Music News - International Observer set to release 'Free from the Dungeons of Dub'
12 October 2018 - 0 Comments
"He was three deep into his sense orientated series of albums (Seen, Heard and Felt) when he was lured back to his previous incarnation as an international pop star."
The release of Free from the Dungeons of Dub heralds the end of a particular chapter in International Observer's runnings.
He was three deep into his sense orientated series of albums (Seen, Heard and Felt) when he was lured back to his previous incarnation as an international pop star. While that has been Thompson Twins fans' pleasure, it has been the dub world's loss, as there has been no significant body of new Observer material for the last 9 years.
Time out of the dub studio however, inspired a trawl through the Observer archives where dubs a plenty were found locked away on unmarked discs in the corner of his eyrie.
This mission into the dub vault inspired two series' of releases: the first was the collections Touched and Retouched, which focused on the remixes he had done over the last 25 years of acts – including platinum selling pop stars like Bic Runga and Stellar*, underground electron herders such as Pitch Black and Banco de Gaia, as well as modern reggae stars The Black Seeds and even his own post-Twins act Babble.
The second series began with a selection of Observer originals that had only been released on CD in New Zealand, followed up with a mix of new tunes and some old ones that had been forgotten in the towering pile of master discs, and then delivered some of the big guns from his live show, honed over the years into bass wobbling weapons.
Free from the Dungeons of Dub is a selection of thirteen tracks from this second series, gilded with the addition of three brand new dubs recorded over the last 18 months, one of which is an exclusive remix of the title track of his brand new pop album, Science Fiction.
Now all the archives have been freed, here's hoping that he can find the time to address the final two senses …
Behind the scenes
The chief perpetrator of the International Observer experience is keyboardist, songwriter and producer Tom Bailey.
Following the success of his post-punk pop group The Thompson Twins, production work for the likes of Deborah Harry and the ambient techno of his Babble project, Tom Bailey was lured to the exotic climes of New Zealand.
NZ culture has a long history of appreciation for reggae, creating the perfect inspiration for Tom's exploration of the dub artform he had deeply loved since the seething post-punk infatuation of the music in the late 70's.
Early in 2002 Tom released Seen on Different Drummer in the UK, following this with Heard in 2007 and then Felt in September 2009, both on Dubmission Records.
Since then his attention has been diverted to his other projects: the Holiwater Band, the Bailey-Salgado Project and his revived pop career as ‘The Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey’.
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