Dub is a science of space, pressure and disappearance, and few have pushed its parameters as far as Hopeton Brown. Better known as The Scientist Dubmaster, the Kingston-born engineer has spent decades treating the mixing desk as an instrument in its own right, opening portals inside recordings through bass, echo, reverb and radical subtraction.
The Scientist emerged from the charged studio culture of late-1970s Kingston, developing his craft at King Tubby’s legendary studio and quickly becoming one of dub’s defining engineers. His mixes are instantly recognisable: basslines given enormous physical presence, drums suspended in negative space, voices appearing as fragments, echoes stretching beyond their apparent source. The studio becomes less a place for documenting music than an environment for taking it apart and setting it loose again.
Albums including Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires, Scientist Wins the World Cup and Heavyweight Dub Champion helped establish a language that continues to reverberate through soundsystem culture, experimental electronics, hip-hop and contemporary bass music.
A self-taught electronics obsessive as well as an engineer and producer, The Scientist developed an intimate understanding of circuitry, modifying equipment and pursuing techniques that gave his work its singular depth and spatial character. His extensive history includes work with Roots Radics, Barrington Levy, Johnny Osbourne and Augustus Pablo.
Decades on, his approach remains remarkably alive: dub understood as an ongoing method for manipulating time, architecture and perception. The laboratory is still open.
The evening is presented in collaboration with Malmö’s own Deng Deng HiFi, longtime carriers of dub and soundsystem culture in the city. They’ll be behind the decks selecting records throughout the night — vinyl pressure, no Deng Deng sound system this time.
RIYL: King Tubby · Lee “Scratch” Perry · Prince Jammy · Mad Professor · Adrian Sherwood · Augustus Pablo · Jah Shaka · Rhythm & Sound · Pole · African Head Charge · Dub Syndicate · Jamaican soundsystem culture
Concert will be included in the SS27 season pass released late 2026.