The brainchild of British producer Adrian Sherwood and Jamaican drummer Lincoln "Style" Scott, Dub Syndicate has taken the original instrumental genre into the realm of electronic sounds. Drummer for Roots Radics, Creation Rebel and touring accompanist for Jamaican musicians, Scott met Sherwood during a Prince Far I appearance in London and collaborated on sessions for the On-U Sounds label, prior to the duo's formation. After a first album that laid the foundations of the Dub Syndicate style, The Pounding System (1982), the collaboration continued on some fifteen albums, including some shared with Doctor Pablo, Bim Sherman and Lee "Scratch" Perry on Time Boom X De Devil Dead in 1987. Dub Syndicate was part of a trend that was in vogue in the early 1980s, and its audience and influence spread beyond reggae fans and into the rock sphere. In 1989, the Classic Selection compilation opened a trilogy of well-known and previously unreleased tracks, while the original Strike the Balance album introduced singer Shara Nelson before her collaboration with Massive Attack. In 1993, Echomania invited Lee Perry, tabla player Talvin Singh and guitarist Michael Franti, in the process of forming Spearhead. Other guests include Prince Far I, I-Roy, Big Youth, Junior Reid, Bill Laswell, Capleton, Luciano, Gregory Isaacs and Cedric Myton. Since 1998, albums have been released under the Lion and Roots label created by Scott, whose death on October 9, 2014 leaves Sherwood at the helm of the project, which continues with Hard Food and the tribute Dub Is All I Got: A Tribute to Style Scott in 2015. In 2017, the Ambience in Dub 1982-1985 box set brings together the first four albums, and Displaced Masters unveils previously unreleased material. The 2025 release of the compilation Here on the Perimeter 1989-1996 is accompanied by that of the original album Obscured by Version.
