Rhythm and Sound / Various

What hath Pole wrought without Rhythm and Sound? The entire ~Scape roster owes a debt to these tech-dub pioneers, and this remix collection of the one-riddim (same rhythm fronted by different vocalists) album See Mi Yah is a chance for the progeny to pay tribute to the parents. Not that someone like Carl Craig is their disciple, but his bigger-room-seeking mix seems like the perfect marriage of energy and reserve. This is also Soundstream’s approach — livening things up with a classy house break couching Paul St. Hilaire’s earnestly behind-the-beat vox. Francois K brings an old school sounding junglist drum loop to the otherwise chilled collection; it’s not chopped up, it merely rolls in like 1992 all over again — very effective. The best mixes are the most stoned-sounding. The extremely slow pace to Villalobos’s mix keeps the listener glued to the speakers, almost fearing what will happen next. All-time roots champion Sugar Minott sounds about ten feet off the ground in the mix by Sweet Substance. Vainqueur is almost completely ambient for its first three minutes before dialling up a kick under a pillow of swirling vox. Finally, Canada’s own Willi Williams is thrown into the most traditionally dub-wise mix, a Lee Perry-ish concoction on top of some digi-Shaka beats, courtesy of Hallucinator. This set will remain too austere for most reggae DJs, but is a lovely riff on "what one riddim can do” as the legendary Jamaican one-riddim album once said.