King Kong has been deejaying since 1982, when he stepped up to the mic at Tuff Gong studios in Kingston under the name Junior Kong, borrowed from his father, and that same grain in his voice, the one that later carried Firehouse label sides for King Tubby and hits like “Trouble Again” for producer Prince Jammy, is exactly what drives “Send Dem Come.” Josh Harris, also known as DJ Big Feet, produced the track for his own roots label, Big Feet Records, building a heavy, classic reggae foundation underneath King Kong’s vocal, spacious and unhurried. Torch, the Trench Town-raised singer born Kevin Campbell and handed his stage name by Tony Rebel, layers harmony vocals in behind the lead, thickening the track’s Jamaican character.

Harris started out as the keyboardist and vocalist in The Untouchables, the Los Angeles ska revival band whose 1985 debut Wild Child reached the UK charts on Stiff Records, before he turned to production and spent years building Big Feet Records into a real bridge between California and Jamaica, releasing music with Ken Boothe, Lutan Fyah, Johnny Osbourne and The Silvertones along the way. Torch built his own name over a decade of Jamaican sessions in the same period, running his own label, Evaburninflame Recordings International, and touring behind Buju Banton since 2005.

A separate dub mix comes from E.N Young, the San Diego-based producer and melodica player who runs Imperial Sound Recording Studio and has cut more than 1,250 reggae tracks for artists including Steel Pulse, Stick Figure and Alborosie. Working from the same session, he pulls “Send Dem Come” apart into something deeper and more spacious, in the tradition of the King Tubby and Scientist records he’s named as his own biggest influence.

Stream “Send Dem Come” HERE