And there they are again. After 14 years of silence, eight months ago with “Sonn und Mond” there was definitely the most exciting thing Dub- To hear album of the year. And now, with “We So Horny”, another work by Hey-O-Hansen follows! What got into the two Tyroleans and Berliners by choice? Have the muse kissed Michael Wolf and Helmut Erler? If you take the creative content of their albums as a basis, then this question must be answered in the affirmative. I haven't come across anything so unusual, weird and yet absolutely coherent for a long time. Don't worry, we're not dealing with cerebral studio experiments here, but with wonderfully groovy ones, albeit strangely eccentric Dubs. There are Dubs that emphatically show the enormous creative leeway the genre offers and how this can be used convincingly. Unlike “We So Horny”, the predecessor “Sonn und Mond” was the distillate from 14 years DubResearch work and hard to beat in terms of the wealth of ideas. “We So Horny”, on the other hand, contains entirely new material and inevitably sacrifices the diversity of its predecessor to a greater stylistic unity. While "Sonn und Mond" offered a different surprise with every track, "We So Horny" allows you to get into the strange (supposedly influenced by Tyrolean folk music and its idiosyncratic offbeat) Dub- Listen to the sound of the two studio freaks. And what makes the sound so idiosyncratic? Not that easy to say. Perhaps it can best be described with the term “artistic rebellion”. Nothing here sounds “smooth” or conventional. On the contrary. The question is: how much Dub-Convention can be thrown overboard without the music stopping Dub to be? Hey-O-Hansen's answer is: everything except echo, bass and offbeat. And the first thing that goes overboard here is the classic instrumentation scheme. That's why the Hey-O-HansenDubs initially played incorrectly, only to sound logical and compelling in the next moment. The massive use of wind instruments alone is extraordinary. In addition, there is an idiosyncratic mixture of electronic sounds (à la Basic Channel) and hand-played, acoustic instruments as well as a simple, but somehow tricky polyrhythm. Hey-O-Hansen's music cannot really be described. Only one thing can be said very clearly: it is great.
Let's continue with weird Dub-Mucke: "Japanese Dub“(30 Hertz) by Jah Wobble & The Nippon Dub Ensemble. The last I heard from Mr. Wobble was his "ChineseDub”Album“ Mu ”from 2005. With“ Japanese Dub”He picks up where he left off with“ Mu ”. He just moved a little further east. Instead of the Chinese character “Mu”, the Japanese “Ma” now appears on the cover. The meaning is the same: emptiness, absence - an essential term in Zen meditation - and there Dub has a meditative quality per se, it is of course predestined for Jah Wobble's esoteric excursions. This time she leads us to ritual Shinto music, taiko drums and shamisen sounds. The basis of all the pieces on the album is always Wobble's rumbling bass and often beats programmed by him (on Japanese equipment, of course). That doesn't work badly, especially since Wobble often relies on reggae beats. Traditional Japanese singing is really crazy. If you are not open minded here, you should be in shock. The intoned song ("Kokiriko" - supposedly the oldest song in Japan) is actually very beautiful and has an incredibly catchy melody - even for western ears. Jah Wobble was so obsessed with this song that he put it on the album four times, as it were as a version excursion. Besides this song, there are other nice things to discover: pentatonic and chromatic scales, kabuki singing and booming drums for example. Jah Wobble doesn’t go easy on his listeners - but that’s exactly what offers the chance for new discoveries. And for that we thank Mr. Wobble-bass.
Last year the debut album by Dubkasm, "Transform I" (Sufferah's Choice), a dark, mysterious one Dub-Root's work with guest vocalists like African Simba, Dub Judah and, interestingly, also Brazilian singers outside of the reggae scene. Now with “Transformed in Dub“(Sufferah's Choice) the DubVersion of the album. This is even darker, more intense, even heavier and - according to my feeling - has also become even more interesting, because here all attention is given to the music, the sound, the finesse of the mix. Behind Dubkasm are two guys from Bristol, Digidub and DJ Stryda, who since childhood (after attending a show by Jah Shaka) have devoted themselves entirely to the "orthodox" rootsDub have prescribed. Therefore you are not allowed to make any new ones from the two Dub- Expect knowledge, rather the loving care of the good, old ones Dub-Tradition. How much the two BristolDubYou can look forward to your new, analog mixer dubsee casm.com in a nice little film portrait.
Ok, dreadzone. With this name, memories of the early 90s awaken in me, memories of a huge aha moment when I saw the crossover of Leftfield and Roots for the first time on the Dreadzone album "360 Degrees"Dub heard. As a result, Dreadzone released more fabulous albums, which not only represent the next higher evolutionary stage of Dub presented, but on which also great songs and insanely catchy melodies played. So I hardly need to mention that I have the new CD "Eye On The Horizon" (Dubwiser Records / Soulfood) with trembling fingers. What came next can perhaps be described as a result of confusion, disappointment, and ultimately favor. What is certain is that the new album cannot meet the gigantic expectations. It follows on from “Second Light” or “Biological Radio” - especially when it comes to song melodies and arrangements - but it does not reach the level of these albums. While this virtuoso techno / dance, leftfield and pop under the predominance of Dub united, “Eyes On The Horizon” clearly steers through pop and often even rock waters. Even if the title "Eyes On The Horizon" suggests otherwise, Greg Dread & Co have not really developed since the aforementioned albums from the 90s, but also since "Once Upon A Time", which was released in 2005. It's nasty to write something like that, but I have a feeling that Dreadzone was looking a little too much towards chart success on their new album. Surely this criticism is a high level complaint. Countless Dub-Producers would thank heaven if they could only produce anything close to the quality of "Eye On The Horizon". Because: if you leave all expectations and prejudices about pop and rock behind you, it suddenly becomes obvious: The new Dreadzone factory is good. And how do you notice it? Simply because you put it on again and again and have fun listening to it.
After we had the "absolutely last volume" of the King Size a few times DubSeries behind us and last year with “Vol. 69 ”a sampler fluttered into the house“ out of line ”, there is now:“ King Size Dub Chapter 13 “(Echo Beach) - and, that's the beauty of traditions, again with a Ruts DC remix. But - seriously now - I am glad that Echo Beach is continuing the legendary series, because the samplers (Vol. 1 appeared in 1995!) Always offer a highly tasteful selection of current productions. So also Chapter 13, where this time, in addition to a lot of in-house artists such as Noiseshaper, Up, Bustle & Out, Dubxanne, Dub Spencer & Trance Hill or Dubblestandart, also tracks from Dreadzone, The Vision, Aldubb or autumn in Beijing to be brought to hear. An excellent selection - Echo Beach just knows where the bass is playing.