dubblog

The name “Roommate” was completely unknown to me - until I released the album “Studio Dub Transmissions ”(Avocaudio) and was immediately entranced by it. I believe that in order to like something, you always need a balance between the familiar and the new. If the known predominates, it quickly becomes boring, whereas if the new predominates, it sometimes seems inaccessible. What is known and what can be considered new depends on personal experience. In my case, Roommate hits the perfect match. His music lies exactly at the meeting point of classical reggaeDub and Dubstep, so that the familiar and the familiar mix wonderfully with new influences. Each genre in itself might not be worth mentioning, but the perfectly ingenious mix of the two is extremely interesting. It should be mentioned that the quality of the album does not only arise from the (very obvious and yet hardly implemented) idea, Dub and Dubstep to mix. Rather, the quality lies in the craftsmanship to do this so convincingly. Justin McCauley (aka Roommate) is obviously not a Dubcomputer literate step kid who downloaded a couple of Tubby albums. On the contrary: the “Studio Dub Transmissions ”can be heard in every beat that their creator has a fundamental reggae education and a phenomenal feeling for sound and timing. Dub-Purists should be taken care of, it is stupid here Dubget step grumbles to do. Neither this nor veteran UK steppers can be heard here. The “Studio Dub Transmissions ”are fresh and innovative in every respect, full of ideas without being experimental, cerebral or aloof. It is music for the gut and the head alike (although an alert mind is preferable to a stoned one). Music that Dub-Hearing habits cleverly served, only to gently challenge them at the same time. The result is an innovative, beautiful album that you always put on when it's about more than just background sound for everyday life.

The Mad Professor also has something on the subject Dubstep to say: “The Roots Of Dubstep “(Ariwa) is the name of his new album. The title reminds me strikingly of the "Bruce Lee" films that used to be shown in the station cinema, but had as much to do with Bruce Lee as Dub with German wandering songs. Because what the crazy professor is presenting here is 100% reggaeDub and 0% Dubstep. Already clear what Neil Fraser is to Lononder Dubstep-Kids wants to set off with this title: “Hey, you ignorant ones Dubstep junkies, their admirers of an unjustifiably successful booming sound that doesn't deserve to be called “music”. You think your noise is cool and innovative, while reggae is the music of the day before yesterday for you, which your totally uncool parents think is good. Do you actually know where your "Dubstep “come here? Do you know that your "Dubstep “would be inconceivable without the music that used to be very cool here in the UK? That your "Dubstep ”- in other words - is a degenerate separation from a true, good and beautiful music that is Dub is called? Listen, this is the root of "Dubstep “!“ The man is right, but he succumbs to an illusion when he believes that Dubstep kids only once Dub would need to hear in order to be so enlightened Dubstep and from then on investing their pocket money in the Ariwa Back catalog. It is undoubtedly frustrating to see that yourself Dubstep sells properly while their own music no longer finds buyers and one reggae dealer after the other closes the gates. But you don't convert this unjust world by doing unchanged what you always did. New ideas, new concepts, more creativity are needed here. Label fraud is certainly no solution (even if the album - between us - as a classic DubAlbum, it's not that bad at all).

It's been four years since Phil Harmony made the first Dubnight compilation released as a legal free download. Vol. 2008 followed in 2 and then, for three long years, nothing. Now it is written, the third chapter of the series: "Dubnight Chapter 3 - Revelation Flux "(Download). 25 high quality are gathered here Dubs, most of (still) unknown Dub-Artists, some by well-known names like Rolling Lion Studios, Aldubb or alpha & omega.

To be honest, I wasn't really looking forward to this record: “King Size Dub: On-U Sound 30 Years Anniversary "(Echo Beach). Since my enthusiasm for reggae goes back exactly as far as On-U Sound has gotten old, I followed Adrian Sherwood's music intensely, on my way to school in the 80s Dub Syndicate owned, fell in love with the Singers & Players albums, and reviewed a bunch of On-U re-releases in the '90s. I was simply fed up with the Sherwood sound. Now a CD that brings back the label's hits? Not even close! A look at the tracklist reveals that the compilers have left their hands on all too obvious tracks and instead put together rare, unknown and even new things. There would be z. B. "Stop This Train" as a Spanish version by Graciella Rodriguez, "More Insane" is a cooperation between the Sugarhill Gang and Bim Sherman under the name "Strange Parcels", presented here as a rare 10 "mix. I've never heard “Mountain Memory” by Creation Rebel, nor “Rise And Shine” by trumpeter Harry Beckett or “Death & The Lady” by Ian Kings. In general, the anniversary compilation doesn't sound like the typical “industrial” on-u sound, but rather seems quite modern and - hard to believe with the spectrum - homogeneous. So if you think you know On-U inside and out, you could be taught better here - and in the most pleasant way.

I was amazed to learn that I have a reputation for fundamentally disliking Neil Perch's productions. I almost missed the chance to review the new album “State Of Mind” (Universal Egg) by Zion Train. What has earned me this reputation are arguably my critical comments on - let's call it - "consistency" by Neil Perch. He was one of the first protagonists of the UKDub and he's one of the last to stick to this sound consistently, even if the Dub-Evolution has reinvented the genre in the meantime. The new album is no exception. If the copyright notice were dated 1997, I wouldn't doubt it for a second. But is that why we are dealing with bad music? Not at all! Neil Perch's strength has always been the composition of strong rhythms and catchy melodies - which he again impressively proves. Every track on “State Of Mind” is something special in its own way: sometimes it's a viola melody, sometimes the virtuoso playing of a trombone, sometimes a devious offbeat, sometimes the breakneck tempo of a ska beat and sometimes it's simply a brutal steppers groove. But how much I would like to hear these powerful compositions implemented in a more modern sound, with a mastering that makes the power of these beats explode. But maybe the consistency with which Mr. Perch produces his music is also a virtue. Perhaps it would be wrong to submit to a “fashionable” sound quite opportunistically. In the fine arts, people who work in the same style throughout their lives are rewarded. Why shouldn't it be similar in music?

That Brazil is a hot spot for Dubs is, we have known not least since the film documentary "Dub Echoes ". It is therefore not surprising that an album is now being released from that beautiful South American country that can effortlessly play in the first division of the genre: “Digital-Dubs # 1 “(Roir) from Digitaldubs. If I didn't know that the album came from the other end of the world, then I would suspect its origin in the UK - sounding so much digitaldubs after the UKDub-Sound of the early 90s. In a concrete comparison, however, the Brazilian ones turn out to be Dubs as much more complex, finely arranged and simply better produced. 20 years of software and studio technology progress must leave traces. So we are dealing with modern, powerful, self-confident and at the same time beautifully melodious Dubs that would not receive an innovation award, but are ideally suited Dubto give friends around 50 minutes of listening pleasure. In addition, digitaldubs the example of many others Dub-Producers (most recently Dubmatix) and don't be stingy with appearances by guest vocalists. We meet veterans like Earl Sixteen (who fits in perfectly here), Ranking Joe and Binsley Forde - as well as two Brazilian artists who perform their lyrics in Portuguese. Very nice. Let's look forward to an early # 2.

After King Tubby in the early 70s with his Dub-Mixes caused a sensation and the genre "Dub“Put it on the musical map of Jamaica, the first appeared tentatively in 1973 Dub-Albums. Their circulation was so small that they cost three to four times more in a record store than a normal vocal album. Three albums made the start (each of which claims to be the first Dub-Album at all): Lee Perry's “Blackboard Jungle Dub", Mixed by King Tubby, Herman Chin Loys" Aquarius Dub", Probably mixed by himself and: Clive Chin's" Java Java Java Java "(Impact / 17th North Parade), mixed by the second Dub-Genius of those days: Errol Thompson. Given the skills that Thompson displayed in his later collaboration with Joe Gibbs, "Java" is only rudimentarydubt and sounds like a collection of pure instrumental versions. But the instrumentals are tough, because here we encounter the rhythms of classics like “Guiding Star” by the Heptones, “King Of Babylon” by Junior Byles or the great Randy's version of “Swing Easy” with Tommy McCook's saxophone as lead . The most spectacular track on the album, however, is the namesake: "Java", a recut of the classic by Augustus Pablo. Here ET has reached a strong and fascinating one Dub stamped out of the ground, which lives entirely from the sharp contrast between the pure drum & bass track and the clattering sound of the full instrumentation - two modes, between which ET switches back and forth with virtuosity. My favorite is “Ordinary Version Dub“In which Errol Thompson stops the music to expel an unknown troublemaker from the studio. If he then (individually commented) builds up the rhythm again from its components, he becomes - by the way - the originator of the first Dub-Manifestos of music history. Not always common for the releases of 17th North Parade, by the way, the sound quality of the album is excellent. The tracks sound fresh, crisp, voluminous and balanced. The best prerequisites for a renewed hearing, also far beyond a purely historical interest.