Subatomic Sound System
Subatomic Sound System appears at Okeechobee performing with Mykal Rose, Screechy Dan, & Pirate WiFi. NYC’s Subatomic Sound System has been on a 2 decade mission forging a future foundation style built on the bass heavy, spacious soundscapes, and live improvisational remixing of classic 1970s Jamaican dub and conscious reggae music in the context of electronic bass music. For the 2nd decade, Subatomic Sound System was the Brooklyn based touring band for Jamaican dub & reggae inventor Lee "Scratch" Perry (1936-2021) and producers of the acclaimed 2017 album "Super Ape Returns to Conquer" which reimagined Scratch's 1973 classic "Super Ape", mixing the vintage Jamaican dub sound with 21st century bass and beats. Using the latest technology, they pioneered a unique performance style that blurs the lines between DJing and a live band. These efforts gained the attention of dub and reggae pioneer Lee "Scratch" Perry, the genius producer and song writer behind Bob Marley, who subsequently employed Subatomic Sound as his go to band for re-inventing his Black Ark Studio sound live on stage. Subatomic is spearheaded by producer, DJ, and multi-instrumentalist Emch, who arranges and manipulates both prerecorded music instruments and effects with the live musicians to create a real time musical dialogue. The core live musicians include Jamaican percussion legend and Black Ark veteran Larry McDonald (Peter Tosh, Skatalites, Gil Scot Heron) and Troy Shaka Simms (Brooklyn Gypsies, Mobius Collective) on sax and horn arrangements. In the past decades, Subatomic has toured as live band, sound system, or selector across the USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Middle East, Russia, India, and Mexico including appearances at France's Telerama Dub Festival, The Marley’s Kayafest, Coachella, Hungary’s Ozora Festival, SoleDXB, Cali Roots, Cali Vibes, Hollywood Bowl and opening for US tours by Stephen Marley and Julian Marley.
In 2024 Subatomic Sound System released "Rockin' Like A Champion" with Grammy winning former Black Uhuru singer Mykal Rose and UK lover's rock queen Hollie Cook. BBC's David Rodigan described the music, which blends reggae with bass heavy sound system dub, as "absolutely brilliant".
In 2020, Subatomic Sound System dropped the "Babylon Soon Fall" EP featuring blistering vocals from famed Brooklyn via Kingston singjay and dancehall master Screechy Dan both on the title track, a political scorcher, as well as a boomshot tribute to sound system culture titled "Champion Sound" which was selected by UK music icon Don Letts on his top tracks of 2020 BBC radio show. Earlier in 2020 on Juneteenth, Subatomic released "Revolution 2 Freedom" with Brasilian singer Junior Dread also delivering a timely social commentary.
In 2017, Lee "Scratch" Perry & Subatomic Sound System released their acclaimed "Super Ape Returns to Conquer", a re-imagining of Perry's 1976 classic album that proved to be his highest charting Billboard release to date ( http://bit.ly/SS033s ). This album followed a string of Subatomic remixes involving Lee Perry and singles like "Black Ark Vampires" and "A Me (the Dub Organizer)”.
Subatomic along with legendary Jamaican vocalist Screechy Dan recently recorded a live session at KEXP that went viral, demonstrating their unique style of live dub performance as well as their versions of "Chase the Devil" & “Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry is the Dub Organizer” that have become some of Scratch's biggest songs of this century. In summer of 2023, Subatomic Sound System & Screechy Dan was invited to tour Europe with Jack Johnson in support of their collaboration on Jack's new "In Between Dub" album and went on tour in the USA with Bob Marley's second son, Stephen Marley. In the past two years, Subatomic performed on the main stage at The Marley Brother's sold out 4/20 Kaya Fest at Red Rocks, at the Hollywood Bowl opening for Damian & Stephen Marley, Cali Vibes Festival, and Cali Roots. With Scratch, Subatomic toured for over a decade across the US and beyond including sets at Coachella, France’s Telérama Dub Fest, Berlin’s Loop fest, Dubai’s SoleDXB, Hungary’s OzoraFest to name a few. 2023 is also the 50th anniversary of the world's first dub album, Lee "Scratch" Perry's "Blackboard Jungle Dub", for which Subatomic & Scratch previously did a 45th anniversary tour and their recent single, “Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry is the Dub Organizer”, featuring Screechy Dan is from a forthcoming album.
Other releases on the Subatomic Sound label with roots and dancehall artists like Jah9, Yaadcore, Anthony B, Elephant Man, and Jahdan Blakkamoore have further defined the reach of the Subatomic Sound dub style as well as unlikely collaborations and remixes pairing a global network of underground electronic bass music producers with the likes of filmmaker David Lynch, Ari Up of The Slits, a collective of Colombian cumbia producers, and more. Emch worked as a radio host on Radio NY FM for 3 years and continues to host a show on BrooklynRadio.com. Emch also worked for many years teaching at Dubspot and in 2010 founded the Dub Champions Festival in the USA and Europe which organizes both performances and educational workshops on dub music. The Subatomic live show has toured the world in various configurations as an innovative combination of electronics and live instruments which recently inspired a viral documentary by Great Big Story.