Fusing the spirit of late-70’s UK punk and reggae with today’s sense of urgency and foreboding to create a deep, dense, subterranean dub, MEGATIVE is an NYC collective of musicians, artists and producers who aspire to stand up tall amidst the noise and confusion of the world with a big, bold, defiant sound.
Part Gorillaz, part The Clash, laced with King Tubby-style dub FX and swirling sirens straight out of Jah Shakka’s sound system, MEGATIVE is the sound of all these jamming together in an underground basement after-party at the end of the world.
Singer Tim Fletcher’s vocals channel the haunting, cool detachment of a young Terry Hall (The Specials) and fuse with the moody subs generated by Gus Van Go, of cult Montreal punk ensemble Me, Mom & Morgentaler, who has gone from frontman in his own right to become a much-sought-after, decorated producer in the contemporary independent scene. Together, these longtime fellow conspirators have been plotting the birth of MEGATIVE for many years. The pair have known each other since the early oughts, with Gus producing Tim’s former band, Montreal/NYC indie stars The Stills.
The seedlings of the original MEGATIVE manifesto were sown years ago during an overnight drive that Tim and Gus took while listening to Combat Rock, The Clash’s underrated late-career masterpiece. Both yearned for more of the album’s fiercely social stance, and strange, narcotic soundscapes, and decided it would be up to them to create more of it themselves.
Between that and Massive Attack’s apocalyptic themes, and bizarro, smoke-laden, electro-noir-lounge-cinema aesthetic, the Megative mission became clear: conjure up these sounds anew, update them, and use them to confront a whole new age in which the oblivion waiting just beyond the brink seems less like the absurd ramblings of a mad person and more and more like a foregone conclusion.
The remixes are out now on Last Gang Records.
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