Piper Street Sound, the Atlanta based producer aka Matt Mansfield, has revisited his 2021 release Black Eyed Peace with a remix EP aptly named Black Eye Dub. On the new record, each of the four tracks sees new remixes by Piper Street Sound and his favorite dub engineers including Victor Rice, Mad Professor, and Naram.
Taste of the South
The title of the EP takes on many meanings for Piper Street Sound, he explains, “The symbology to Black Eyed Peace is that you have to go through pain to get to peace in a world full of fuckery and injustice. So even the dove of peace has a black eye, as depicted brilliantly on the cover art by Colombian artist Luis Felipe Hernandez aka Nuino.” He continues, “Also the name was a nod to my regional roots, with Black Eyed Peas being one of my favorite foods. Instead of just miming Jamaican music, at this point, I’m increasingly pulling from my life experiences in the South and incorporating more Blues, Country, and Rhythm and Blues into my musical gumbo.”
“Southern country cooking is my version of roots culture having been raised in Piedmont, GA. Biscuits, Cornbread, Buttermilk, Collard Green, Black Eyed Peas, Butter Beans, Fried Chicken, Catfish, Icemilk (a thinner version of ice cream perfect for when you’re living without air conditioning and it’s 95 degrees and 105% humidity) are my foundation.” Drawing from this foundation of Southern US and Caribbean music Piper Street Sound found a kinship with the legendary Reggae guitarist and co-collaborator Andy Bassford (Toots and the Maytals, Dennis Brown, Horace Andy, Culture, Roots Radics).
A Group Effort
Black Eyed Peace was a collaborative affair pieced together gradually throughout the pandemic. Jonathan Lloyd’s horn arrangements were drawn from his expertise in vintage Jamaican music styles, and the horn sessions miraculously took place the week before everything shut down at Diamond Street Studios in Little Fivepoints, Atlanta. Spencer Garn engineered the session with assistance from Brent Hopkins.
Andy recorded his guitar tracks in the Bronx and utilized an API preamp plug-in to create a sound reminiscent of his recording sessions at Channel 1 with the Roots Radics. All other elements were recorded in home studios and electronically gathered and mixed by Piper Street Sound; he used analog tape delay and spring reverbs ( including units like the KNAS Moisturizer, Game Changer Light Pedal, and a custom-built unit by Dan Brenner aka Soon Come) along with a Neve-styled preamp/EQ to process the guitar tracks.
The original songs, along with the remixes, still bear songwriter and producer Piper Street Sound’s customary horn heavy and dub infused style but move into some new territory. Elements of Rocksteady abound, major keys now bounce alongside their minor key brethren, Yaya Brown’s akete drumming prods and propels the rhythms carved by the ultra tight drumming of Brian Daggett and the bass of Mansfield. Chris Case’s keyboard mastery blazes alongside the horns of Will Scruggs, Jonathan Lloyd and Dashill Smith.
As the album was gearing up for its release, Piper Street Sound started focusing on the remixes. During this time he was the Label Manager for ZZK Records, looking back he comments, “For many months I didn’t really take a break from working the industry side to remember that I was a musician and producer. Switching gears from the industry side to the creative side is surprisingly difficult.” But he found inspiration and strength through the process of reaching out to his dub heroes, and having them remix his music.
The remixes on Black Eyed Dub includes the title song “Black Eyed Peace (Victor Rice Remix),” who kept it fresh Piper Street reflects, “Victor highlighted parts of the song that didn’t have a chance to standout in the original mix. His live video of his mix shows his fluency with the mixing board which allows him to explore alternate paths in a song.” With the song “Icemilk (Naram Remix)” Naram brings the drums and bass forward with pitched delays and gives the song a sense of balance, not too sparse and not too dense.
Spreading the Dub
On “A Shadow in August (Mad Professor Remix)” Mad Professor takes the song sonically into unique places, Piper Street comments, “whereas so many dub engineers are endlessly repeating things that King Tubbys or Channel 1 already did (much better) back in the 70’s. Neal shows that there are still weird sonic places to be explored using a tape machine, a mixing board, and effects units.” On “Stonesteady (Piper Street Sound Remix)” Piper Street Sound comments “ I’m pretty happy with my own remix here. What can I say? It’s okay to like yourself right?”
The new remix will be available on Bandcamp along with the limited edition vinyl release. As a special treat, Piper Street Sound jokingly reports, “the vinyl version is imbued with special magic that conquers duppys, evil spirits, and the forces of Babylon. Here’s how that works. Place the vinyl record underneath a chair. If someone is full of evil spirits or malice then they won’t be able to stand up from the chair once they sit in it until you remove the vinyl. It won’t cause any harm but this chair test is a great way to confirm suspected evil and you can use it to rid yourself of vampires, parasites, succubi/incubi.”
The vinyl will have both EPs, with the original songs on side A and the remix on side B.
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