Ghost Dubs: Extended Damaged Versions

Last year's album “Damaged” (Pressure) by Ghost Dubs (alias Michael Fiedler, alias Jah Schulz) has already ventured deep into the boundaries of the genre. Now, with “Extended Damaged Versions”, the – er – Dub Version of “Damaged” has been released. According to the title, it literally means “extended versions of the damage” – that doesn’t bode well. There were already voices describing Fiedler’s music as “studio test sounds” when it came to “Damaged”. I would specify that it was specifically a test of the membrane vibration depth of subwoofer scoops. But seriously: The music of Ghost Dub is strictly speaking a reinterpretation of the sounds of Basic Channel/Rhythm & Sound from the early 2000s, which at that time represented the area of ​​tension between minimal techno and Dub Compared to “Damaged”, Mr. Ghost Dubs in the “Damaged Versions” the typical shuffle pattern of the original, challenges the listening habits even further, turns the bass even more and makes the music even more abstract, even darker, even more evil. Even if we thought “Damaged” went to the limits of what Dub can be, so Fiedler instructs: It goes even further. "Exdended Damaged Versions" is a journey through dystopian soundscapes, a sound design labyrinth that has more in common with experimental electronics than with roots aesthetics. And yet, deep under the thick layers of bass and delay lies the driving beat of reggae, deconstructed and in super slow motion, but also organic and dynamic. Tracks like "Dub Regulator” bursts out of the speakers with raw force, a massive, technoid groove that rolls forward hypnotically. “Chemical Version”, on the other hand, is a whirlpool of delay spirals, a sonic illusion whose deep structure is reminiscent of the best works of German techno pioneer Porter Ricks. “Thin Dub“ is another highlight, a sonic condensation of reverb, echo and minimalist percussion that seems to dissolve into nothingness and yet seems anything but insubstantial. The essence of this album lies in the complete devotion to the mixer as an instrument, to the principle of sonic deconstruction. Fiedler chops up his own tracks, transforms them into new structures that seem fragmentary but by no means incoherent. The final “Lobotomy Version” in particular shows that this is not just Dub produced, but rather a kind of sonic ritual took place - a hypnotic, ambient descent into the deepest regions of the bass abyss.