After "Dubbin' Darryl: Textures" is followed seamlessly by another album from the South Pacific, more precisely from Aotearoa, the most widely used and accepted Maori name for New Zealand today. Christopher Martin James alias Christoph El' Truento is for us in Dubblog since his album “Peace Maker Dub“ is no longer a blank slate. Christoph El' Truento has now blossomed into one of the best producers in Aotearoa. No matter what genre – his extraordinary style encompasses many – El' Truento proves again and again that it is second nature to him, as he wanders unerringly through the genres and makes them his own as if he were sleepwalking. With his new album “Christoph El'Truento: Dubs From The Neighbourhood“ (Haymaker Records) he continues where he left off in 2019 with the Aotearoa Dub-Classic “Peace Maker Dub“ and pays tribute to the inventors of the Dub through his unique South Pacific lens. The highly anticipated new album “DubLike its predecessor, "S From The Neighbourhood" takes us on a musical journey inspired by road trips through small towns, sunshine, deserted beaches and deep green primeval landscapes. Listeners can expect a sound that has matured in complexity. What you hear is the sonic reflection of an artist who has become a little older, more mature and wiser. While the idyllic landscape on the cover is typically associated with carefree joy, the album adds details and textures that point to the inevitable downside of grief and loss that befall us on the journeys and impasses of life.
Overall, the album's tracks are strongly influenced by the sound of the 70s, but at the same time have the artist's unique psychedelic lo-fi touch in a modern 2024 style. Local influences and the pleasantly warm sound of the Dub-Maestros expand the sound palette. For example, the penultimate track on the album, "Things Done Changed," features a lap steel guitar, better known as a Hawaiian guitar. The title track is reminiscent of Perry's working methods in the Black Ark Studio, and "Pep The Conqueror" is a remake of the Cornell Campbell classic "The Gorgon," which was once released on Bunny 'Striker' Lee's Attack label. As on the previous album, El' Truento's son Pep can also lend his voice to this classic. With "Dubs From The Neighbourhood“ El' Truento lets the listener dream of relaxed summer days, hanging out with friends and a good doobie on the beach or the river bank and letting God be a good man. Even lovers of classic Jamaican Dub get their money's worth.
2 Responses to “Christoph El' Truento: Dubs From The Neighbourhood“
I don't know if it's because of the time of year or if I'm generally in such a good mood at the moment, but this album is making me ecstatic again! As if he had taken my comments to heart, he refrains from using any squeaking, squeaking and nerve-racking saxophone tinkling. The saxophone is right up my alley here and none of the other instruments are intrusive, although I particularly like the xylophone (or is it that other similar instrument whose name I don't have on my bio-hard drive yet). I also like listening to the "Hawaiian guitar" again and again, as its special sound and even more special way of playing alone is enough to make a "brain soaked in special dynamite" sound. Dub in the head.
For reasons of time, I will now only mention my favoriteDub on this album, which inspired me both through the Dubeffects but also particularly its fluffy melody.
And I'm sure that as I listen to the album again, I'll find many more little clues about the origins of our favorite music.
Until then ……………….. lemmi
Last Friday my fever was just too high. And so there was not even enough time toDub “from the neighborhood” by name. I meant “of course” “Piwari”, because this Dub is really very "fluffy" and light. It feels to me as if I were somewhere in spring (not too warm and not too cold) strolling along a small path between alpine meadows and gently babbling mountain streams, without a backpack and without hiking boots, humming a happy melody from the Caribbean living space to myself and enjoying the carefree lightness of being. Not similar, but exactly like this and not otherwise. I feel almost exactly the same with the title track, which not only sounds as if it had been discovered somewhere "below deck" of the Black Ark, but as if it came from exactly there. The album is really great, especially since Ras Vorbei did not promise too much. “Even lovers of classic Jamaican Dub get their money's worth." To me, all the riddims sound like Jamaica, although - perhaps driven by plate tectonics - they have certainly swum past New Zealand and picked up a few additional typical elements from the South Pacific. These elements manifest themselves most clearly in the special and unique DubArt by Christoph El´Truento, who Dub Of course, it does not reinvent itself, but it certainly adds some new or lesser-known DubElements enriched. I think it's great!!!
(The opposite of groundation)Dub Rock”. Nothing new, DubEffects are almost forbidden and the “Rittims” feel as if they are suffering from lumbago ).