“Super Ape Returns To Conquer” Lee Scratch Perry + Subatomic Sound System

Super Ape Returns To Conquer “Scratch’s best work since he burned down the Black Ark nearly 40 years ago”  – Wax Poetics Magazine

41 years later… Super Ape Returns to Conquer!  Lee “Scratch” Perry & Subatomic Sound System team up to re-imagine Perry’s classic, genre defining Jamaican dub album, musically elaborated and reloaded for the new millennium. Specially designed for  interplanetary travel by the bass obsessed, sound system generation. SubPac optimized. [ Out now on DL/ CD/ Vinyl LP ]  Debuted #2 on iTunes, #5 on Billboard, #1 on NACC radio North America, #1 on Juno, #2 on Beatport reggae chart. Top 5 albums of 2017 in Large Up and United Reggae.

Oct 24 – Nov 5, 2017 + Jan 14-28, 2018, Scratch & Subatomic tour across North America perform the new album and more. Check the show review from Victoria and Los Angeles . Check the Beats1 radio Apple Music interview with Scratch & Emch, described by Hot97 host Ebro as an interview with “the most important person in music culture of the past 60 years“.

Get it now off iTunes or stream on Apple Music or Spotify.  DJs check Beatport , Juno , ReggaeRecord , or BandCamp (bonus track) for hi-rez audio.  Order CD or vinyl LP from Amazon, Juno in the UK, or direct from US distro online now.  Full album released 9/22 on digital, CD (includes bonus track) and vinyl (alternate mixes and masters).  CD and vinyl both are packed with art and a foldout 10″ poster of the phenomenal cover illustration by New Analog Design.

A classic album for a new generation of dub fans…It’s a bold move to try and improve a masterpiece, but the result is stunning. Super Ape Returns To Conquer is true to the original sound with its dense and steamy tropical sonic landscape. But at the same time it has more punch thanks to influences from electronic music, dubstep and hip-hop. It has superb horns and pounding percussion along with booming bass, blasting beats and blazing energy” – United Reggae

“Super Ape is, arguably, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s dub masterpiece” – Large Up

“Perry’s abstract dub Super Ape is digitally revisited and energised with enhanced Ethiopian horns and percussion, wider and deeper bass chasms and crisper, shinier beats” – WIRE magazine

Lee  ‘Scratch’ Perry unveiled a mesmerizing remake of “Zion’s Blood” from his upcoming reworking of the Upsetters’ 1976 classic, ‘Super Ape.’…[which] manages to deepen the song’s groove through juiced drums, rich horns, slender guitar and the occasional synth wobble. Perry’s vocals have an older, wizened grit as well, and his voice sifts hypnotically through the dense sonic milieu… Scratch co-produced Super Ape Returns to Conquer with Subatomic Sound co-founder Emch. The pair recorded the LP at Subatomic Sound Studios in Brooklyn and Scratch’s home studio, the New Ark, in Jamaica” – Rolling Stone Magazine

“The sonic experimentations conducted by legendary Jamaican producer Lee “Scratch” Perry in the 1970s in his fabled Black Ark studio were so advanced, they continue to influence 21st century electronic music strains and recording techniques” – Billboard Magazine 

“‘Super Ape Returns to Conquer’ perhaps is best described as a brilliant companion piece to an album that still today is considered to be one of the highest achievements in the genre. Neither renders the other any less effective and, if anything, furthers the myths and majesty of Perry” – Reggaeville

“Subatomic pays homage to the dub motherlode, recreating the album from start to finish, but in a thoroughly postmodern rendition that repositions the material for a contemporary audience that may not be familiar with the original… [Read more…]

Lee “Scratch” Perry & Subatomic Sound System “Black Ark Vampires” limited edition 45 vinyl

SS029  Lee Scratch Perry & Subatomic Sound System  "Black Ark Vampires" vinyl 7" 45

UPDATE New mixes also available 3/18/2016 on Black Ark Vampires digital EP.

Lee “Scratch” Perry & Subatomic Sound System “Black Ark Vampires” limited edition vinyl 45 debuted Nov. 4. 2014 on Juno Records, #1 in dub, #1 in reggae, and broke the top #100 in all music before selling out on the site (more copies on the way).  It premiered for Halloween on Brooklyn based Jamaican culture site Large Up  and received an overwhelming response.  Buy it directly from Crosstalk Distribution (US), Juno Records (UK) (who ship worldwide), Jetset (Japan) and many other fine record stores around the globe.

On “Black Ark Vampires”, Lee “Scratch” Perry & Subatomic Sound System have crafted a throbbing sound-man tune propelled by subsonic bass, bubbling skanks, and pulsing beats that balance the murky and mystical vibes of Perry’s classic Jamaican dub reggae recordings with the flammable energy and subsonic vibrations of current electronic bass music, fine tuning a recipe that they have slow cooked throughout their last four years of U.S. tours spreading authentic dub to a new generation in places like Coachella, Dub Champions Festival, and Red Bull Music Academy.
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New Subatomic Sound System & Thomas Blondet 7″ Vinyl “Jah Is Coming”

SS027_Subatomic Sound System Thomas Blondet  Jah Is Coming

“Jah is Coming” is a bass charging 140BPM rootical dubwise UK steppers style cut inspired by classic Roots Radics and Scientist production in Jamaica in the late 70s. NYC’s Subatomic Sound System & Washington DC’s Thomas Blondet recreated the vibes for 2014 using a balance of analog and digital production that keeps DJs and global sound system culture in mind, inspired by the high energy spiritual steppers reflips of reggae anthems popularized by conscious sound legends like Jah Shaka. The tune has been a staple dubplate in Subatomic Sound System DJ sets on tours worldwide over the past two years and is sound system tested with subsonic sine wave bass and peak time jackhammer drums guaranteed to smash the dancehall. Though heavy on the reggae, the tempo makes it DJ friendly for roots minded dubstep selectors to easily flip into their sets as well.

“Dubbing on the Moon” on the B side is a pulsing roots dub driven by a thunderous bassline built on Subatomic Sound System’s original reggae rockers riddim “Our Father, Our King” produced and dubbed in a Jamaican style that nods heavily to the masterful Scientist “Curse of the Vampires” era dubs from Channel One Studio. The riddim is the basis for several Subatomic Sound System tunes including “Our Father, Our King (Middle East dub)” (based on the traditional tune Avinu Malkeinu) and their relick of the big tune by The Police “Walking on The Moon”, both of which are incorporated in this version. Amon of Analog Players Society is on percussion & Rhiannon on vocals.
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Anthony B “Dem Can’t Stop We From Talk” vinyl 45s

Anthony B Dem Can't Stop We From Talk vinyl

Two separate 45 exclusive mixes, one with Anthony B on the original Subatomic Sound System & Nomadic Wax “NYC-2-Africa” riddim and the the second on the Dubblestandart “Kingston Riot” riddim.

Subatomic Sound System meets Lee Scratch Perry & Ari Up of the Slits (7″ vinyl)

SS014 Lee Scratch Perry & Ari Up

A #1 on Ernie B’s vinyl charts. First time and only time Ari Up of the Slits and Lee Scratch Perry appear on record together! Sadly this would be the last record released during Ari’s lifetime and one of her final recordings. These tracks bring together two eccentric legends doing what they do best on some of Scratch’s classic 70s dub vibes that Subatomic Sound System pushes into the future rootical dubstep realm.   LIMITED EDITION 7″ VINYL EXCLUSIVE OUT NOW IN THE USA, EUROPE, & JAPAN


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Dubblestandart meets David Lynch & Lee Scratch Perry ‘Chrome Optimism’ (12″ vinyl)

Dubblestandart Lee Scratch Perry and David Lynch Chrome Optimism

“I got into sort of… cosmic explosions. Euphoric, chrome optimism.” – David Lynch
“Hello, Hell is very low, and Heaven is very, very high” – Lee Scratch Perry

SUBATOMIC SOUND presents “CHROME OPTIMISM” 12″ vinyl (SS012)
DUBBLESTANDART meets DAVID LYNCH & LEE ‘SCRATCH’ PERRY

LTD EDITION VINYL OUT NOW IN THE USA, EUROPE, & JAPAN


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Dubblestandart, Lee Scratch Perry, & Prince Far-I : Iron Devil (12″)

Subatomic Sound released Lee Scratch Perry and Prince Far-I’s first dubstep tracks on this limited edition, hand stampled vinyl exclusive from Dubblestandart with dubstep remixes from Subatomic Sound System and Tom Watson. Subatomic Sound’s first vinyl label release sold out in two weeks but can still be tracked down by collectors on Discogs where copies are traded. A subset of those records featured vintage Jamaican records sleeves with original artwork seen below.

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