Khokhmah: Khokhmah I

Khokhmah is of Hebrew origin, pronounced “chochmah” and can be translated as “wisdom”. The album is by an aging Englishman who was born in 1967 in the London district of Stepney: Kirk Degiorgio. A complete unknown to me, but since the early 1990s he has obviously caused a sensation as a musician, music producer, DJ and record label owner. Probably because he was mainly active and well-known in the techno scene, he is completely unknown to me and his pseudonym “As One” I have never met him before. Later he also worked as "Kirk Degiorgio's Offworld" released what was stylistically classified as "Future Jazz, Broken Beat, House and Downtempo". So he had already moved away from the Detroit Techno of his beginnings and discovered and explored new musical styles for himself. In recent years, he has increasingly struggled with his health in the wake of the Covid pandemic and says of himself that he has never felt 2020% fit since a long and serious Covid illness in 100. Last year he even went on to be a DJ resigned after he had to have a pacemaker fitted. The years in the techno and party scene have not left him unscathed and the use of headphones and their electromagnetic radiation as well as the proximity to large monitor speakers is problematic for pacemakers and can impair or even damage the delicate technology.
And now, and this is what I hope is most interesting to readers here and this is what I am now focusing on, he seems to have finally acquired a good taste for reggae and has released his first reggaeDub-Album “Khokhmah: Khokhmah I” produced and published. As of today (05.08.2024/XNUMX/XNUMX), the album is only available in digital form via Bandcamp, and there you can only listen to a few tracks for free, the rest can only be obtained by purchasing. He also prominently writes "Unauthorized copying of this recording is strictly forbidden" on the cover (which is actually obvious). I respect this opinion, but personally I prefer John Lennon's "Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it", but I don't want to start a copyright discussion here.

The big question is, can a techno DJ and producer Dub? Here, definitely yes! He writes that he worked on the album for two years. The eight riddims are all his own compositions, which he produced and recorded himself “with respect for the originals of this wonderful Jamaican art form”.dubbt. Khokhmah is a “reverent reference to the first golden age of Dubs”, i.e. the 1970s, is the self-praise. For me, that is absolutely true and does not mean at all that the tracks you hear here are a dusty copy of these well-known originals. It sounds modern, powerful, current, post-2024 and above all the drums are played extremely lively (or programmed - at least it seems played to me). There are some Steppas riddims with the typical four-on-the-floor bass drum, which are refreshing and energetic, without the dull, boring and blunted SteppasDub-platitudes that unfortunately in Dub are all too often found. Furthermore, the sounds of the instruments are well and carefully chosen and come across as more analogue, although I am pretty sure that the basic riddims were produced digitally. I assume this because of Degiorgio's musical background and some keyboard and brass sounds sound very electronic-digital to me (but I could be wrong there too). Degiorgio states that he used Dub-Editing the twelve Dubs (four tracks are released with two different versions) exclusively used techniques from the early-mid 1970s. And it is precisely these Dub-Mixes and the use of effects are, in my opinion, very well done in the solid riddims and make the listening experience a real pleasure. Someone uses the individual tracks and effects wisely (and off) and has just the right touch for the ideal dose. At the latest then you notice that Degiorgio has a lot of experience at the mixer and has studied his role models and idols well. And yes, a good sound system with a lot of bass is recommended, I haven't tried headphones. A great Dub-Album, like a well-aged red wine! The only thing missing is a vinyl release.

To be honest, the star rating is just too much for me right now. I'm wavering between four and five stars, because I can well imagine that the album will make it into my top five at the end of the year. I'm giving it four stars because, in my opinion, the basslines are not particularly succinct and are rather mediocre...