“When I need poetic inspiration, I return to music. My go-to album these days is the Upsetters’ Super Ape
. The songs ‘Underground’ and ‘Dub Along’ work like chiropractors for the imaginary. Behind the hoist of bass and reverb, voices twist up, then meld into rhythm. The same way good poetic imagery does (or should).
“There is an inscription on the album cover, situated in the upper-right corner like postage: ‘DUB IT UP Blacker Than DREAD.’ This seems like an instruction for free writing, too. Dub it up: Make the verse echo, make it more extragalactic. Harmonize ideas and words.”
—Adrian Matejka, author of Mixology (Penguin, 2009)
Photo credit: Stephen Sproull