Award-winning U.S. reggae production outfit Green Lion Crew teams with legendary producer Lee “Scratch” Perry and modern-day Jamaican music ambassador Yaadcore for a new psychedelic dub collaboration called “Green Brain.”
The single, out on all DSPs via Ineffable Records, features one of the final vocal performances from the late, great Perry, who passed away suddenly last month at age 85.
For over 50 years, Scratch stretched the boundaries of music across a bottomless catalog of recordings, helping pioneer dub, reggae and the role of the producer-as-artist, while inspiring artists from his protégé Bob Marley to collaborators like The Clash, Paul McCartney and the Beastie Boys. His influence on modern music as a whole is almost incomprehensible. Every DJ who’s ever remixed a song, and every producer who’s ever utilized the studio to reshape a pre-existing recording into something wholly fresh and new, owes a debt to Perry and the dub format he helped originate five decades ago.
Fast forward to 2018 when Zeke Stern of Green Lion Crew, a production duo known for its work with reggae artists like Chronixx, Collie Buddz, Kabaka Pyramid and Beenie Man, opened for Scratch and his band, Subatomic Sound, on their Return of the Super Ape tour. Following the tour, Stern sent the instrumental that would become “Green Brain” to Subatomic bandleader Emch, who recorded Perry’s vocals.
“I spent the majority of my teenage years driving around, smoking weed, and listening to anything by Lee “Scratch” Perry,” Stern says. “So to have the opportunity to create something with him was truly surreal.”
Soon after Perry recorded his vocals for the track, Stern played some shows with Yaadcore. Like Perry, Yaadcore began his career behind the controls before evolving into an artist. A DJ/selector known for his association with the reggae revival movement led by artists like Chronixx, he was the longtime DJ for reggae star Protoje and the founder of legendary Kingston party Dubwise Jamaica.
Two years after first stepping out as a vocalist with his breakthrough track “Ready Now,” Yaadcore is prepping his own debut album, Reggae Land, in January 2022 via his own 12 Yaad record label in association with Delicious Vinyl Island, the new Caribbean imprint of iconic L.A. indie label Delicious Vinyl.
“Yaadcore shares a similar energy with Scratch,” Stern says of the pairing. “They are both immensely creative and unique with their music and style. Making music can be like putting together a puzzle sometimes and their combination seemed like a natural fit.”
With additional contributions from bassist Jah D of Zion I Kings and sax from Subatomic Sound’s Troy Simms, “Green Brain” weaves deep heavy bass, reverb-drenched militant horns, filtered vocal delays and razor-sharp guitar chops together to create the unmistakable sound of dub, as pioneered by Perry in the 1970s. A psychedelic visual animation was created by renowned Jamaican artist Taj Francis and once again we get to explore the mind and music of the great Upsetter.
Three years after its initial creation, in July of 2021, “Green Brain” was finally given a release date of September 17th by Ineffable Records. A little over two weeks before the release, Perry tragically and suddenly passed away, and what was meant to be a celebration had turned into a mourning. Postponing the release was considered, but ultimately it was decided to continue as planned from before. The hope is to shine a little more light on the genius of Lee “Scratch” Perry.