Categories
Review

New albums: Umberto Echo and Aldubb

Dub The World

Nachdem Umberto Echo three years ago with the Dubtrain roared through Germany, he is now on a world tour with his new album: Dub The World (Echo Beach). According to his own statement, the young Munich producer and multi-instrumentalist Phillip Winter aka Umberto Echo has worked on more than 80 albums, covered all genres from rock to classical and jazz to reggae and wrote Bavarian reggae history with Jahcoustix, Jamaram and Headcornerstone. Unlike the previous album Dubtrain, This time Mr. Echo takes on third-party productions from various bands and subjects them to a sophisticated verdubexercise procedure. Among the 15 Dub-Tracks you can find pieces from 13 countries among others by Gentleman, Katchafire, Steel Pulse, Dub Inc., Up Bustle & Out, Dubblestandard, Stereo MCs, Seeed, Dub Spencer & Trance Hill. Sound and style of play naturally vary quite a lot, which makes the album a bit inhomogeneous, but at the same time wonderfully varied. Umberto Echo's virtuoso mixes ultimately combine everything into one big, uninterrupted one Dub-Opus together that sounds fantastic and is full of ideas and surprises: rhythm changes, style changes, sound changes, acoustic instruments, then again echo chamber galore, samples and interspersed original vocals - other producers make five albums out of the material. Umberto Echo packs everything into the 15 tracks - but so relaxed and controlled that everything sounds natural, never tried, over-headed or overproduced. An extremely exciting and pleasant acoustic trip around the world, on which the listener is sent, driven by bass plucking deep in the ship's hull. The view wanders over a sea of ​​gentle sound waves in which dolphins perform their tricks. And reggae is played at the Captain's Dinner in the evening!

While Umberto echoed the south of the republic with Dub-Vibes sounded, Berlin vibrates under the sound waves of Aldubb, according to his own statement, “one of the busiest DubRemixer of Germany ". He's really busy, because when he's not behind the mixer in the Planet Earth Studio, he plays with the Digital Roots Band or Dark Light Drums, performs solo in the “Dubliving room ”or mix in with the Irieland sound system, which is called“ Berlin Dub Festival ”. Anyone who dedicates themselves so much to music for which the term “special interest” is almost an understatement, must inevitably be motivated by a mission. And so it is not surprising that Aldubb dedicates his new album to God's Word: “Let There Be Dub“(One Drop). And there was dub! 18 tracks of the finest material in the Steppers spectrum Dubstep, thickly mixed and simply groundshaking. So that the audience doesn't lose consciousness while being shaken, Mr. Dub-It-All mixed in beautifully melodic vocal tracks at strategic points, heavy steppers tunes alternated with softer one-drops and occasionally leaves one distorted Dubstep bass provide the boom. There are also nice sound gadgets, samples and mini melodies. Together a perfect dramaturgy that makes for a very diverse, but also self-contained, well-composed album - although the 18 tracks are actually a best-of retrospective of the last four years and many pieces have already been released on vinyl. Four good years, it seems. But the prospect of four years waiting for the next Aldubb album is a disaster.

Leave a Comment

Your e-mail address will not be published. Required fields are marked with * marked

This website uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn more about how your comment data is processed.