Culture
London's Vibrant Reggae Culture Explored In Record Sleeves
Photographer Alex Bartsch checks out the places and spaces depicted on classic London reggae LP covers.
So much of London’s vibrant music history has revolved around the profound impact of Jamaican reggae and dub. Now, photographer Alex Bartsch is exploring reggae’s musical heritage through some of its most memorable record sleeves. In doing so, he reveals fascinating insights into the changing urban landscape of London.
As Bartsch puts it, finding some of the locations of the original shots was a psycho-geographic experience in itself: “To achieve some of these shots, I had to hitch a boat ride across Regent’s Canal, climb onto a roof top near Old Street, ask to enter someone’s front room in Hampstead, access a backyard in Wembley and venture on to the Westway in West London.” You can pledge to the projcet’s Kickstarter here.
Read More: An interview with dub pioneer Lee “Scratch” Perry
