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Five Star Review

Dub Spencer & Trance Hill: Christmas in Dub

I can't swear, but I have a strong suspicion that we are dealing with a world first: a ChristmasDub-Album. What a relief! Finally the right soundtrack for the family Christmas party! Okay, everyone has a few semi-embarrassing Reggae Christmas records in their collection that had to be played every year. But that is over now. Because now it's Christmas with our favorite music: Dub! Correct Dub and not just instrumental reggae with Christmas melodies. "It was not an easy task to interpret traditional Christmas carols in such a way that they remain recognizable, but the kitschy melodies are defused to the extent that it does not drip from the speakers, but rather like fat old-school-Dub sounds. ”, says Marcel Stadler and proudly presents the new album by Dub Spencer and Trance Hill: "Christmas in Dub“(Echo Beach). “When reggae artists take on the Christmas theme, genre-typical grooves are often heard on which the Christmas themes are based. We wanted to go a different way and looked for ways to focus on the melody while leaving the template as far as possible, "he explains . The bass sets the tone, it is usually the one who intones the Christmas themes - all other instruments are arranged around it. ”Well done, Marcel, the concept works perfectly. The result is an absolutely demanding one Dub-Album that doesn't press us with Christmas melodies, but with top-polished, hand-played ones Dub-Productions. I even think that our Dub-Quartett from Zurich has once again significantly improved the sound of this album. Because the rough live sound that is typical for them has given way to a cleaner studio sound. I am particularly enthusiastic about the many details in the arrangement that I did not notice on previous albums. Markus Maier explains: “For the first time in our 12-year work, we have resorted to the traditional method for studio recordings. With the previous albums we always recorded together in the studio. After that there were a few overdubs about this. With the Christmas album, we took a more classic approach and recorded the tracks individually and in different studios and only put them together later. ”This opens up completely new possibilities for Dub-Mixing. “The mixes were all made“ by hand ”on the mixer and on the effect controls.” Continues Markus, “No total recall, no fader automation, no possibility of correcting minor mixing errors afterwards. If you made a mistake during the mix, you have to rewind and mix the song all over again. "
The result is a beautifully crafted, mature one Dub-Album, which also offers a few short phrases from well-known Christmas melodies. The perfect pretext for the family to keep it rotating non-stop all the holidays. PS: It goes well with Easter too!

Rating: 5 out of 5.

4 replies to "Dub Spencer & Trance Hill: Christmas in Dub"

Oh Christmas Tree ………….

Sure, of course I bought the part straight away without checking it out beforehand. With the band there is no danger for me. When I first heard it at home about 3-4 weeks ago I thought, well, maybe I just miss the Christmas feeling. Now at the weekend it ran completely through and unfortunately there was no Christmas feeling this time either. When Dub too little and not melodious enough for Christmas, I would describe it for myself. I had a few magical moments but overall I just can't get on a green branch with this disc.
There was this beautiful instrumental disc by Matthias Arfmann, where he played classic classics with a really good reggae ambientDub-Groove sampled. That was or is the right material for Christmas for me and even for the whole family. Has been running every Christmas since it was released. It's a shame that there hasn't been a sequel to this day.
And then there is another Noah House Of Dread record (On-U.Sound). This also creates a really romantic Christmas feeling for me, but I haven't even heard all these other "semi-embarrassing Reggae Chrismas records" at Christmas for ages. I think that Christmas carols are basically so "embarrassingly bad", even reggae and Dub since nothing can save anymore. But that shouldn't come across as if I were a dry Christmas grouch. No! I love christmas
Christmas has always been a very nice family celebration for us and from my point of view it can stay that way forever but Christmas carols and possibly even Christmas poems have nothing to do with Christmas for us. That's why I'm coming with ChristmasDubs not really clear.
Christmas carols are of course not "embarrassingly bad". They just came into being a long time ago when the world of reggae and Dub hasn't even dreamed At a time when you had to fear being quartered for your beliefs, Christmas carols were probably more beautiful than embarrassing.

In this sense ….. "DUB AT ABBEY ROAD “………………… lemmi

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