Drum & Bass Strip to the Bone by Howie B

This is not “drum & bass” in the jungle sense, but “drum & bass” in the original, reggae-derived sense: dance music in which the drums and the bass are not just foundational, but central. In reggae (where drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare originally made their mark), the term is sometimes used synonymously with “dub,” but on this album the style is mostly only reggae-adjacent even though the production is quite dark, spacious and dubwise. That said, “Ballistic Squeeze” is a classic steppers groove and “High Voltage Syndrome” draws deeply on the sound of 1970s roots dub.