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DubBeach Allstars: Dubbing on the bay

There is this "New Releases" section on dubblog.de, which the reviewer likes to look into regularly - even if it's just to see what the colleagues put in between good and bad. That is the very, very wide range; only special and / or interesting things (in a positive or negative sense) find their way into the reviews. So bravely jumped into the flood of innovations, listened in randomly and actually found what you were looking for: It is Dubstrand Allstars' debut album "Dubbing on the bay“ (Dubstrand Music), which I am dragging into the glaring review light.

Admittedly, it's the drums again that grabbed my first attention; In their mix they are very reminiscent of releases from 1981, as if there were Peter Tosh's "Wanted Dread & Alive", Jimmy Cliff's"Give the people what they want"Or Pablo Mosers'"Pave the way". This hard sound, which wasn't particularly bass-heavy, but with its punch at the appropriate volume probably left holes in the eardrum; this kick drum, which comes across as quite martial and almost commands where to go. The then relatively short-lived trend can now be found on the "Dubbing on the Bay ”album again - whether that was intentional or a coincidence remains open.

My second attention has that Dubstrand Allstars themselves counted - never heard, never seen, who should that be? The online research lets me run up completely for the time being; then there is still a fragment of information and it shows Brizion down. I have noticed the man several times; less because of his mediocre music than because of the sheer volume of his output: The Californian should cough once and at the other end shoot 5 albums, which unfortunately sound that way. A clear case of quantity over quality. Imagine if Vaughn Benjamin had teamed up with Brizion ... that would have been an endless flood of babbling albums.

The DubStrand Allstars, on the other hand, are thankfully not another solo project by Brizion; he takes (hurray!) a second musician - that is, a drummer - on board. No question about it, that brings the music to life, albeit with a downer: the man plays e-drums, which per se do not offer any great tonal variations. Strikes on the e-snare always sound tiring, an acoustic snare, on the other hand, sounds a little different with each strike - depending on where the stick hits the head. A small difference that makes a sound world.

Back to the album - it's not particularly bass-heavy with what feels like a cutoff at 60Hz, but see above: What was good enough for Tosh and Cliff back then should also be today Dubconceding beach all stars. Ultimately, there remains a collection of classic looking riddims; sparingly orchestrated with unobtrusively incorporated Dub-Effects. Not much has been done wrong, and yet everything seems uniform, monotonous. This is certainly not only due to the drums, but rather to the fact that only two musicians give their best: One plays the drums, the other plays the manageable rest of the instruments. There is no desire, musical ideas cannot be found. The whole thing seems more like a compulsory exercise and is therefore far from a masterpiece. However, if you are willing to lower your expectations accordingly, you will definitely enjoy "Dubbing on the Bay ”. 

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

8 replies to "DubBeach Allstars: Dubbing on the Bay "

Well, it is by far not the first time that a review speaks from the heart to me, but this one could have been almost one to one of mine, although of course I already want to
practiced or the reviewer's innate eloquence. So I had to google “mediocre music” first. But I like to do that, because when I incorporate such words into our workshop slang, it's always nice to look into the faces of my colleagues. So, even if I “suffer” from an allergy to learning, I confess that I am very happy to learn something in this way. Learning new knowledge using a concrete example is like “learning by doing” and that's the only way it works for me.
Yes, sometimes I also look out of the pure fulfillment of duty to my never-ending curiosity in matters of reggae and Dub in "New Releases". And just now, of course, I stumbled across this Brizion. There are a lot of stones from him, in or on the way. Well now what else should I say?!? It's reggae or Dub and therefore basically my thing! But after I worked my way through part of his work, the exact same sentence was on the tip of my tongue.
“A clear case of quantity over quality”. I can listen to everything, but my belly button doesn't really tingle. With this kind of Dub, I could the whole "thing"
in the end get tired and lose my curiosity in the end. This is not new for the reggae business either, but too much production is also a kind of overproduction. So far everyone has failed because of this. Gregory Isaacs as well as Sizzla. And the “Duncehall Ting” is the culmination of this overproduction. Sure, Bob Marley could live on a disc all his life. That brought in so much. As a result, he was able to take a whole year for a record, which then expressed itself in quality and not in quantity. That corresponds to a “positive vicious circle”, not to say that it is then a “God's circle”.
But I can well understand that this Dubstrand Scheibe made it into a review after all, because I think it also has very crisp riddims. And when you
Associations (wow, sometimes I am enthusiastic about myself, which words I already know) to Peter Tosh, Jimmy Cliff and then also to one of my "All Time Favorites" album "Pave The Way" by Pablo Moses, can do that not be that bad. Go to Dub from my point of view not anyway. I can't think of much about the album either, because it has too little “hiss and poof” for my taste and also sticks to “political correctness” too much with reverb and echo.

Yeah man "Pave The Way Rasta" !!! "Who Is The Greatest Rastaman Of Them All?!? YES !!! ……. Proverbs Extractions ...... "
And then this intro on Dig On! So saxophone has to ;-) ………………… .. lemmi

Nice comment, lemmi!

I think that the unmanageably large album output of many JA artists only began when the major labels had withdrawn - in the middle of the 80s, around the same time as computer-generated sounds that could be produced easily and quickly appeared . One can think good or bad of the majors, but they were sometimes good quality control and important regulations in the reggae industry. Who still remembers the longing waiting for this or that annual album to be released? That also had quality - the best example: Gregory Isaacs or Dennis Brown, whose major albums were excellent; the later albums produced on the assembly line, however, in the best case only so-so (exceptions confirm the rule).

On the other hand, singles in JA have always been more musical news and current comments on politics, crime, catastrophes, etc. - quickly produced & brought to all corners of the country as hot 45s via sound system. A good example of this is the "Gilbert" sampler, which summarizes singles that were released in 1988 immediately after the devastating Hurricane Gilbert.

Whether BM was able to make a living from the Iceland sales during its lifetime ... I'm not so sure about that. The live shows were imo more like his cash cows ... at least Iceland won't have held up the hand that much, I think.

Yes gtkriz,

I would also like to add that. Calling Jamaican music Duncehall may not be my place either, and it may seem quite arrogant again. But I know the term from the Jamaicans themselves and so it may be appropriate. For the Jamaicans, I think that's about Ex and Hop
Singles also perfectly fine. As a European, however, I have the Today and the Tagesshow every day and don't see music as a news magazine or even as gossip - press. For me, music is a permanent manifesto, a statue, so to speak
for eternity. Songs such as "Blackheart Man" by Bunny Wailer or the entire disc are not for ex and hopp. These are the Rembrandts from Jamaica!
You don't just paint them over. Unfortunately, Bunny Wailer is now where Rembrandt has been for a long time. Maybe it's better that way, who knows?!?

Rest In Peace BUNNY WAILER …………………………… lemmi

the youtube preview can be enjoyed better than the review suggests.
will give the work a chance.
If the mastering is not so good, the lack of deep bass can also ensure tonal tightness.
what I always appreciate very much about rootsreggae is the space in the mix ... dynamism. the kick kicks, the snare really pops in, as if you were just a few meters in front of it (assuming the appropriate playback volume and suitable speakers, modern consumer clutter like Sonos can't do that at all).
Here this pressure is present in the drums, even if they are e-drums. Half the battle with the bass. And Brizion has also caught my eye in a positive way. Until now thought he was French 8)

I'm with you, pop up ... the edrums definitely have a lot of punch, but the same sounds ... could have been made more individual for each piece, I'll say.

Brizion lives / works in San Diego.

Thanks for the review. This album was definitely a “compulsory exercise” as you put it.
Me and my brother (the drummer) created this project to have fun during lockdown and to practice making videos we could share with our friends because there was no live music happening.
We also found it unfortunate to use a “e-kit” which was our only option at the time as where we live, cannot use a live drum kit at home. Our second album ("Dubbing Up the Coast ”) is a completely live drum kit.
And this was 100 percent a "quantity over quality" exercise; We told ourselves we must put together a new one Dub with a full video every single week without fail. So regardless of what we had each week we put it out, and the result is all the tracks in this album. All of the tracks fully improvised and one take recordings, many of which were actually at various outdoor locations (for our videos). We had a lot of fun making these tracks / videos for these songs and really helped keep our sanity during lockdown.
respects

Good to see you checking in - sounds like I wasn't too far off in my review.
Thanks for the reminder on the follow-up album ... I'll be doing a review here.
Keep up the good works!

Reply

Brizion is legit I love the music and play it in Jamaica. I enjoy the laid back classic sounds of dubstrand he also makes roots tonic.

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