Dubcatcher

Some of the best things in life come in pairs, peanut butter and jelly, fish n chips, cheese and wine, DJ Vadim and dancehall reggae! This may raise an eyebrow or two as Russian immigrés and reggae may not be the first thing on your mind, however, this isn’t your normal reggae runnings and DJ Vadim, aka Daddy Vad does not do run of the mill. In fact it’s bigger than reggae. Seeing that this is his 11th long player there is as ever a twist. Residing in the multi –cultural cauldron of East Ham, this is fertile ground for innovation and creating The New and for a man with a musical career spanning 20 years, he comes with some very refined spirits.

Never one to sit on his laurels, he comes with a duology of albums. The Dubcatcher and then The Soulcatcher – two sides to one man. First comes the bass and later comes the soul! The Dubcatcher is not the first reggae outing for Daddy Vad. That vein has been there ever since his first release in the 90s however this is the first time the whole skanks in a reggae style and fashion. The last few years have seen Vadim support Fat Freddy’s Drop worldwide as well as remixing their back catalogue, touring with Anthony B, Capelton, Macka B, Collie Budz… However this is not simply an album recreating some period in time. It’s an album taking influences from classic roots music, 80s digital, bashment, original UK 2 step soul, bass culture and of course some boom bap rap. Like a scientist discovering antiquated electronics and updating them with new circuitry… think more Eddie Grant, than Sean Paul. Taking a musical genre and infusing it with the sounds of soul, boogie and rap, cranking up the bass to 11 and sometimes just dubbin’ it…conscious, social, political but also playful and ample portion for the lovers. Like one of the albums’ skits, it’s all about vibesing up the place. I wanna hear some drums n bass! FLASH IT!!!!