Lee “Scratch” Perry & Mouse On Mars / No Spacial, No Problem / Domino Recordings – By John Matthews

Magical musical musings care of the marvellous John Matthews. Following his passing in 2021, a continuous stream of music, spanning new studio albums to expansive box sets, has been issued under the legendary dub producer Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry‘s name. Largely though these have emerged as weak, superficial collaborations cloaked as profitable cash cows which seem designed solely to taint his enduring legacy. However, hopes for one final masterpiece from the dub pioneer were recently realised with the announcement of “Spatial, No Problem”. The project stems from a whirlwind 3-day session in 2019 at the Berlin studios of experimental electronic duo Mouse On Mars. There, Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma guided a revolving cast of musicians, alongside Perry, which resulted in a genre-blurring swan song that stretches far beyond traditional reggae. Why Perry chose to work with Mouse On Mars is a mystery, but upon arrival he transformed their studio into his own mystical laboratory. By covering…