The series began during the Corona period: “Tape Me Out #1“ was published as a YouTube video three years ago. There is not much to see. The two friends Dr Charty and Jolly Joseph (= The Dub Shepherds) sit at the mixing desk and mix live for 50 minutes Dubs with material from their label Bat Records. #2 and #3 appear in quick succession. Then nothing happened for a long time until the beginning of this year #4 was released, parallel to her album “Night and Day”. Until then, “Tape Me Out” stood for pure video productions – which explains the name. In July, “Tape Me Out #5“ as a video AND as a regular Dubalbum. The mixes on the album are exactly the same as those in the video. The entire Dub-album was mixed in one take - a process that you can follow live in the video. A really beautiful and unique concept that also testifies to the mastery of the two musicians, 11 Dub-tracks one after the other without any mistakes. While in the first episodes of the series they are still sitting quite relaxed at the mixing desk, in #5 you can see their concentration and tension. 45 minutes Dub-Mixing in one go is really hard work.
Although in these typical Dub-Mixing videos are not much to see, but they always captivate me. And that is the case here. Strangely enough, it is fascinating to see how music is created on the mixing desk. I sometimes find it even more exciting than watching a musician play an instrument. This is perhaps because one person at the mixing desk controls all the instruments and not just one. Seeing how turning a knob or moving a slider changes the sound, triggers effects or switches instruments on or off - in other words, how music is "designed" and controlled - is for Dub-Nerds like me really find it exciting. But only as exciting as the music is good. And the two Frenchmen have no doubt about that. Their own productions and those of other artists on their Bat label (eg Pinnacle Sound) are among the best that European reggae has to offer. Like so many of us Europeans, they love the reggae sound of the 70s and 80s, which they pay homage to with all of their label's releases. Of course, everything is recorded analogue, mixed analogue and stored analogue on magnetic tape. It is not uncommon for them to quote historical riddims, work with DJs and singers from the golden era and mix their Dubs of course in the style of the old Jamaican masters. But similar to Prince Fatty and other retro fetishists in good old Europe, they don't just play classics, but deliver a fresh and original interpretation of this music and its sound. And so Tape Me Out #5 is not a remake, but an absolute newmake with the fantastic stylistic devices of the past - and a great Dub-Album.
2 replies to "Dub Shepherds: Tape Me Out #5“
Yeah man!!! ….
If we always had exactly the same opinion, it would be boring. But I'm as happy as a little child when someone speaks from my heart like you did, René, with this album. And all I can say is that I had goosebumps from the first to the last sentence of your review. When I watched the video, my skin almost burst because I was just as excited as you were to watch it. This mixer alone gives me a kind of "delusion of grandeur", even though it doesn't even belong to me. What fun!!! Wonderful!!!
Yes; and as you also write, the overwhelming feeling is taken to the extreme when what is heard sounds and feels so fantastic, as for example with the DubShepherds. Sometimes music and especially in our case DubMusic is no longer a question of taste, it is simply GREAT and that's it! That's why I'm a fan of the DubShepherds. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to buy a record from them yet, as distribution is probably more expensive than the possible compensation costs. I wouldn't dare to call it a profit.
With all this enthusiasm, it is a little difficult for me to put a damper on things now, but it just fits too well, here again my enthusiasm for a certain
Adrian Sherwood. What the two of them do together is really great, but Adrian does it all alone and his arms have the span of an Andean condor.
OK, now don't tell me that the review and the video, as well as the protagonists, are all just AI. Then I would probably have to equip my whole body with mirrors in order to reflect my entire existence in a completely new way.
In any case, it is a complete mystery to me how DubProducers manage to fob themselves off with the spontaneous and analogue possibilities of such a gigantic mixing console by simply "moving the mouse". I imagine that would be very boring and tedious.
And when I see what a puny “Nintendo-
When I see the son of Alpha and Omega playing around with the “mixing desk”, I don’t really need to explain why he doesn’t really touch me for the most part.
DubMusic rules! …………………… lemmi
Nice review that got me hooked on listening to it (#5). Thanks. I agree with Lemmi!