| Piper Street Sound featuring Addis Pablo Small Plate / Rid Them EP Small Plate / Rid Them EP is the opening statement in the revelation of Piper Street Sound’s idiosyncratic vision of Instrumental Dub Reggae. Long active in Atlanta’s and Athen’s music scenes with bands like DubConscious, Flight Risk, and Dialect Trio, for the past 15 years Piper Street Sound aka Clarkston based producer Matt Mansfield, has most often been a lone figure in his studio, self-sufficient and capable of performing, programming and twisting his impulses into musical life. Though he has continually woven threads of Dub Reggae throughout his explorations of global music and electronic sounds, this EP sees him settle down and focus on his most cherished source of inspiration, and rally a large cast of living musicians to his cause.The songs are rock-solid dubwise rhythms built on the foundation of Brian Daggett’s precise drumming and Mansfield’s structured bass, guitar, piano and organ, bolstered by the guitar of James Keane (DubConscious) and the keys of Christo Case (Samahda, Little Tybee) topped by a driving horn section (ft. members of Athen’s horn giants Misnomer) that lends size and seriousness to the compositions. Jonathan Lloyd’s (Lloyd’s Rocksteady Revue and DubConscious) dual trombone leads perfectly twist through the production tying rhythm together with melody. The mixes are dripping with Piper Street Sound’s trademark echo laden production techniques and dub wizardry.The EP features special guests Addis Pablo (Augustus Pablo’s son on a melodica version of Small Plate), John Arthur Brown (Atlanta based poet, percussionist, and photographer, reading his words on versions of Small Plate and Rid Them), and Jhon ‘Pitufo’ Cortes (Marimba de Chonta player from Colombian band Plu Con Pla, providing a mellifluous version of Rid Them).With Small Plate / Rid Them EP Mansfield has created his most accessible and organic offering to date, consisting largely of live instrumental performance and hand manipulated audio effects. This music is infused with the traditions of Dub Reggae but gently expands into new directions.Stay tuned as this EP is just the first release in a series of original Reggae songs from Piper Street Sound. Matt adds, “For 20 years I have focused on writing, playing instruments, recording, mixing and label management for other bands and projects and I decided it was time to work on my own project. The inspiration is derived from classic Reggae and Dub from the 70’s and early 80’s (Augustus Pablo, King Tubby, Scientist, Lee Perry, etc) but informed by my life experiences in the Atlanta and Athens music scene and no doubt taking some influence from the sounds I come across managing ZZK and AYA records.” |
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