The Co-Operators: Vibrations from the Bionic Tabernacle

An album title that promises good things: The words "bionic" and "tabernacle" alone probably don't just produce pleasant shivers for me; Memories of a supposedly better time - the 70s - are spreading. Where vinyl was still vinyl, where there was banging and banging, where the bass was pounding out of the giant speakers from what felt like no less heavy Jamaican-style pressings. In my case it was a relevant record store… that was a long time ago. Simple vibe, implemented with the technical possibilities that were emerging at the time: "Bionic Dread", if one may mention Dillinger in this context.

Fast forward to the year 2023, where the Co-Operators with their new release "Vibrations from the Bionic Tabernacle(Waggle Dance Records) nonchalantly turning back time. Still simple 70's vibe, but technically up to date in terms of sound - whereby the latter can be seen both positively and negatively: "heavy tons" has in any case disappeared from the sound vocabulary... tears in the buttonhole!

The co-operators are not a new invention; the band from Bristol around producer and musician Eeyun Purkins can come up with several singles and two albums. You are also responsible for joe yorke's rapid rise in the reggae world and were among the first to co-operate with him on a regular basis. The collaboration is far from over; in a few weeks the joint album "A Distant Beat" will be released.

Back to what to discuss Dub-Album. Here tracks from the two albums "Beating the Doldrums" and "Rhythms from the Kitchen Sink" to the Dub-Treated; thankfully these are *not* the ska and rocksteady tunes, but the fine roots pearls. At the Dub-You can't complain about Mr. Purkins' mix, it goes down like oil; otherwise the reviewer complains (as almost always): Too little bass, too much treble as a sign of current listening habits. If you really want to find something negative on "Vibrations from the Bionic Tabernacle", I recommend paying attention to the basslines: They are wonderfully simple, but also played in a strangely choppy way - the flow is missing a bit, the seemingly endless, repetitive thumping along without interruption. That could be a stylistic device, but then it gets annoying over the length of the album. As I said: If you really want to find something.