Small Axe (Music Inspired By The Original TV Series)

Dub poetry is a form of performance poetry that merges spoken-word delivery with the bass-heavy, spacious rhythms of reggae and dub. Unlike Jamaican toasting (the DJ "talk-over" tradition), dub poets typically recite crafted, page-ready poems with deliberate meter, imagery, and rhetorical structure, performing them over live bands or pre-recorded "version" tracks sculpted with echo, delay, and reverb. The style is closely tied to Rastafarian consciousness and social commentary, addressing themes such as anti-racism, diaspora identity, working-class struggle, and state violence. Vocals are often delivered in Jamaican patois (or Caribbean English), with strong rhythmic phrasing that locks into one‑drop and steppers grooves while the mix engineer uses dub techniques to frame the voice in space.

Psychedelic soul blends the grit and gospel-rooted emotion of soul and rhythm & blues with the studio experimentation and mind-bending textures of late-1960s psychedelic rock. Expect fuzzed-out or wah-wah guitars, extended vamping grooves, bold bass lines, swirling organs and electric pianos, phased drums, and liberal use of tape delay, reverb, and stereo panning. Lyrically it ranges from utopian idealism and cosmic imagery to socially conscious reflections on race, war, and urban life. The result is a sound that’s both danceable and hallucinatory: groove-first soul shot through with acid-rock color and studio-as-instrument creativity.