Doom Dub by Thor Harris
My goal with this record is to take a beloved old form and make a slightly looser and more busted sound. By using some of the wrong instruments and detuning only some of them I am trying to make a kind of dub that has been left on the dashboard of an old car for too long. Using a drum machine that pixelates beats when they are written at one speed and then slowed down gives these pieces an opium/acid trip feeling. Still driving but more dreamlike.
Why Doom? - It’s not looking likely that we humans are going to last much longer. The 6th extinction is well under way. We actually have the technology to stop destroying our home.
Why Dub? - Dub Reggae is one of those music forms like 20th century minimalism that almost all musicians adore. Find me a musician who does not love King Tubby and Lee Scratch Perry and I will say "this person has no soul".
Jordan Geiger mixed and produced two of these. Ben Frost mixed one. Dan Rejmer mixed one. Lawrence English mixed one. Alex Somers mixed two. Most of the instruments were played by me. Jordan Geiger played on the 2 he mixed. Stephen Cox played violin and guitar and Sarah Ronan played guitar on the two Jordan Geiger produced tracks. John Ridenour played bass on “Room40 Dub”. Jamie Stewart played guitar and added digital streaks to “Big Dan”. Yoko Ono sang on “Room40 Dub" and “The End of the Anthropocene“. David Yow and Lil BUB performed spoken word on “Fly on the Wall”. Adam Harding mixed “Fly on the Wall” and did some additional recording on “Room40 Dub” and “The End of the Anthropocene“.
Adam Harding helped put this record together. He helped make some creative choices and is a dear friend. Thanks to all of the excellent people at Joyful Noise for making this possible.
Thanks for listening - Thor Harris
Tracklist
Credits
Photography and project management by Adam Harding
Sample of “Fly” by Yoko Ono (on tracks # 3 & 8) courtesy of Chimera Music and Ono Music (administered by Downtown Music Publishing) © 1971
