Piper Street Sound is back with a sprawling EP that collects new vocal versions and remixes of two instrumental reggae songs originally released in 2020; “Small Plate” (a collaboration with Augustus Pablo’s son Addis Pablo) and “Rid Them”. While the vinyl release focuses on the more reggae centric material, including two new vocal versions by veteran Jamaican dancehall artist General Pecos, the digital release includes some remixes that range a little further stylistically; with influences that include cumbia, electronic, and even trap.
Piper Street Sound, real name Matt Mansfield, is a musician, producer, and sound engineer with a focus on dub Reggae. He maintains a studio in Clarkston, Georgia, on the outskirts of Atlanta, where he uses the techniques of dub and electronic production to explore global soundscapes and instigate musical intersections. With over twenty years of recording, performing, and touring as bassist and live dub engineer, Mansfield artfully crafts this EP by connecting the dots to just a few of the musical links and personal influences he has across the globe, providing something for every listener while sparking new connections.
The original Small Plate / Rid Them EP was envisioned as a preview of the potential for the two instrumental riddims that constitute it; he had always intended to add vocals eventually. Releasing instrumentals before vocal versions gives the instruments space to be themselves before being instantly associated with the vocal they host. Piper Street Sound’s instrumentals have a life of their own, though they're meant to be malleable, like a folk song, easily used to support new melodies and lyrics.
The headliner of the release is a two-part collaboration with General Pecos (real name Lloyd Anderson), a foundation Dancehall artist from Jamaica who gives a totally new direction to the original tracks. Pecos adds a special cadence and style to everything he does, perhaps this has to do with the range of music he has been involved in; starting with boastful and fun sexually charged lyrics and a lightning fast delivery in some big digital dancehall/ragga hits during the the late 80’s and early 90’s, he also recorded for some early Jungle/Drum N Bass producers as well, and later transitioned into a more spiritual Rasta influenced style.
Pecos’s features on this release are no exception to his daring yet nuanced style, typical of Jamaican sound system and dancehall culture. On "Always Ashine”, he uses many uplifting spiritual references with a bold and almost boastful confidence, creating a satisfying juxtaposition to Mansfield’s tight instrumentals. “Waves Rocking the Boat” seems at the start as though it will be playful, but quickly transitions into a low swinging chorus that feels soothing despite lyrics that speak of suffering. Here, the marimba de chonta, a folkloric diatonic marimba made from chonta palm played on the pacific coast of Colombia and Ecuador, makes an appearance, whose water drop-like sonic textures fit nicely amongst sea metaphors that speak of pushing on despite difficulties, eventually leading the listener towards a feeling of overcoming.
Coupling “Always Ashine”’s vocal mix, we have Soon Come’s dub version, who created a new instrumental track with electronic drums and synths rather than just remixing the existing material. With stripped down, splashy wet instrumentals and a dry vocal treatment, we’re allowed to read even deeper into Pecos’ lyrics. Soon Come (aka 100Db) is a reggae DJ, co-owner of Old Neighborhood Music Record Label, producer, dub engineer, and synth expert based in Philly.
The organ, piano, guitar, melodica, and horns are common instruments chosen for instrumental solos in more traditional reggae or dub music, but Piper Street Sound thought that a change of lead instrument timbre could really stand out in a set of songs that tend to feature the same instruments again and again. A fiddle version of “Rid Them” combines reggae instrumental arrangement with a virtuoso fiddle solo played by Trent Wideman, the fiddle player for the Carolina Opry. Mansfield unites sonic traditions of the Caribbean with their Southern USA counterparts, for a very unique yet familiar take on an old practice.
Gio Chamba’s remix of “Small Plate” brings the sonic range of the album into a whole other realm. The psychedelic cumbia guitar hero, originally from Houston but now based in Colorado, transforms the main beat of the song into a slow digital cumbia, and layers on top of it a meandering guitar solo that at times flirts with the backing track by mimicking it and in other moments strays towards a parallel path.
Michael Alfred Wagner aka Biomigrant, is a producer and multi-instrumentalist from the US who rode his bike down to Colombia to study Afro-Latin Folkloric music. After Mansfield remixed a song by Plu Con Pla on an album that Biomigrant recorded and produced, (No Mas Velorio / No Mas Velorio Remixes) Mansfield reached out to him in 2019 to facilitate a recording from the band’s marimba player, Pitufo. Michael recorded Pitufo’s marimba de chonta, and the unique results are featured on an instrumental version of the song “Rid Them” that came out on the original EP in 2020 and is included again on this new vinyl release and as the final bonus track for Bandcamp customers. Wagner remixed the track with a bass-heavy electro-organic beat, using the marimba he recorded for the original mix but adding additional elements to make this track all his own.
Then the EP takes a brief turn in yet another totally new direction with Kedoshim’s Remix of “Rid Them”, which combines crisp, trappy beats, prose poetry, and of course, reggae. Mansfield met Kedoshim (aka Hermetics, real name Santiago Niño) when working as label manager at ZZK Records and noticed his consistent and sonically pleasing production style. He later reached out for a remix and boom!
Huw William’s (aka 3000 Worlds) Dub version of “Small Plate” is one of those tracks where the producer doesn’t fear a surprise reaction in the listener. The remix, a psychedelic blend of instrumental reggae and dub, with liberal use of tape delay, was mixed live in a single take - See it here.
Bonus Tracks:
Atlanta-based keyboard and synth wizard Christo Case has provided his expressive and nuanced piano, organ, and synths to a handful of previous Piper Street Sound productions. This dub infused version of “Broken Plate”, a Bandcamp only bonus track mixed by Piper Street Sound, features lots of his keyboard textures that may not have been noticeable on the original version of “Small Plate”. Snatches of General Pecos vocals also appear on this mix.
Piper Street Sound also provides his own dub versions of both “Always Ashine” and “Rid Them”, new mixes that demonstrate his mastery of sonic detail through a colorful yet minimalist approach.
The aforementioned marimba version of “Rid Them" is minimalist yet made full by the instrument’s beautiful natural reverb, with light touches of distortion and other creative effects while giving the the listener space to appreciate the it’s gorgeous natural harmonics, extending reggae and dub into the domain of afro-folkloric Latin American diaspora.
This release sees Piper Street Sound blending years of different phases of production into different, softer forms, creating the musical foundation and then stepping back and trusting his collaborators to take the work to new places based on what they do best. It’s quite a diverse EP taken as a whole but each song works on its own and synthesizes the elements at play in a way that creates a balanced listening experience.
Small Plate / Rid Them Remixes will be released on October 11th, 2024 by Piper Street Sound!
