During an afternoon on the Island of Santiago in the city of Praia in Cape Verde, Adrian Sherwood, the legendary music producer responsible for the distinctive sound of the label On-U Sound Records, shared his trajectory and vision of music.
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For more than four decades, Adrian Sherwood has been consistently breaking new ground, and has developed a cult-like following via his experiments in dub, reggae, punk, post-punk and bass music. As the founder of the fiercely independent On-U Sound label he has brought the attention of artists like New Age Steppers, Mark Stewart, African Head Charge, Dub Syndicate, Creation Rebel and Tackhead (feat. Doug Wimbish and Skip Macdonald from the original Sugarhill Gang house band) to the world. Unsurprisingly, Adrian has produced and remixed everyone from The Slits to Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode to The Fall, Blur to Einsturzende Neubauten, Primal Scream and more.
Perhaps most well-known for his pioneering production work in dub and reggae since the late 1970’s, Adrian’s name draws reverence for his unparalleled work with collaborators such as Prince Far I, Lee Scratch Perry and Mikey Dread.
Sherwood’s output these last few years has been extraordinary; studio albums with Lee Scratch Perry in 2019, “Rainford” and it’s psychedelic dub companion “Heavy Rain”, were seen as a thrilling return to form for Lee, and both albums hit the top of the Billboard Reggae chart. In 2022, Adrian followed up with collaborative albums with Horace Andy – “Midnight Rocker” and it’s sound system counterpart, “Midnight Scorcher”. Midnight Rocker was crowned Guardian’s #1 Global Album of 2022 and was Mojo’s 4th best album of the year. As well as this he released his first album in over a decade with the legendary African Headcharge, ‘A Trip to Bolgatanga’ which unanimous received rave reviews.
In a similar fashion to the oft heralded release ‘Echo Dek’, a rework of Primal Scream’s seminal ‘Vanishing Point’, Sherwood reconstructed indie behemoth Spoon’s latest album – the dubbed out companion, ‘Lucifer on the Moon,’ before attracting the attention of Panda Bear x Sonic Boom, whose collaboration with Sherwood, “Reset in Dub” was released Summer 2023 on Domino Records.
Dub Sessions 2024 Japan with Horace Andy and Creation Rebel concluded successfully with two sold out shows in Tokyo and Osaka. A new digital EP series launched in Summer 2024, highlighting each era of the On-U Sound history.
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