery, while "Tears" and "Revolution" are more 80's and hip-hop influenced respectively, but come with deep and dirty dub signatures. Like everything Mr Manuva turns his hand to, Dub Come Save Me is weirdly sophisticated, and serves as an essential companion to the original long player.--Paul Sullivan.