Dub-cast MP3

Some call it a “podcast,” while others simply call it a very large MP3 file. In either case, brainwashed.com’s latest podcast (file and, by extension, date: podcast050511.mp3), weighing in at almost 100 megabytes, contains a sequence of tracks by musicians and record labels whose websites are hosted at brainwashed.com. They’ve dubbed this entry the “dubcast” edition, because it focuses on music influenced by dub, including songs by the Tear Garden, Twilight Circus, Dome, Tortoise, Strategy, Greater Than One, Bomb the Bass, Meat Beat Manifesto, Sandoz, Annie Anxiety and Out Hud. The one long file is set up radio-broadcast style, with spoken intros and outros for the songs, and it includes the occasional slice of dead air generally associated with college FM broadcasts, but it’s all good stuff. These aren’t new songs, necessarily; the Tortoise entry, for example, “Goriri,” dates back to the milestone Macro Dub Infection compilation, now a decade old. The superb Greater Than One’s thunder’n’rain-laced “Dub Killer,” likewise, dates from 1990. The whole thing clocks in at a little over an hour. More info at brainwashed.com/podcast. Because they often contain previously unreleased music, these brainwashed podcasts are worth keeping an ear on.