The two gray-haired gentlemen Dougie Wardrop (head) and Steve Vibronics (beard) are veterans of the UKDub-Scene. Primeval rock means here that they have been working for around a quarter of a century Dub have prescribed. But a mere 25 years is not enough for both of them. It must have been 50 years for their new album together: "Half century Dub - Five Decades in the Mix“(Vibronics / Scoops). So it's a concept album. From each decade - starting with the 1970s - the two recruited two productions each, in order to remix them alternately and to arrange them chronologically in the tracklist. Steve Vibronics begins with “Jehovia”, a Ronnie Davis original from 1975. I don't know whether he had access to the original multi-track tapes or whether he combined samples with new digital productions, in any case the result sounds more postmodern. Dougie Wardrop follows with "Leave Yah" (original by Freddie McGregor), which sounds comparatively authentic. It goes on in big steps into the 1980s: "Try A Thing" by Junior Delgado as Dub, nicely garnished with typical Music Works samples. With the change in the 1990s, the two of them finally got their own productions, the era of UK neoDubs started. It feels like you would say that nothing has changed with the sound of Vibronics and Conscious since then. But the two UKDubThey do everything possible to dispel this impression and - as representative of the last few decades - put forward tracks that suggest a trend towards harder sounds. It then culminates with “Blaze A Fire Dub"And" Hail Up Dub“In a pretty uncompromising steppers style - in a sense the evolutionary end state, the culmination of Dub-Creation. Well, let's see what comes next.
2 replies to “Vibronics Meets Conscious Sounds: Half Century Dub"
Almost every time I listen to reggae, I'm in a pretty contradicting state. Most of the time the texts deal with the suffering and the struggle and spasm of survival of most of the people on our beautiful earth. And I myself hang out between my speakers and have a great feeling because the music, the groove and the whole riddim is so great. It's kind of weird.
Then I give pages of explanations why I don't like digital music so much and when I have listened to the Vibronics disc I actually think it's pretty good. Where should I find a rational justification for this. I would give it roughly three stars.
What I particularly like here is that they have created a perfectly bubbly bass frequency. My speakers, which are not particularly great here, do exactly that bass bubbling that I haven't been able to get enough of for some time. Good to hear on “Jehovia” (but the original by Ronny Davis is really too cool - one of my evergreen favorites) and also with “Hail Up Dub“It bubbles, as if the whole world was still in the state of primeval soup. And the whole thing is 100% digital (chemistry) as far as I know. There are a lot more pieces that bubble like that here (the opposite of droning) but I don't want to go into detail that far.
So everything that is bass comes across well on the disc, but the "melodies" and the rest of the "instrumentation" unfortunately sound against me (sorry if I repeat myself) sterile or somehow ………………………… . well, not really good.
I even think my shop has them, if I don't confuse them. In any case, I will probably take it home when it is actually there.
"Digital me Digital me Digital me" ……………………… lemmi
The disc was actually here in our shop. Now at my home too. Yes, and nothing has changed in my perception. “Jehovia” is by far the only one Dubthat really flashes me. The rest is passable but wouldn't have been absolutely necessary either. And “China Dub“(Or something like that) I find unbearable. Then I prefer Easy Listening a la Dread Zone.
Nevertheless, I would like to point out the advantage of hardware, that is, the tangible and understandable existence of music in the form of CDs for the creative artists of our world.
If this disc had only been available as a download, the artists would at least have earned nothing from me.
Had, had, bicycle chain ……………………. lemmi