Features

Calibre

Calibre and High Contrast are the leading exponents of musical, 'liquid' drum & bass, each with a dazzling portfolio of tracks and albums displaying consummate skill at juggling samples and beats. So when the pair collaborated in 2004 on Mr Majestic, DJs and fans were waiting with bated breath.

They weren't disappointed. Mr Majestic is one of the slickest tunes ever produced by either artist. It has a haunting 48-bar intro, a tight Amen beat and an irresistibly warm bass line. It also employs some great reggae samples. The horns that welcome the drop are taken from a Horace Andy tune called Money Money, and the vocal sample comes from King Jammy's Dub it in the Dancehall.

Both reggae artists hail from Jamaica. Andy made his name with Skylarking, which appeared on the Studio One label in 1972, and is credited as one of the first to anticipate the rise of dancehall reggae.

He later moved to the US and set up his own label, Rhythm, before relocating again in the 90s, this time to the UK, where he collaborated with Massive Attack on several of their best tunes including the memorable track Angel from the Mezzanine album.

King Jammy was also influential in the development of dancehall, producing Wayne Smith's seminal 1985 hit Under Me Sleng Teng, which is generally considered to be first 'digital rhythm' in reggae and is responsible for ushering in the modern dancehall sound.

Before he was a producer, Jammy was mainly focusing on dub, as the title of Dub It In the Dancehall would suggest. The lyric, "I man no like, a man who tried to cheat her", is often misheard, with many listeners mistakenly thinking it's got something to do with a cheetah.

The combination of two great reggae artists with two great producers is hard to beat, and Mr Majestic is rightly considered one of the best examples of its genre.