Adrian Sherwood (born 1958 in London) is an English record producer best known for his work with dub music as well as for remixing a number of popular acts such as Coldcut, Depeche Mode,The Woodentops, Primal Scream, Pop Will Eat Itself, Sinéad O'Connor, and Skinny Puppy.

In 2006 he released his second album Becoming A Cliché that again featuring numerous artists such as Lee "Scratch" Perry, the late Bim Sherman, Dennis Bovell, Little Roy, Lee 'LSK' Kenny, Samia Farah, Raiz and Mark Stewart. A limited 2-disc version was released simultaneously with the second disc titled "Dub Cliché".

On beginning a solo career, Sherwood stated, "I wanted to do some of my own writing and make something that was challenging for me...As a producer, it’s my job to satisfy the artist foremost. I wanted to make something that was a little more aggressive and modern. I wanted to paint a picture that was contemporary, one that specifically showed where my brain was at. I’ve got to the point in my life where it’s time for me to call all of the shots."

Taken from Wikipedia

From the moment I first started to play this I recognised the construction of the tracks and the distinctive combination of Dub and Electronica – my favourite kind of cross genre mix. Being a big fan of Bim Sherman’s “It Must Be A Dream”, produced by Adrian. Although I’ve never heard of this producer/artist before, I fell straight in love with this album.

The opening track is a very haunting “Animal Magic”, using very heavy dubstep riddim and a very street-toasting-poetic lyrics. Then it’s straight into “2 Versions Of The Future”, again using debstep riddim but this time is a deeper darker ‘Techno’ style with saw wav samples and delayed sound effects, but then this 70’s disco guitar rips in….. awesome…

“A Piece Of The Earth” changes the mode yet again, kicking off with a deep dub groove with some chanting vocals to only take you on a mean drum-n-bass trip. I’m not talking Sly ‘n’ Robbie here, I mean full on 190bpm sub moving drum ‘n’ bass….

Yet again on the Drum ‘n’ Bass tip, “Monastery Of Sound” is keeping th mode going with a slower Dubbier number. Featuring monk chanting and some wonderful guitar’s and ethnical instruments. The harder hitting “Dennis Bovine Pt1” comes next, deep dark Dub beats and bass with wonderful African lyrics, beautiful (my volume is getting lauder by now, nice sub…)

An amazing rthymatic Roots track comes up next with “J’ai Changé”, as you can guess from it’s title, the lyrics are French and very sexy along with a true Roots riddim, this one takes you to a very nice place indeed. This is followed with the same riddim style with an English version called “You Wonder Why”, not as enchanting but still a top track.

“The House Of Games” is heading back to the dubstep riddim with a deep African beat and situation again. Followed by “Rebel Nu Rizla”, me liking the title and the more electronic feel with hints of ‘Propellaheads’ coming in to a right old scensimelia chant.

Back into Drum ‘n’ Bass territory with the very Leftfield like “St Peter’s Gate”, “Home Sweet Home” also follows the same riddim and get’s very dark. Going darker again “Forgive Yourself” is very experimental with hip-hop, house and electro all coming together. “All Hands On Deck” keeps it flowing with a Hip-Hop beat and early 80’s feel samples.

“Stop The Bloodshed” finishes the main album witch is a shout out to all Sound Sytems with an awesome live dance feel overdub of a wicked electro/bud riddim.

This is a double CD album, CD2 contains some real monster Dubplate versions of the riddims used on the main album. “Dub Cliché” contains the following tracks:

1. Monkey See Monkey Dub

2. Dubshed

3. Zoo Time

4. Cliched Dub Slave

5. Noise From Brazil

6. Stepping Crowd

7. Sans Toupee

8. Silly Billy

9. Moving House

10. J'ai Dube

If like me you enjoy both Dub and modern Electronica/Dance music then sit back and relax, turn the volume up and get in the right frame of mind (like a Sunday afternoon) and you will love both CD’s on this top album from Adrian Sherwood. Very modern, experimental and seriously well produced..

Reviewed by Dean Marcel (UKRG Crew)