The late, great Lee 'Scratch' Perry was a master of collaboration in addition to his dub skills behind the controls, working with everyone from Keith Richards to George Clinton to The Beastie Boys to Andrew WK. The Upsetter left us with one full-length collab still to be released, an album with Vancouver experimental drone metal band New Age Doom titled Lee "Scratch" Perry's Guide to the Universe which will be out November 5 via We Are Busy Bodies.
New Age Doom sent Perry the bed tracks for the album in August of 2020 and Perry sent back his finished vocal parts just four days later. "As is our practice for remote recording, we sent Lee a long, evolving backing track with plenty of breathing room, along with minimal guidance, simply asking him to 'speak or sing about any philosophical or transcendental theme," say the band. "The resulting sermon – equal parts blessing and warning – is straight up 'Scratch.' As his long-time friend Lady Nigel Butterfly puts it: 'Really, that’s how you’d get the best out of Lee – just allow him to remain one-thousand-and-one percent undiluted, because he brings it with a raw intensity every moment of every day… he’s a 24/7 Truth Bomb... give him a little space and genius will happen!"