So here we have a release called "from scratch" as Dub-Album was designed; a production that was probably created out of joy and love for classic reggae or analog Dub-Technique originated. But the album also seems to correspond to a trend that has been heard more and more recently: It presents a sound image that gives the impression that one is with the artist in a rather musty, dull rehearsal room padded for sound insulation. Nothing is embellished there; the loud hi-hat and the cymbals sound tinny, the bass drum and the bass sound dry and flat. Musicians will feel transported back to their beginnings when they listen - back then, with the band in the damp, cold basement for whom the term “rehearsal room” was a bad joke.
So a sound that has nothing to do with the deep bass and the sharp highs of e.g. Jamaican productions. In this respect, classic Dubheads no great pleasure in Pachyman's "At 333 House“(Mock Records) have. It is the second (solo) album by the LA-based Puerto Rican who obviously draws the inspiration for his self-written and almost single-handedly recorded riddims from the late 70s. He is not alone in this either; In the last few months there have been productions that have dedicated themselves in every respect to the golden era of reggae. The Revolutionaries or the early Roots Radics send their regards - if it was great then, why not today?
This concept only works to a limited extent. Pachyman may be talented and able to play multiple instruments - but that all seems just average. The quality of his bass runs ranges from unspeakable boredom (“Smokeshop”) to wonderfully groovy (“Babylon Will Fall”). The sound mix is difficult and tiring, as the instruments are almost equally loud, i.e. mixed without dynamics. The Dub-Mix per se is unspectacular and devoid of any highlights: Sometimes a reverb, here a reverb; Pachyman is rather stingy with echo and the Mad Professor is much better at the bass, which is pitched high in places. And between us: Fade-outs are no longer necessary or common today, you can also use them as Dub-Mixer conjure up brilliant things.
So is it safe to throw “At 333 House” off the playlist again? Maybe; but one should readily admit to Pachyman that there is a lot of potential. I suspect he could use it better if he left the cocoon and had his ideas filtered, animated and implemented by the band, mixing engineer or sound engineer. Well worth a try, Pachyman.
6 replies to "Pachyman: At 333 House"
Hi,
after listening to the album twice, I have to break a lance for Pachy García aka Pachyman. When I close my eyes, the work sounds almost 2: 1 like a classic Roots Radics album, and in my opinion there are much worse and more boring elaborates from the Radics. Flabba Holt's bass runs are not always the best. For a Puerto Rican living in the USA who did almost everything himself, “At 1 House” sounds like it was made in the late 333s - the heyday of reggae. In short, that bad, musty and boring, I don't find Pachyman's new album with the best of intentions.
Hello everyone …… .. we are Audio Active!
Yes, I had to smile warmly first. The sound is reminiscent of the “damp, cold cellar from back then” and that's what it means
Label also “Mock Records”, as if you can even smell the damp, cold “SchimmelSound”.
Since my bed at home is often teeming with silverfish (lemmi, you are sometimes really disgusting) I feel very secure in this ambience and in this atmosphere and can't find that much bad thing about it. The opposite of that would be against this sterility, which we have often thrown out of all imaginable playlists. For some time now, the golden mean has been with Umberto Echo, Aldubb and dem Dubvisionists as well as with Paolo Baldini
and surely you can list more examples ...... but should be enough for now.
I feel the quality of the bass runs almost the same way. “Smokeshop” is a “nice” example of a slack bassline and
“Babylon Will Fall” could also come from the pen of Errol “Flabba” Holt. Whereby I see it like RasVorbei that even a Flabba Holt has not conjured up the most global, all bad, bassline every day. Since we are positive people, we only remember the good basslines that Flabba Holt produced with his gold fingers
and hopefully continue to be produced. Most of Pachyman's bass lines have the Jamaican groove or charm
and therefore meet me in the middle of my reggae heart. You only notice that Pachyman doesn't have as much strength in his fingers as for example Flabba Holt or Robbie Shakespeare. At least I imagine that I can tell whether someone is having trouble following the bass line with their fingers or whether the fingers can create the groove with a certain “carefree ease of being”. For me, Pablo Gad from ASWAD is one of those bass players who can handle the bass lines by themselves. Of course there is more ...... .. but it should be enough for now.
I'm not one of the classic ones Dubheads, because I like almost all varieties of reggae and that's why I would have been happy with this album, but when it comes to streaming it is just like the water of a river
- in the true sense of the word - flows past me and then completely goes down the drain. It then gathers somewhere in the great ocean of music and just maybe comes back to me as a scattered rain drop.
If all of these Dubs had been made in Victor Rice's echo chamber, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised. Sounds almost exactly like Victor Rice to me, even if he usually screws the nipples a little more enthusiastically.
In any case, I do not find the MusicDataPackage bad under any circumstances and not in the least boring. If there is anything
sounds musty, so that would by far not be the first time and, as I have already mentioned before, not that bad, as long as the music is good.
I feel the same way with this album as with many others. If I haven't been that long Dub resp. Reggae and if I didn't already know so much, then this album would have to take me home. So I listen to another Victor Rice album and am happy that it is MINE.
Greetings ……………… .. lemmi
Flabba H. should almost only play with his thumb, with Robbie S. I've seen it before. So because of powerful fingers :)
A tip about Pachyman: His videos on Instagram & YouTube - if you have the optics with you, the tracks are imo more interesting.
You are of course right that the icons sometimes miss the mark in the course of your work. I am currently working intensively on the “deeper in dub“Spotify playlist that deals with Dubs busy in the late 70's and early 80's. There is a lot of fine work there, but also some sound-technical garbage. I was a bit surprised because I thought this time span for the golden era of the Dubs or reggaes and the studio technology was already more advanced (than, for example, in Black Ark times). In the end, however, I find it liberating when you sometimes pull your musical heroes off the podium and recalibrate your own musical value system.
@lemmi
“I feel the same way with this album as with many others. If I haven't been that long Dub resp. reggae and if I didn't already know so much, then this album would have to take me home. "
It couldn't have been phrased more accurately. With the tide that rolls over us every day, many good to very good albums don't get the recognition they deserve in the least. That is exactly the problem for all of us, “the dose makes the poison”. We are simply overfed. Every day a new, groundbreaking one Dub- Finding album may not work. That was at the beginning of the Dub unthinkable anyway, but even today no sound engineer canDubbing "reinvent. For this reason, I often stretch my feelers for other things Dub-Games from. A fresh wind is always good.
Above all, my “problem” is that of everyone Dub like. No matter how much hair I have in the UK unitDub-Soup find over a uk-DubI would still be happy to dance in our street. Just shouldn't last all night.
Then all of the "do-it-yourselfers" with ProTools and a computer mixer, sometimes quite passable Dubscrew s together. I can't or won't ignore all of them. But my main interest is with records like "Heavy Rain" !!! On the one hand, because Alte Liebe never rusts and becomes deeper and more intimate through such albums. On the other hand, because not only the engineer is a positively crazy sound researcher here, but the entire team and above all the musicians. Here you don't just cook with water, but with very special ingredients that are difficult or impossible to open up to an earthly palate. And it gets really exciting when you boil water in a vacuum. Then 20 degrees Celsius is enough and the same thing happens as with atmosphere. Fascinating, if I may quote good old Spock.
Well, I just don't get to the point. On the one hand, I mainly look here at the DubBlog daily to see if there is a new one Dub there and on the other hand I wish that there are no new ones DubThere's more so I can get my whole old one Dubs
can finally hear it as often as it deserves.
Don't you listen to me !!! Forget my bullshit and hit them Dubs in here until all the servers burn up. Without your tips I am nobody and I can imagine much worse problems than basically anyone Dub to like.
And if not with everyone Dub freak out completely, then only because I want to have a normal moment in my life. I don't really need a breath of fresh air either. For me the wind just has to come from the right direction. If I want to go north, the wind should ideally come directly from the south and all other points of the compass behave accordingly. Unfortunately, the wind can't always know where I'm going.
I think I want to go home ……………………… lemmi
[...] My colleague gtkriz once criticized Pachy's sound harshly: “It presents a sound image that gives the impression of being with the artist in a rather musty, dull rehearsal room padded for sound insulation. Nothing is embellished there; the loud hi-hat and the cymbals sound tinny, the bass drum and the bass are dry and flat. ”Well, where he's right, he's right. But the question is: is it really to be assessed so negatively? Or should retroDub doesn't sound like that? If you answer yes to the last question, then of course the follow-up question immediately follows: Why the copy when there is the original? Which brings us to the philosophical proseminar. That's why I don't want to go into further depth here, but simply to announce: I like his new album "The Return oh Pachyman" exceptionally well. the DubIt's wonderfully playful, the melodies nestle in my ears and the mix makes for good entertainment. And yes: I also enjoy deciphering the many quotations. I get the feeling that Pachyman and I are "one of an kind". That's why I like him, I like to watch him in his basement studio and hear "Return ..." when I'm in a good mood. Welcome back Pachy! [...]