More Dub Vibes From The Echo Chamber

We love us some dub vibes up here in the everythingsgonegreen tree hut, so just a quick post to highlight the release of yet another volume (or two) in the Dan Dada Records ‘Echo Chamber Around The World’ series of excellent compilation albums. We're up to volumes 9 and 10, featuring Aotearoa’s own Dub Terminator, plus 34 more top notch dub and roots reggae tracks from a wide range of artists. My own favourites here are tracks from Burning Babylon, Dubmatix (ft Earl Zero), Ras Bruno, Mystical Warrior, DU3normal, Mr Zebra & Rebel I, Dubalizer, Guidub, and Funk Dub Division, but there’s no real duds on this expansive globetrotting release. Released under an international Creative Commons license, free downloads don’t get much better than this … here’s the label’s blurb and a Bandcamp link:

For the last 22 years Dr. StrangeDub (Michael Rose) and DJ Baby Swiss (Elmar Romain) have been bringing dubwise sounds to the massive on their radio program the Echo Chamber. With the heaviest dubs, the most conscious roots, and the funkiest club beats from around the world, all chilled and expertly mixed into a subsonic stew, the Echo Chamber is always the hippest place to be every Wednesday morning (from 2:00 to 6:00 a.m US CST). The program airs on KFAI-FM in Minneapolis, MN (U.S.A.) at the 90.3 and 106.7 frequencies, and streams online at www.kfai.org. Find the playlists and two most recent programs in the KFAI-FM archive at: www.kfai.org/echochamber. Also check the two online archives of past shows: Mixcloud -- www.mixcloud.com/strangedub/

A typical show features a heavy dose of the latest roots & dub reggae and a potent shot of old school roots and dub. But dub just lays the foundation and holds the trip together: the DJ dub doctors cover the entire reggae rainbow, and they pull in the heaviest chilled beats from clubs around the world. For most shows, Dr. StrangeDub is at the controls for the first 2 hours, while DJ Baby Swiss "runs tings" in the second half of the show. For this compilation, the Echo Chamber has once again teamed up with Bandulu Dub and Dan Dada Records to present a worldwide trip into Dub. This collection represents a broad variety of musical styles... and spans the globe in doing so. This is very much in keeping with the eclectic "anything goes" format of the Echo Chamber radio program – where “dub” is as much an attitude or approach to music as it is a genre of music. On behalf of Dan Dada Records, Dr. StrangeDub (Michael Rose) and DJ Baby Swiss (Elmar Romain) extend our undying gratitude to all the artists and record labels that agreed to be a part of this worldwide dubwise project! Spreading the positive dubwise vibe to the world... 

Around The World In Dub (again)

Brand new, out on Dan Dada Records, the seventh and eighth editions (or fourth release) of Echo Chamber's Around the World in Dub compilation series. A free download and sampler of vital new dubby sounds from regular favourites like Bandulu Dub, DU3normal, and Secret Archives of the Vatican ... plus many more ... check out earlier releases in the series on the Dan Dada Bandcamp page, or tune into the Echo Chamber broadcasts at the links in the official blurb below:

For the last 20 years Dr. StrangeDub (Michael Rose) and DJ Baby Swiss (Elmar Romain) have been bringing dubwise sounds to the massive on their radio program the Echo Chamber. With the heaviest dubs, the most conscious roots, and the funkiest club beats from around the world, all chilled and expertly mixed into a subsonic stew, the Echo Chamber is always the hippest place to be every Wednesday morning (from 2:00 to 6:00 a.m US CST). The program airs on KFAI-FM in Minneapolis, MN (U.S.A.) at the 90.3 and 106.7 frequencies, and streams online at www.kfai.org. Find the playlists and two most recent programs in the KFAI-FM archive at: www.kfai.org/echochamber. Also check the two online archives of past shows: Mixcloud -- www.mixcloud.com/strangedub. Internet Archive -- archive.org/details/@doctorstrangedub.

A typical show features a heavy dose of modern roots dub reggae and a potent shot of old school roots, rocksteady, a bit of ska, and dub. But reggae & dub just lays the foundation and holds the trip together: the DJ dub doctors pull in the heaviest chilled beats from clubs around the world – from dubstep to cumbia, from trip-hop to drum & bass, from deep house to ethno-ambient electronica. For this compilation, the Echo Chamber has once again teamed up with Bandulu Dub and Dan Dada Records to present a worldwide trip into Dub. This collection represents a broad variety of musical styles...and spans the globe in doing so. This is very much in keeping with the eclectic "anything goes" format of the Echo Chamber radio program – where “dub” is as much an attitude or approach to music as it is a genre of music. On behalf of Dan Dada Records, Dr. StrangeDub and DJ Baby Swiss extend our undying gratitude to all the artists and record labels that agreed to be a part of this worldwide dubwise project! Spreading the positive dubwise vibe to the world ...

Echo Chamber – Around The World In Dub

In keeping with recent everythingsgonegreen themes and continuing our look at the global spread of dub music, here’s a great set of compilation/sampler albums from Dan Dada Records … Echo Chamber – Around The World In Dub Volumes 1 & 2 from July 2012, and its wicked twin, Volumes 3 & 4, released digitally earlier this week.

Each is a name-yer-price download and each showcases some of the best state-of-the-art dub you’re likely to hear in 2013. A truly international line-up features the work of artists from every corner of the globe, often in unlikely collaboration.

Highlights include the work of Bandulu Dub (with multiple contributions across all four volumes), plus some great stuff from the likes of Dubmatix, Celt Islam feat. Dawoud Kringle, Volfoniq, DU3normal, and our own Dub Terminator & Ras Stone.

Get the downloads here:

Echo Chamber - Around The World In Dub Volumes 1 & 2

Echo Chamber - Around The World In Dub Volumes 3 & 4

Album Review: DU3normal – Flow Frequency (2013)

Following on from the themes explored in the Panda Dub review (below), I thought I’d throw the spotlight on DU3normal, a dub producer from Budapest, Hungary.

DU3normal’s recent album, Flow Frequency, is certainly another prime example of the genre boundary-pushing we looked at in the previous review, and it’s something we’ve now come to expect within the ever evolving form we once knew singularly as “dub”.

 

Like Panda’s work, software-driven electro/steppa styles are very much to the fore on Flow Frequency, and the album is an exploration into all manner of digital possibilities. Despite the seemingly rather sterile approach to making what has always been the most rootsy and earthy of music, DU3normal somehow conjures up enough sticky magic for this to feel totally authentic.

Part of the reason it works is due to a number of great collaborations, most notably on tracks like ‘Flow’ (with Bandulu Dub), and ‘Steppa Anthem’, which combines the vocal gymnastics of Sensi T with the remixing skills of Injham.

Production is pristine, and at 66 minutes across 17 tracks, it’s a generous listen. If I can fault it, there is a sense that some of this can become a bit samesy at times, but it’s frequently saved by regular excursions into African vibes and otherworldly Eastern moods, the addition of extra spice meaning it never becomes routine or so laidback as to become bland.

The subtle dubstep core right at the heart of Flow Frequency doesn’t really provide the album with any great point of difference from a multitude of similar 2013 releases, but it’s done tastefully enough, and the rhythm and flow of the music always remains intact.

I’m enjoying this album, a lot, and it’s been getting a fair old workout recently. I really like the idea of new technologies expanding forms of music into completely unknown territories, and although live dub played on real instruments by real people will always be preferable to listeners of a certain generation, this digital stuff has its place – especially when it’s done this well.

Best Tracks: ‘Flow’ (with Bandulu Dub), ‘Steppa Anthem’ (with Sensi T), ‘Wet Concrete’, and ‘Sitar Dub’.

Released on the Dan Dada label earlier this year, Flow Frequency can be downloaded here … while the DU3normal Soundcloud page can be found here.