Winchester UK based singer and producer Paul Fox is here at Dubblog a wrongly almost blank slate. The Roots, Reggae and Dub Artist has been releasing music under his own name since 1992 and has worked with many well-known artists and producers. The list of artists who have been in the studio with Paul Fox includes such illustrious names as: Nick Manasseh, Robert Tribulation, Michael Rose, Rod Taylor, Fullness, Dubheart, Jonah Dan, Brother Culture and Alpha & Omega, with whom Paul Fox also toured Europe in 2008. His sound was heavily influenced by Jah Shaka, Nick Manasseh, Jah Observer and Aba Shanti. He was so impressed by their music and vibes that in the late 1980s he began experimenting with a four-track recorder at home in private. It was with Julian Ryan, a friend and musician who introduced him to Jonah Dan, that he first tried his hand at reggae and Dub. Percussionist Jonah Dan had a small studio in west London and the three met regularly every week to record roots reggae and related Dubs from it. After releasing recordings together under the project name "Shades of Black" for a few years, they parted ways in the early 2000s and each went into business for himself by founding his own studio. In the meantime, more than 50 albums have been released on which Paul Fox appeared, be it as a producer, sound engineer or singer.
I haven't mentioned it yet, but I've been paying more attention to Paul Fox for a long time - also because of his immensely pleasant voice. I was all the more amazed that I was able to see the release of his two current albums "SameBlood"And"Dub B“ I literally overslept from last December. From everything I've heard from Paul Fox so far, "Dub Blood" can undoubtedly be counted among his best recordings. Paul's soft voice floats again and again through the room and evaporates in melodic, dubbig soundscapes. The sound is vaguely reminiscent of Jah Shaka, but also Mad Professor - so more English Dub par excellence. I don't want to mention every track explicitly, because each one has its own special appeal. I would just like to highlight my very personal favorite as Primus inter Pares. "Living in a Dub Zone", the counterpart to "Warzone Part Two Refugees" from the song album "Same Blood". Starting with the fine sound of an Arabic oud or Turkish saz and really rich binghi drums, the lyric leads us throughout the song: "Still wondering if all of these wars gonna cease - still wondering if I'm ever gonna live to see peace". and explosive sounds of war in the middle of the current situation in Eastern Europe, ie Ukraine. Of course, the theater of war could rather reflect the fatal situation in Syria, because arabesque sounds can be found at several points on the album. It doesn't matter, the song grabs me with full force every time.
I would like to mention one more thing, the attentive listener will also appreciate the wonderful binghi drumming on “Burning Dub' and 'Soon is the Dub“ not to be missed. In general, I really like the percussions on all the tracks on the album. "Dub Blood" takes a musical turning point in the middle of the album, because the rest of the tracks sound slightly symphonic from there.
Conclusion: It has been a long time since such a nice, up-to-date “RootsDub-Album". In my opinion the best album of 2022 so far.
12 replies to “Paul Fox: Dub blood"
Ah, I don't like this album.
I actually have nothing to complain about the ideas and compositions, but the overall sound has no depth and no "dirt". Everything seems so sterile to me, as if everything were recorded absolutely digitally. Well, I don't have anything against digitality in general, but when it ends up sounding like this album, it freezes me...
The binghi drums, no matter how well they're played (and they are), have too much reverberation (woah, never thought I'd write that) and not enough soul.
and sorry Ras Vorbei, nothing reminds me of Jah Shaka or Mad Professor (this comparison is almost a "heresy" to my ears), the two have exactly what this album lacks: spirit, depth and a little bit of mysticism.
Even the bass sound (the line played by the bass would be really good and catchy) is "empty" and soulless.
So now after the first four songs I'm definitely fed up with Paul Fox and I'm quickly changing the sound. Manjul, Manasseh, Kibir La Amlak, Roberto Sanchez, just to name the ones that pop into my head… never mind, luckily there are tons of reggae and Dub-Producers who give me what I want in terms of sound.
Well, Paul Fox has my respect, but at least he doesn't have my ears and my fire just yet. Maybe at some point he'll make a swerve in terms of sound, recording or mastering... It's not because of his musical ability and the actually played and the riddims.
Well, that had to go!
Very nice! This is an album that I can enjoy as a soundtrack in everyday life, on road trips, at work or when drifting off to sleep. thanks for the tip Ras Vorbei. I can only agree with your description. Really great record!
Dub, which I don't like at all, actually still doesn't exist.
But I was woken up tonight (about 5:30am) by the, in the truest sense of the word, INHUMAN sounds of a useless pigeon. I lay awake for about half an hour thinking about all sorts of weapons with which to dispose of these critters once and for all "in the outa space". "I am gonna put on an iron shirt and chase all satan pigeons out of earth" !!! What a caustic plague !!!
I fell asleep again and since I haven't had an alarm clock for a long time, I overslept for almost two hours. I'm late for work and then have to deal with a power outage. (Practice when they turn off gas and electricity....)
No offense, but such friendly music – freed from any form of aggression – just doesn't fit in at all. In the meantime I've gotten used to the messed up day I've had so far and so I got a really comfortable feeling about the album at one point or another. But I don't think it's reggae - or even roots - Dub – has become an album, but more of an ambient Dub Album. The BassLines don't have any radiance on me. They don't exhale roots and far too little reggae, let alone inhale it. Sorry, but today I need it a lot more aggressively and this album just turned out to be “a little” too friendly or too beautiful. Hopefully better times will come again, but all I need at the moment is “AmagideonDubs” that prepare me for our downfall…. The keyboard, which occasionally “drops” the riddim here, is again far too timid for me and the rhythm doesn't knock my ears out enough.
"Hit me with music! Brutalize me with music! “Kill all the pigeons with music!” ……………………… lemmi
"Blood Dub” is amazing! The echo chamber and reverb is utilized with veteran touch. Paul's soulful voice ebbs and flows like a river. This album is a grab bag and it's one of Paul's finest mixes in some time. Brilliant work on all of these Dub treatments 'cause'Dub Blood” works on all levels. Yes, it's a blessed showcase of the incredible talent that Paul Fox possess. Absolutely, it captures the true essence of message music and is presented with broad versatility. Indeed, it has an appeal that is open to all music listeners around Creation. The ability to create an unconstricted sound that shows no constraints is simply amazing. thanx Dubblog!
I'm also a fan of Paul Fox (at least on the Imaginary*s albums). His other stuff is (mostly?) Stepper's albums and I don't like Steppers (although there are a couple of exceptions). I'm more of a dreamy bwoy;) With Steppers I mean the style of music and not the drum style, e.g. Track2 with stepper drums and not the music style;) that's perfectly ok;))
I like the album but Imaginary Dubs kicks me even more. So I would probably give the album 1 star less. Since Paul Fox has been making music in the UK since '92, it would be bad if you couldn't hear some Jah Shaka or Mad Professor in it.. I think it's best how Lemmi classifies it as “Ambient Dub“. Whereby you have to ask yourself what actually constitutes/defines “ambient”.
At Ambient Dub In any case, the first thing I think of is the album by “Ambient Warrior”. I've known the album for a long time and I've always wanted the ambient Dub a style of music that doesn't just consist of one album. Fortunately, there are now more albums that at least go in that direction.
Since I don't know what Ambient actually is, I would probably eDub say or notSteppers:D That's definitely exactly the kind of music I like!
Roommate have a similar style (in my opinion) (especially the combination with rastaveli), Dub Gabriel—ADSR Dub, The saxophone at second 13 in the last track reminds me of Dubmatix :D It also fits well in the list) It's a pity that it's still 95% digital dub steppers is.
Is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMkHdvhZw08 actually ambient dancehall? Think it's really cool that a few tracks have Dancehall borrowings. Only Sly & Robbie actually did that. So “dance hall Dub“. Track 5 is also something in the direction. Is it called One Drop?
In any case, something different, I think it's good! I'm definitely looking forward to the next releases by Paul Fox, hopefully he'll stick with the sound of these 2 releases!
Ah somebody is talking! Very nice ! Dubblog still alive!
Actually, I just wanted to drift into the weekend, but I can think of a little something here.
We sometimes find it difficult to come up with a common “definition” of what is acceptable to everyone Dub to find. How is that supposed to work with Ambient?
But I'm very happy that my perception doesn't seem to be completely out of thin air. I was expecting more of a kind of "shitstorm" that struck me as a complete music or Dublet go of philistines.
Well, I like you all so much here, because for the most part you all also like music that isn't played in the eurovision song contest and is the complete opposite of what is presented in the fernsehgarten on Sundays. And so I couldn't bring myself to write this one Dubalbum turned out to be far too "pop" in a way.
For me, ambient was always something like the mainstream version of Dub. Without those deep, to the core riddims from good old Jamaica and without the amazing effects that were discovered in Jamaica and were so STRONG and POWERFUL that they have celebrated and still celebrate a triumphant march to all corners of our planet. I mean nothing against Massive Attack. Nice ambient music (if I may say so) but it really got crazy with Mad Professor, right?!! So Ambient is more of a lax music than the music that comes with it Dub was originally based.
And now I come to the point why I am still writing here now, even though I should have been home by now.
Please don't get me wrong, I like you, even though I don't know you and I don't want to hurt you, but I find your audio sample to be horrible "gendered" pop music. I just don't get that magical feeling, and certainly none DUBFEEL!
It may be that the impression arises that I would like to present myself here as "a tough guy". Well, I have to admit, that's true too ;-) ………….
( It's not true that I'm a tough guy (!), although I would very much like to be )
I also have to admit that singers like Michael Rose have always given me more power than the sweet-sounding Paul Fox or the "love Stick Figure" or even the gentle Ras Teo. But Stick Figure and Ras Teo have much better riddims at the start, if I may say so in all "modesty".
Ok, I'm doing the weekend now, so long ...... lemmi
Ok ok, I'm assuming that you've given up here - given all the nonsense I've already spouted - and maybe you're not even reading anymore. Or you have a very healthy dose of sensitivity and tolerance, so I've gotten out of this number quite well so far.
On Friday it was like the scales fell out of my hair when it occurred to me that Massive Attack wasn't or isn't Ambient but TripHip. If I'm very kind to myself, I would still accept trip hop as a way of playing Ambient. But in this case, in a dry, sober and rational way, I (also) babbled nonsense without wanting to. Hopefully that won't affect the quality of my taste in music.
Germany ( lemmi ) ……… zero points ;-)
Just saved with Trip Hop!;) At Ambient dub I would rather think of Bill Laswelll and that's (in my opinion) not easy listening at all and then goes even more in the direction of ambient. Automaton is recommended – Dub Terror Exhaust (And when his wonderful wife sings) otherwise it doesn't catch me as much.
It doesn't always have to be super deep. It can also be super beautiful;) What do you think of Lovers Rock Dub to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03–HNi2H9s
Is that ridiculously pop for you or is that still ok? After all, it's handmade music by cool musicians who have friends and not by some IT freak created alone on the computer who has no friends and nothing else gets a string of zeros and ones on the chain.
hehe,
"Computer scientist freak who has no friends" (I like it / thumbs up!)
Yes, these IT freaks (there must be some by now) are dangerous. In the meantime, they have even come up with their own “currencies” or cryptocurrencies. I have such a lack of understanding that I'm no longer sure whether it's the aliens or me. If I could at least understand the train station, it would still work, but all the explanations I've read about it have only brought me closer to madness. I couldn't follow it at all. In addition, it is the computer scientists and their cronies who voluntarily give the fascists the tools to monitor us completely. You provide them with the technology. So you can also call them traitors to democracy ...... May I be corrected but that could be difficult .......
Well, in case that's nonsense from me again, I'd rather write something about Bill Laswell, who, in contrast to computer scientists, had very interesting friends and musical acquaintances. Definitely not easy when he delivered music without his "music friend" Style Scott. But through gtk I was sent to this brilliant collaboration and I can only say "Dub A La Card" or "Haute Cuisine". Very high Dubart for me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UolTsDUqleQ
And by the way, I just came across this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIVJh6SvgWk
Just a side note, so that you might understand why I don't think too much of our German culture here. Except for the gross Dub with these, almost brutal effect experiments, it is the dancer who shows me how beautiful it is that there are Africans and their culture. If it's not a technical fake, all I can say is this dance style is pure magic. The visual effect is 1000u.1 times better than that of, for example, “our” Schuhplattler.
Also, I always have to blame myself for labeling music that I don't like at all as "ridiculous". There really is no such thing as ridiculous music.
"One good thing about music is, when it hits, you feel no pain!" That's also true for the ( worst ) German Schlager, even if it's almost impossible for me to believe that. But listen to Nana Mouskouri "Guten Morgen Guten Morgen" or "Happiness is like a butterfly" and you'll know how open minded I can be, because these tunes are also in one of my playlists because I really like them (Do I have to go into the gate now?).
And now I finally come to the actual topic ;-)
I think your tip from “Lovers Rock Dub“ Top class !!!
The riddim sounds 100% like Jamaica or at least like their migrants to me. If it really is a white copycat band, I have to finally put my prejudices that keep germinating on the record.
( Yes, there is still a little justice fanatic in me. I can hardly bear it that almost every Jamaican veteran is accompanied by some white musicians from Europe. That's a bit of racism in the other direction. They even form sometimes one that they are much better at it than the Jamaicans and I cannot accept that ).
"One law for the rich and another for the poor... its unacceptable" ( Gary Clail and the On .U Sound System, loved by ………….. lemmi )
I'm glad you haven't given up on me completely yet duboriginie (great name by the way!)
I had already written you a page-long reply text, but either it was censored or I came up with the wrong key...
Maybe I should just be protected from myself.
I'll try again with a short version without getting upset about computer scientists, cryptocurrencies and surveillance methods developed by computer scientists.
Bill Laswell is mostly heavy stuff for me. We can send your example "Automaton" in the direction of Ambient. I like it too. But in contrast to many computer scientists, Bill Laswell also has very interesting friends and musician acquaintances. And suddenly there's something really crazy, flawless Dub at rum. Because he has already spoken to Mr. Dub Himself, Lincoln Style Scott some really phat ones Dubs recorded. To be heard in the “Deep In Dub Playlist” by gtk on Spotify. It's easier for me to link it to youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UolTsDUqleQ (you probably already know)
Completely flashed, especially optically this one has me Dub especially because of the dancer :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIVJh6SvgWk
This is just MAGIC!!! That's how I understand culture worth seeing. We've never been able to do anything like that here and probably never will, because it simply can't be represented with ones and zeros and with flat shoes.
I always have to put myself in my place when I find myself calling music ridiculous just because I don't know what to do with it.
"One good thing about music is, when it hits, you feel no pain" The man not only had the best music feeling ever ( I'm raving again ), but also brilliant lyrics, which even I could relate to very well.
And so the German hit that I find so ridiculous has its justification. And to be honest, I even have Nana Mouskouri's "Good Morning Good Morning" and "Happiness Is Like a Butterfly" in one of my playlists. (Do I have to go into the goal now?)
Your example of Lovers Rock Dub So I don't find it ridiculous at all.
I don't think it's ok either! I think that's very excellent Dub with a really fat riddim !!! I've also been into ASWAD and Maxi Priest since the beginning of my reggae time, which means I'm quite open to Lovers Rock.
Romain Virgo, however, still makes me gag.
And "bitty mac clean" is also inedible for me.
I could now ask what “super deep” actually means. Of course I can imagine. Institutions and milestones like Burning Spear and Ras Michael certainly have to be mentioned, but I think it always goes deep when it “hits”, as good old Bob so beautifully sang.
Nevertheless, I ask for your understanding that, for example, the Roots Radics (especially with Bingy Bunny) left a much deeper impression on me than, for example, gayvid detter (I hope my little arrogant spelling mistake won't lead to censorship again, but I just got myself laughed my ass off at this play on words ….. well let's say I had to smile )
My arrogance towards music that I don't like is certainly not ideal, but I also don't think much of these self-optimizers who want to be morally perfect and don't even use salt and pepper for their raw puke salad.
You can make life hell for yourself...
Gimmie Salt and Pepper!!! (then there's also beer without alcohol, but no, let it be, otherwise I won't be able to finish today.....)
Hmmm, it didn't turn out much shorter than the lost version of my original answer ……………… lemmi
good morning good morning !
Good morning sunshine!
It's all weird. Yesterday I went to bed completely broken, because once again I seemed to have wasted my precious time with the impracticalities of vulnerable and pathological computer technology. ( Sorry for my bad German ).
Today my opinion is here in double and triple version. Well, I guess by now my "point of view" should be clear.....
I thought I'd written things that went against the general striving for political correctness or even "perfection" and that's why I was pulled out of circulation.
Since that didn't happen, I feel here in the DubBlog still very much at ease. And that is a great reason to be happy!
So ..... I'm afraid my computer has "Corona / Variant 01" ...... I hope it doesn't infect me.
So long ………………… lemmi
Thanks for the review of my album! It's interesting to read the comments as well. Of course some people will like my music and others will not. I have definitely taken my music in a different direction. In the past I made my music more for the sound system scene but I now find it more interesting to make music that is pleasing to my own ears and is not restricted by the rules of making 'sound system dub' meaning that you should be able to picture Jah Shaka or Aba Shanti playing it out on their sound system. If I just make that kind of music then it is quite restrictive and if that is your favorite kind of music then there are plenty of great artists doing those kinds of tunes (which I still love by the way). Anyway, I appreciate all of your support and also your views whether positive or negative. One love to all, Paul Fox
Thanks for reviewing my album! It is also interesting to read the comments. Of course some people will like my music and some people won't. I definitely took my music in a different direction. In the past I've made my music more for the sound system scene, but now I find it more interesting to make music that is comfortable to my own ears and not bound by the rules of the "sound system scene".Dub' is restricted, meaning you should be able to imagine Jah Shaka or Aba Shanti playing it on their sound system. If I'm just doing that kind of music then it's pretty restrictive and if that's your favorite music then there are a lot of great artists that are doing that kind of melodies (which I still love by the way). Anyhow, I appreciate all your support and also your views, whether positive or negative. Love to all, Paul Fox