Underwater Dancehall cover

Underwater Dancehall

Released

This surely ranks as one of THE great underappreciated albums. When it came out in 2007, dubstep was just on the ascendent, and a vocal album that connected it to the deeper history of Bristol soundsystem music felt like it should be perfect crossover material — but unbelievably this fell by the wayside. Nonetheless it still sounds like a million dollars — Pinch’s delicate percussion and huge bass perfectly supporting dancehall, Punjabi devotional and soul vocals alike (the latter from Yolanda, now known as Grammy-winning country-soul sensation Yola). It might be a bit of a stretch to call it a 21st century Blue Lines -- but it’s not THAT much of a stretch: it’s definitely a close cousin to Massive Attack’s classic. It comes with all the instrumentals too, and they too stand up wonderfully to passing time.

Joe Muggs

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