'The most talented producers in Britain. . . . the Sly and Robbie of 2006" is how rapper Tricky has described the rhythm unit of Perry Mellus and Wayne Nunes, better known as Warrior Charge.

In addition to collaborations with Tricky, the pair, who perform live in Tokyo on Oct. 9, have also worked with Adrian Sherwood and U.K. reggae act Aswad. Now they have put together their own band, strengthening their link with Aswad by adopting as their band name the title of a seminal Aswad track and roping in the band's singer, Brinsley Forde.

"Brinsley has got to be one of the easiest people to work with. With Warrior Charge, we were recording and Brinsley happened to call. We asked when he could do a vocal for us -- he came over immediately and wrote and sang 'Tek Warning,' " Nunes recently told The Japan Times. The track appears on the group's recently released first album, "No Foundation, No House," a heady, bass-heavy brew of cutting-edge dub grooves. The pair gave Forde, like all their collaborators, complete freedom to participate as he saw fit. "The reason the collaborators are on it is that we just knew that they would come with it."

In support will be Japan's own hard-hitting dub messengers Dry & Heavy. Making their first performance in two years, D&H will be performing their own songs and covers of reggae classics. With one of the band's two vocalists, Likkle Mai, now pursuing a solo career, Ao Inoue is left to shoulder all the vocals. "Although Mai isn't here, I don't think that is going to change our approach in any way," says Inoue. "We are still going to play music that is direct and focused." In the two years since their last concert, Inoue has been DJing around Japan and collaborating with other artists. "Everyone in the band has been doing other things, watching carefully what the others have been up to. I think we can bring the various things we've been doing separately back into the band."