Various

The early '80s were a unique period for dance music: disco had literally been detonated by its success, rap music was beginning to take form, electronic instruments were becoming more affordable and the dub trickery of '60s Jamaica was becoming an accepted practice at many recording studios. A group of music producers and DJs based in NYC, including Larry Levan, François K, M&M and Tee Scott, were painstakingly taking songs to new heights by cutting and pasting multi-track tape recordings to create dubbed-out B-side experiments designed for club DJs. More than a marketing tool for pushing pop music to new audiences, these dubs became the essential mixes of many songs and their producers were noted as their creators more so than the original artists ― one bought the Larry Levan mix of "Somebody New," not "Somebody New" by the Jamaica Girls. Night Dubbin' includes a two-disc collection of early '80s classic dubs compiled by Dimitri from Paris with assistance from pioneer b-side architect François K and a third CD, mixed by new school dubsters the Idjut Boys. This is a tremendous volume with detailed notes about the '80s remix scene. Not just for music geeks focusing on the obscure, this compilation shines a light on an aspect of remix culture that largely paved the way for how dance music sounds today. Fans of classic and nu disco, synth pop, garage, early house and to some extent, Jamaican dub should hunt down this collection.