Collision Course

Though it’s less well known than the two Macro Dub Infection sets, this 1999 compilation, also put together by Kevin Martin, is just as powerful and gripping. It’s slightly more oriented toward avant-garde hip-hop than dub, featuring tracks by Antipop Consortium, Mike Ladd, Sensational, and Rubberoom, but some tracks — particularly “Total Destruction,” by DJ Scud and Nomex, 2nd Gen’s “Statutory Angels,” and Bio Muse’s “Socially Bankrupt (’99 Mix)” — are whirling storms of thunderous beats and shrieking electronic noise, as loud and disruptive to the mind and spirit as anything on the Electric Ladyland sets. Some might quibble with the way some of the (white, European) artists use samples of dancehall records and kung fu movies as exotic totems, but Martin’s own work with dancehall DJs as The Bug and Razor X Productions proves that his heart is in the right place, anyway, so it’s worth giving the other performers here the benefit of the doubt and letting them smash your skull in for an hour.