To mark the label's 30th anniversary, Echo Beach invited filmmaker, radio presenter, DJ, and musician Don Letts to dig through their catalogue and curate his very own Echo Beach compilation. The result is 'Don Letts, The Rebel Dread @ Echo Beach'. Het resultaat is 'Don Letts, The Rebel Dread @ Echo Beach'.
By Jah Rebel
Don Letts: “Ever since I first picked up a Super 8mm movie camera and pointed it at punks and dreads alike, I’ve been chasing the sound of culture in collision, where dub meets rebellion, where echoes stretch beyond boundaries. That’s exactly what Echo Beach has been doing for years: quietly, consistently, and with style. So when the chance came to put together this compilation I didn’t hesitate.”
The track list particularly shines with dubwise reimaginings of pop and rock classics: the now-iconic ‘Echo Beach’ by Martha and the Muffins - after which the label itself was named - remixed here by Lee Groves; Kraftwerk’s ‘The Robots’; Booker T. & The M.G.’s ‘Time Is Tight’, and The Clash’s ‘Guns Of Brixton’. For ‘One People’, a version of the Pablo Moses classic, Letts even stepped behind the mixing desk himself.
Personal highlights include Visage’s ‘Fade To Grey’ as reworked by Dubxanne feat. Toogah; a brilliant reimagining of the Ramones’ ‘I Believe In Miracles’ by Dubmones with Oku Onuora and Earl Sixteen on vocals; Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ transformed by Dubby Stardust and James Riley; and finally, the reggae version of Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’, a song that recently found new life thanks to the Netflix series ‘Stranger Things’, here reinterpreted by Dubxanne with Claire Parsons.
Letts himself sums it up best: “Echo Beach isn’t just a label, it’s a frequency. A dubwise state of mind, rooted in reggae but never chained to it, experimental yet grounded. Global in reach but with that unmistakable bass-heavy heartbeat. The artists you’ll hear on this selection all orbit that echo chamber, but each brings their own version, their own language. This isn’t background music, it’s a soundtrack to cities, to movements, to moods. So whether you’re lighting one up or turning down the lights, just press play and let it roll!”
Don Letts will close out Festival des Libertés on Saturday, October 18, with a free DJ set at the Théâtre National de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles.
Founder alongside Jah Shakespear who transitioned to this role in late 2014. Previously worked as critic and reporter, balancing passions for music and Haile Selassie spirituality.
October 2, 2025