Category: Five Star

At the nuclear Dub- A whole lot of obscure characters cavort in the scene. Sound nerds who spend their nights in front of the laptop or in the studio, tweaking their music for the sheer pleasure of doing their own thing, without the slightest economic perspective. These guys are my favorite. Because among them you can always make great discoveries. Like right now z. B. near Imhotep. The Egyptian pharaoh is actually called Pascal Perez, comes from Algiers and today has a studio in Marseille where he mainly produces electronic music. In 2012 his album "Kheper" was released, stylistically somewhere between electro, trip-hop and Dub changes. Now he has one Dub-Version distilled from it: "Kheper Dub" (Imhotep), which - unlike the source material - is one hundred percent in reggaeDub is located. Powerful beats, dark atmosphere and - what makes it particularly attractive - all sorts of influences from Arabic music. How good Arabic music and Dub can walk together already has us The Spy From Cairo shown. Imhotep doesn't go as far as he does, however. The Pharaoh "spices" his Dubs with Arabic ingredients rather than building them on complete Arabic melodies and arrangements. But it is precisely this sensitive use that makes Kheper so attractive Dubs off. It is just the right dose of exoticism and mystery that gives his music this intense and magical atmosphere.

When I came across this album on my forays through the worldwide web, I was spontaneously enthusiastic: "10DUBB " (Dog Earr) by 16FLIP. The people behind them are just as cryptic as the names. There is hardly any information about them, and when they do, they are in Japanese. So much seems to me to be certain: 16FLIP are three Japanese youngsters with a history of hip hop. At 10DUBB now put a really crazy, one hundred percent eclectic one Dub-Album that uses more primitivistic sampling technology than classic Dub has to do, but is still - or precisely because of it - an acoustic sensation. The guys here (copied from worn-out vinyl) cut out set pieces of different genres roughly with scissors and stapled them together to create loops and rhythms - the hairs of the necks of every seasoned studio engineer should stand up. But if you emancipate yourself from all prejudices and just listen with an innocent ear, then the result is simply brilliant. The rough samples combine to create acoustically unbelievably rich rhythms that are completely abstract and yet completely representational in detail, which deny order and precision and yet generate fantastic dynamics that are so simple and yet trigger a complex listening experience in the head of the listener. The principle and the sound remind me of Steve Reich's early loop experiments - only fifty years apart from pop music history.

I'm always amazed at what a beautiful one Dub-Productions are made here in Germany. Many of them exist far below the radar of the local reggae community. Such as: "Back to Westmoreland" from Tea balancer, published on bandcamp.com. 71 minutes, divided into only eight tracks built close to minimal electronics. None of the pieces run less than eight minutes. Each is a fascinating, hypnotic listening experience, an acoustic journey through infinite space and relative time, warped by sluggish beats. The pieces always begin very inconspicuously, then develop into a minimalist beat, which at first seems less exciting, but then develops increasingly greater hypnotic pull until the listening mind is completely in the space-time continuum of the Dubs immerses and forgets himself. If you just listen quickly and storm through the tracks with Fast Forward, you won't even begin to guess the appeal of the album. The album reaches its climax - and at the same time cathartic finale - with the last track "To be Pretty Sucks". 16 minutes the liveDub, surrounded by samples, sounds, reverb and echo. A gigantic one Dubwhich remotely brings back memories of Basic Channel. Superb.

After “Seen” and “Felt” the International Observer (behind which the British producer Tom Baily is hiding, who led the pop band "The Thomson Twins" in the 1980s) is now his third album: "Touched" (Dubmission). Although the name only seems to continue the logic of the series, it was chosen with care, because the tracks on the new album are a collection of remixes - foreign tracks that he has worked on. The collection spans the last 15 years and contains pieces from Black Seeds, the Bombay Dub Orchestra, Banco De Gaia, Pitch Black or Warp Technique - just to name the best known. But despite the heterogeneous origins of the tracks, the album sounds very closed and completely typical of International Observer. Melodic, warm, comfortable beats are his trademark, carefully arranged and balanced down to the last detail. His pieces have an irresistible flow. They flow completely relaxed and yet anything but tension-free. Be it the samples of Indian music in the piece of Bombay Dub Orchestras, the gentle brass sections and accordions in the Pitch Black remix or the vocal samples in the WarpTechniqueDubIt is always these details that accentuate a piece, shape it and guide the listener's attention through the beats. Often it is also tiny scraps of melody from the large reggae fund that provide pleasant déjà vus here (only to leave behind the nagging question: "How do I know this brass section, this vocal fragment?"). In my opinion Tom Baily is one of the most exciting contemporary ones DubProducers. I could definitely use more of his music. On average, an album every three years is simply not enough.

It was that Dub Syndicate, which brought me on the trail of for the first time in 1982 with the album "Pounding System" produced by Adrian Sherwood Dub sat. The house band of On-U-Sound, with Style Scott on drums and Flabba Holt on bass. Two outstanding musicians who also formed the backbone of the legendary Roots Radics. Scott recorded over 20 albums on behalf of the Syndicate (the Roots Radics recordings are uncounted), recorded the tracks with Flabba in Jamaica, then added Over in London in collaboration with Sherwooddubs and finally left the same Dubs mix. Now lies "Hard food“(Echo Beach) proposed the final album of the Dub Syndicate. There won't be another one because Scott was murdered two months ago in his home in Jamaica. A tragic event that makes a sober review of his last work impossible. So it doesn't surprise me that the first track already makes me feel sad because “Sound Collision” sounds one hundred percent Dub Syndicate trademark sound, as if there were no unbelievable 32 years between “Pounding System” and “Hard Food”. At position 4, “Love Addis Ababa” is a melancholy instrumental with gentle winds and a beautiful cello playing. A wonderful one and thanks to its instrumentation for Dub Also a very unusual piece that shows that Scott was still full of musical ideas and would have offered us a lot more exciting music in the future. “Gipsy Magic” is equally beautiful, contrasting the powerful reggae beat with the wistful melodies of a violin. I am very moved by the emotional power of this music. Style, the stylist, has asked a few very select singing guests to join in: Lee Perry (okay, the singing is to be understood relatively), Bunny Wailer, U-Roy, who is here on a version of the "Police in Helicopter" -Riddims toasted and a guy named Magma adding some dancehall vibes. As a bonus there are three more high-class ones Dubs. The crowning glory of a very nice album that is a lot of fun and yet sad.

Uwe Lehr, the man behind Razoof, stands for a very exciting, extremely modern and cosmopolitan understanding of reggae. On his last year's album Jahliya sound He presented twelve outstanding productions, all of which were equally characterized by open mind and solid reggae groves. A great album. Now he lays with Razoof: Jahliya - Dubs & remixes (Poets Club) the matching ones DubVersions before. However, this is not a classic one DubAlbum, but about remixes that Uwe Lehr has collected from all over the world and all musical worlds. So he delivers Dubvisionist from Hanover z. B. a terrific Steppers remix, Cocotaxi from Sweden pimps Jaquee's already very lively song "Life is a Journey" on Dancehall and USDubstep master Rob Paine lets Lutan Fyah's song mutate into exactly what he's best at: Dubstep. He measures himself against Berlins Dubstep counterpart samsa, who goes to work here with a massive electric bass. Dub-House can be heard from Salz from Cologne, who once again prove how perfect the aesthetics of House are Dub-Reggae can apply. However, my favorites are the two remixes by Eleven55, which are somewhere between minimalDubtechno and Dubstep and yet know how to preserve the reggae charm of the original. Since some songs and some rhythms have been remixed several times, it is also extremely exciting to compare how much the original material changes in the hands of remixers from other genres. But despite all the differences in the actors and styles: The album is a solid unit, safely resting on an unshakable reggae foundation that can easily handle even heavy beats from other genres. Hence my dear ones Dub-Friends, here you get enough familiar things to feel at home and enough new things to have an exciting musical experience. Open your ears!

The Senior all stars seem to like conceptual projects. When the instrumental band from Münster released their recordings in 2010 to a crowd of international DubRemixers, they still followed a very common concept. When they - excited about the result - started doing the DubTo replay s live on stage - with each musician mixing himself - and finally to make a studio album out of it, the concept became much more idiosyncratic. The newest concept - Verbalized and Dubbed (Skycap) - is thought even further around the corner: “How about if we had our tracks externally again dubLet practice, but this time with singing? ”Uh? Okay, got it. As in 2010, the Senior Allstars sent their instrumental material all over the world: first to vocal artists who knitted a song and then on Dub-Mixer that adds music and singing to vocal-Dubs connected - followed by a classical instrumental one Dub to mix from it. The result is a work with 16 tracks: Part 1 is a vocalDub-Album, Part 2 a pure one Dub-Album. All right? If not, it doesn't matter, because in the end what counts is what comes out at the back. And that is - how could it be otherwise with the seniors - great. The eight songs are all beautiful, catchy compositions. I particularly like the contributions that do not come from the reggae cosmos, like z. B. Tokunbo's soul vocals or Pitshu's Latin American lyrics over a bouncing ska beat. Somehow that fits particularly well with the live sound of the Senior Allstars, which is slightly reminiscent of jazz - and could be a very promising idea for another concept album. Since the vocal part did not belong to the original material but from the Dub-Remixer was added, the music and vocals permeate each other in the mix much more organically than is usual with classic reggae songs. The separation between foreground and “backing” is dissolved, both merge into a wonderfully harmonious-musical amalgam.

Small fragments of the song also remain with the Dubs received in the second part of the album. As irreversible Dub-Purist, I love the "Dubbed “in Verbalized and Dubbed especially. The sound of the all stars is amazing again. The fantastic Dub-Mixes (including by Umberto Echo, Dubvisionist, Dubmatix, Victor Rice) combine to form a wonderful flow into which the listener can let himself fall, to listen to this or that instrument, to feel the groove or to follow an echo through space and time. Rare that Dubs are as multilayered, multidimensional and full of atmosphere as with the all stars. The vocal element now enriches the sound even more. Keep it up, dear seniors. I'm looking forward to your next concept.

The concept, well-known works of music history one Dub-Treatment seems to be very popular at the moment for many reasons: 1. The awareness of the original expands the target group of potential buyers. That's not bad. 2. Nothing is more difficult than starting "from Scratch". So a good template is a blessing. 3. You don't have to worry about good melodies, because the original comes from them. 4. Traditional of course Dub anyway as a remix. So what could be more obvious than an existing album dubben? 5. There is great music outside of reggae that has only one drawback: it lacks the reggae beat. With a DubVersion, this flaw can be easily remedied. 6. Playing with quotes has its own charm. Rediscovering familiar things in a different form triggers wonderful aha effects that release a small dose of dopamine. Whether the French Thomas Blanchot aka Mato ever analyzed his motivations cannot be clarified. But Dub- Remixes of well-known French hits from hip hop and pop have been his trademark for years. In the present case he has chosen the Daft Punk classic "Homework" dedicated and unceremoniously in "Homework Dub" (Stix) transformed. He went through every track meticulously, added a reggae beat and chased it through the echo chamber. Even the cover is a meticulous remake of the famous “Daft Punk” lettering embroidered in silk. Do I have to mention that the music of the French popper as Dub is simply great? "Around the World" with a fat bass and in a one-drop guise is just good. Also "Da Funk" comes perfect. It's hard to believe that these tunes, which sound so organic, so natural and natural here, haven't always been reggae numbers. But thanks to Mato, they are finally there, 17 years later.

The Dub I still think spontaneously of England and then of France. But if I really think about it, then Germany should actually have to be among the topDub-Nations belong. A label like Echo-Beach alone ensures that in good old Germany one of the most productive sources for Dub-Music bubbles. We also have some highly innovative ones here Dub-Artists at the start that some UK steppers epigones cannot hold a candle to. One of them is Felix Wolter. It is no exaggeration to say of him that he is the father of Dub is in Germany. He started working in the mid-1980s Dub to experiment and in 1987 brought the first German with his band "The Vision" DubAlbum out. Countless albums and sound excursions later, his debut album is only released today King Size Dub Special (Echo Beach), in which Felix does not hide behind band or project names, but as the "Dubvisionist ”emblazoned on the front cover. Echo Beach Label boss Nicolai Beverungen is deeply into the oeuvre of des Dub-Veterans and Studio Masters immersed and has 17 dark Dub-Crystals brought to the light of day, which Felix polished again to shine on the occasion of the publication. “It's the basic atmosphere that makes you Dub matters. Quality Dubs are based on vibes, but bad ones are only based on technology ”, says the master and proves this with his album. Felix ' Dubs are delicately woven acoustic works of art, harmoniously balanced, finely tuned, of captivating precision. The superficial effect is not Felix's business. You have to listen carefully to fully enjoy the subtleties that are in each of the tracks, to immerse yourself in its atmospheric flow and to lose yourself in the vibes. Although Felix emphasizes that atmosphere is his most important quality Dubs, but in no way relies on the mere vibes. Rather, he aims to entertain the listener with his mix, to add a constantly changing, always surprising quality to the repetition of the beat that breaks up the listener's expectations. At Felix, the mix is ​​at the center of the Dubs like a "lead voice". This is where the mixer really becomes an instrument. It is the definition of made sound Dub. Hats off.

It's always exciting - but often frustrating - to hear how artists from other genres are approaching reggae. If this approach comes from the field of rock, I am skeptical per se. If, on the other hand, it comes from the direction of electronic music or from the huge field of world music, then I hope for good. In the present case, an artist who is usually at home with art punk and noise has made his way to reggae. “Urghh” - the spontaneous reaction is - let's call it: cautious. But completely wrong. It's reggae (Asthmatic Kitty) by Rafters is a real find. The cool thing about such reggae experiments by strange musicians is that instead of “same, same but different” they promise real variety, true innovation and fundamentally new things. I am of the opinion: Rafter succeeded in doing this. He describes himself as "The most intense and powerful music nerd you may ever meet", lives in California and discovered his love for reggae on a trip to Maui. He then wrote a love letter to the genre and produced 12 absolutely extraordinary ones Dub-Tracks. (Who asks for a reference: Hey-O-Hansen would most likely fit). It starts with the sound. How can he be described? Brittle? Experimental? Arty? At least it's the opposite of the clean, precise, digital studioDub-Sounds that we are used to. Then there are the compositions and arrangements: their components are familiar, their weird combination, on the other hand, is "strange" in a positive sense. Samples from hits from the 60s meet fat brass sections, ska rhythms meet synthetic sounds, heavy basslines meet ultra-light children's melodies, comb blows meet steel drums. The music deliberately has something naive, ultra-simple, which stands in sharp contrast to the bulky, heady sound, which nevertheless - and this is really remarkable - wonderfully grooved. I have no idea how it all works, but: it works, and very well. I love this album and listen to it all the time right now. And not as an intellectual compulsory discipline, but for the sheer fun of beautiful grooves, beautiful melodies, beautiful brass instruments and generally such wonderfully positive, relaxed, fresh interaction with Dub.