It's tragic. Whenever I get a new one Lee Perry-Album flutters on the table, I feel more duty than pleasure to listen to it. Lee Perry was once THE innovator of reggae. The originator of a fantastically complex, magical and absolutely unique sound, born from the happy encounter between analog studio equipment, gifted musicians, a lot of marijuana and even more rum with a very special genius that resides in Lee Perry's head (still this side of the border to madness) was. Towards the end of the 1970s, genius crossed this line and Perry became the quirky, babbling owl whose monotonous monologues have since been heard on countless albums by third-rate reggae bands. Bands trying to capitalize on Perry's legendary name to this day. What a crash, what a tragic fate. Now a new attempt: Daniel Boyle - a little-known British reggae producer - had been working with the Madman on a new album for around a year. Before that, he had meticulously bought the equipment from Perry's Black Ark studio and experimented with it until he finally succeeded in what no one had ever done before: reproducing the legendary sound from Perry's prime. Now the new work is available, to which Perry not only contributed the (let's call it) vocals, but which he allegedly co-produced: Lee "Scratch" Perry: Back on the Controls. It's a double showcase album with 11 vocal tunes and 11 DubVersions and, thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign, is also being released as a CD and beautifully illustrated double vinyl edition. Top or flop? No doubt about it: It catapults itself to the rank of probably the best Perry album of the modern age - a rank, however, which it ranks with Adrian Sherwood's "Dub Setter ”album from 2010. Daniel Boyle (who I hadn't seen before) and Perry have created an official masterpiece here by copying the Black Ark sound, but fortunately foregoing (with one exception) re-brewing the old pieces. Instead, the two of them go their own way, present strong, independent rhythms interspersed with warm brass sections, dose Lee Perry's babbling very appropriately, even elicit some good melodies from him and also offer fantastic melodies as a bonus DubVersions. Perry also seems to have recognized that he has something very special in his hands, which is why he decided to revive his honorable upset label to offer the album a worthy home. Welcome back, Mr. Perry.
Category: Five Star
The albums rated with 5 stars
I love very orthodox, super-classical steppers Dub: repetitive, stoic, physical. But I love the experiment even more: brave, unconventional, weird. Especially when sounds from different worlds come together and create something new and unheard. The more unusual, the more weird the fusion, the more exciting: Dub and arabic music, Dub and Balkan pop, Dub and Swedish folk songs - just to give you a few recent examples: all of them great combinations. But how is it with Dub and classical music? Can that work, or is that too far-fetched? Matthias Arfmann took part in 2006 Deutsche Grammophon Remixed a first attempt in this direction when he gave an official old Karajan recordings Dub-Treatment underwent. Which, by the way, thrilled me at the time (an enthusiasm that hardly anyone wanted to share with me). Now a second approach to integrate the supposedly incompatible: Op'ra Dub Style from Audio Art (One Drop / Irie Ites). The name suggests: Dub meets opera - embodied by the classic opera tenor Uly E. Neuens on the one hand and some superb DubProducers (TVS, Dub Spencer & Trance Hill, Aldubb, Dubmatrix, Dubbecame Dubble (Braintheft) and Tune In Crew) on the other side. The result of this clash is - well, how should I express it differently? - quite simply: brilliant! It's really fun to listen to this crazy experiment and to discover that opera singing, classical-looking compositions (but all of which were created exclusively for this album) and heavy duty Dub-Music sound congenial together, as if they were always meant for each other. This apparently self-evident fact that is not taken for granted is achieved on the one hand by Dub-Track and vocals are always fine-tuned, and on the other hand, opera singing is more of a melody than a word. Like an instrument, it fits seamlessly and harmoniously into the arrangement of the Dub a. The fact that Uly E. Neuens - a classically trained opera tenor who is at home on all the important opera stages in France - has been enthusiastic about reggae for many years may also be not entirely irrelevant. He has a good feel for the music of both worlds. He sang seven tracks for the album, another four offer remixes of the recordings and two tracks are on top as a bonus. The last one is a production by Aldubb with Uly's interpretation of the “Ode to Joy”. I think that's pretty good.
When researching some Dub-Acts I feel like an investigative journalist. Every bit of information I pull from the web is preceded by a tortuous click path over obscure pages. Some Dubheads seem to be such introverted nerds that something like self-marketing just doesn't occur to them. The Restless Mashaits this undoubtedly includes: website under construction, only photos are posted on Facebook and of course no artist info on Soundcloud. That much is clear: behind the restless Mashaits are bassist and percussionist Stuff and keyboardist Jill, two Dub-Addicts from Geneva who have been reggae and since the early 1990s Dub to produce. The first decade of their work is on the album Kingston Sessions 1992-2002 documented. Now place them with the Goulet Sessions 2003 - 2013 (Addis Records) testimony over the past decade. While they were finishing the Kingston Sessions (with pre-produced rhythms) in Jamaica, the Goulet Sessions hint at a secret location in Europe. According to information posted on Facebook, Dean Fraser, Jonah Dan, Stepper, Deadly Headly and Scully were involved. So much for the facts. Let's come to the tasting: The album begins with a grandiose instrumental, which, driven by wind instruments, opens the session with enormous dynamics. The next one Dub makes it clear that even after twenty years at the controls, the two Swiss have become anything but mild with age. They develop theirs in a determined, steady, powerful but not brutal manner or for a quick effect Dubs. Everything is well balanced, the basslines gentle but powerful, the arrangements reserved but inspired, the mix without smug effects, but very solid. Does that sound like a draw? By no means! The track Ghetto blues could be the acoustic definition of “uncompromising”: such a stoic bassline, such a consistently repetitive arrangement and such a soulful, classic one Dub-Mix have rarely come across me. In addition, fantastic brass sections and fine brass solos - everything fits here. And we're only at track 4! This is followed by 7 more tracks that are in no way inferior to the beginning. A superb one Dub-Album that already made me want to Sessions 2014-2024 awakens.
The now legendary jazz album was released in 1964 Jazz on Svenska (Jazz in Swedish). On it the pianist Jan Johansson interpreted old Swedish folk songs as jazz instrumentals. It was a groundbreaking album in Sweden that sold over a million copies and had a major impact on the development of Scandinavian jazz. One dark winter night, 46 years later, another Swedish musician, Tomas Hegert, probably inspired by the minimalist sound of the original album, consisting only of piano and a deep, calm acoustic bass, decided to start a new musical project: Jazz on Svenska in Dub! Now the result is available as a download album and bears the proud title Dub on Svenska. It is by far the most exciting and at the same time the most beautiful Dub-Album I've come across in the last few months. Hegert congenially transforms Johansson's warm sound into finely arranged and at the same time powerfully dynamic Dub-Beats, which are not infrequently used by rather atypical instruments such as z. B. an acoustic guitar. The melancholy, beautiful melodies of the old folk songs, once interpreted by Johansson exclusively on the piano, now sound, played by instruments such as xylophone, accordion, trombone, melodica or violin, almost floating above the earthy sound of drum & bass. What sounds pretty weird in the description is actually the perfect combination of two supposed opposites: how z. B. Chocolate and chilli - the synaesthesia of two worlds. By the way, Hey-O-Hansen have a similar approach, with their combination of Tyrolean mountain music and Dub. The Twinkel Brothers too Inna Polish Stylee come to mind or Mahala Rai Banda with hers Balkan reggae. Even if purists turn up their noses, I believe that Dub was made exactly for this: to dare the experiment.