Dark Luminosity – The 21st Century Collection

A four-CD anthology of highlights from this century – a period now spanning half of Jah Wobble’s career and yet somehow overlooked. Annotated and co-compiled by Wobble himself.

For nearly half a century, Jah Wobble has been making music drawn from influences from all over the globe, always rooted in his unique, distinctive approach to the bass that underpins everything, from the opening riff of ‘Public Image’ by PiL in 1978 to his latest endeavours.

The 2000s coincided with a change, as he and his family had just relocated to just outside Stockport, south of Manchester. What followed has proven to be a productive, creative fertile period, away from the bustle of the capital, making records which – for the most part – were self-produced, often on his own 30 Hertz label.

Along the way, Jah Wobble dipped into myriad styles and influences with a dizzying array of collaborators. Eventually, he settled with a new-look Invaders Of The Heart which has been the backbone of his music for the last decade.

Presented in chronological order, starting with selections from several albums released around 2000-2002, some with Deep Space, Temple Of Sound and Evan Parker. Disc 1 embraces jazz (‘Full On’), folk (‘Cannily Cannily’), ambient (both ‘Fly’ tracks), soundtrack contributions and dub (two versions of ‘Lam Tang Way’).

The second CD continues in that vein, embracing two higher profile albums recorded for Trojan, ‘Mu’ (2005) and ‘Heart and Soul’ (2007), plus selections from two albums inspired by music from Asia, ‘Chinese Dub’ (2008) and ‘Japanese Dub’ (2010).

Spanning discs 2 and 3 are selections from one of JW’s most accessible albums, ‘Welcome To My World’ (2010). After that, we hear collaborations with The Modern Jazz Ensemble, electronic band Marconi Union, Moroccan-born musicians Momo and Shakatak’s Bill Sharpe, as well as Julie Campbell (alias LoneLady) on ‘Psychic Life’ (2012).

Disc 4 spans the last half decade, with contributions from albums such as ‘The Butterfly Effect’(2018), a reunion with Bill Laswell on ‘Realm Of Spells’ (2019) and, from the same year, ‘Ocean Blue Waves’ (which provides the appositely-named title track of this compendium).

Also included are a handful of spoken word poetry tracks cherry-picked from Jah Wobble’s “book” set ‘Odds and Sods and Dialogues’ from 2013, which punctuate the compilation with words from Wobble alongside his informative liner notes.

Across 2023, Jah Wobble will be as active as ever, with plans for numerous live shows, new recordings and other activities. Dark Luminosity, meanwhile, takes stock of the second half of his musical career to date, a long overdue exercise in documenting one of our most talented musicians.