Beam Up is a Berlin-based dub and reggae group centred on Brian May. The project begins in Australia around 1998 and later establishes itself in Berlin, drawing on a solo core with guest musicians from different parts of the world.

Music and approach

Beam Up works with bass, trumpet, percussion, analogue bleepers, software, recorded music and machines. The project takes inspiration from dub and from Jamaican sound system culture, and its music reflects a mix of traditional musics from around the world with electronic and studio-based methods.

May grows up in England and first hears reggae on the radio in the 1970s, alongside music by the Clash, Kraftwerk, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and John Peel. He later explores Balkan music from around the turn of the century, which becomes part of Beam Up’s wider palette.

Background and collaborations

Before Beam Up, May is a member of High Pass Filter, Breather Hole and Circushead. He also appears regularly with Japan’s Bush Of Ghosts in the early 2000s. Beam Up also remixes Hava Nagila in a drum and bass style and dub mixes Austrian artist dunkelbunt’s Balkan reggae-influenced tracks.

Releases and labels

Beam Up’s studio work appears on Little Rascal Records in Australia, Beaming Productions, One-Drop Records in Germany and Soul Fire in Japan. The project also has roots reggae-based 7-inch releases and an album among its output.