The Aggrovators represent the absolute peak of the Jamaican session band era, delivering a sound that is both physically massive and spiritually weightless. Their music is defined by the 'Flying Cymbals' drumming style and basslines that feel like they are vibrating from the center of the earth. It is a sonic landscape where instruments appear and disappear like ghosts in a thick fog of reverb and delay.
What makes them truly distinctive is the interplay between the tight, disciplined rhythm section and the chaotic, experimental mixing of King Tubby. While other reggae bands focused on the song, The Aggrovators focused on the space between the notes. The production uses the mixing board as a lead instrument, cutting out the guitar or horns at the exact moment you expect them to peak, leaving only a skeletal, thumping pulse.
Start with 'Dubbing At King Tubby's' to hear the definitive blueprint of dub music. It is the perfect entry point for anyone who wants to understand how a simple reggae rhythm can be deconstructed into a psychedelic masterpiece. This is music for when you want to disappear into the groove and let the outside world fade into the background.
The Aggrovators were a Jamaican dub/reggae backing band in the 1970s and 1980s, and one of the main session bands of producer Bunny Lee. The line-up varied, with Lee using the name for whichever set of musicians he was using at any time. The band's name derived from the record shop that Lee had run in the late 1960s, Agro Sounds. Alumni of the band included many musicians who later went on to make names for themselves in reggae music. Musicians such as Jackie Mittoo, Sly and Robbie, Tommy McCook, and Aston Barrett were all involved with the band at one point or another. Other regular members included Carlton "Santa" Davis, Earl "Chinna" Smith, George "Fully" Fullwood, Ansel Collins, Bernard "Touter" Harvey, Tony Chin, Bobby Ellis, and Vin Gordon. The band recorded Lee's most popular output from the 1970s, with the instrumental B-sides of Lee's single releases on the Jackpot and Justice labels generally credited to The Aggrovators and mixed by King Tubby.
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