The Groove Thief

Dub Caravan and Hornsman Coyote unite forces for an inspiring dub journey. “Tribute to the Fathers,” with its skanking guitar and brooding trombone, makes Breath of Peace instantly captivating. The well-produced tunes continue from there: “Natty On Board” is mellow yet uplifting, while “Innocent Blood” and the matching instrumental is also solid. “Burning In The City” has a nicely layered and funky groove; “Make I Win,” the second vocal track, is catchy, with the right blend of roots tradition and innovation, while the Version lets the horns shine. Other standouts include “Air Raid,” which has the air of a spy film, “Spanish Town,” which mixes Latin horns and strong percussion, and “Egypt,” which is heavy in all the right heady ways. “Trail of Tears” and “Machine World,” the final two tracks, add Native American influences and crunched guitars, respectively, to lead this adventure to its close. This album is loaded up with impressive tunes - and while the groove is clearly and rightfully a priority, the quality of musicianship and attention to detail rewards multiple listens of these lush dubscapes.

Jstar is releasing a cleverly-titled compilation of his bass-laden remixes and dubs later this month on vinyl. Already streamable, these are some heavy tunes covering a wide spectrum of low-end theories. Remixes: from the dubbed-out hip-hop of Dj Vadim’s “Watch That Sound” (feat. Emo) to the horn-laden reggae-hop of “Ya Ya” from The Empty Heads feat. MC Sirreal to the mellow smoker vibes of “Ten Feet Tall” by Mr Dero / Farina Miss. Jstar takes Madness into late-night dubby-electro, Dub Terminator feat. Ras Stone into bad man territory on “Bad Mind,” and - the definite standout - Capitol 1212 feat. “Oh me, oh my this is Tenor Fly” into the land of mystical grooves, complete with an epic vocal-led break. The instrumentals aren’t exactly slouching, The Unlimiters’ “Loophole” ventures into psychedelia yet mantains a dub aesthetic, ”Fish Finger Tentacle Dub” builds up to some glitchy grooves while “Regulate Rock (Jstar Dub)” ends the album on a super funky note that feels restrained at four-and-a-half minutes. Jstar is at a crucial crossroads of dub, reggae, and bass, where a myriad of influences can be blended together to still produce a cohesive track, and here, a surprisingly cohesive album:

NagualX pushes dub forward into the realm of jazz, while keeping a strong focus on heavy riddims and basslines. With several strong tracks, including the recently released and fittingly-titled “Be Strong,” alongside a live party dub and two “Illegal Dubplates” mixes, there is a lot of fresh interesting music available from this artist. Hailing from France, NagualX captures the vibrancy of the country’s strong dub/reggae movement but wisely avoids predictable trappings of the genre and instead has forged a very unique sound, perhaps most comparable to some of the jazzier cuts from Attack Released. Well worth the listen:

2000 Tons of TNT re-imagine the vintage on Reggae Mysteria. Funky upbeat instruments like the excellent title track and the following “Cougar Communion” are sharp and well-polished, the latter featuring some wicked keys. While certainly retro-inspired, this is an updated and varied take on the past as the garage-rock of “Shot In The Dark,” the slightly-Eastern funk of “Tiger Uppercut,” and the well-passed melody on “Rabo De Toro” all show. This is dirty garage rock with ample funk and early reggae influences, but great cuts like “Electric Pyramid” don’t deserve to be pinned down by genres. “Theme For Ambu” features some nice heavy drumming and another wicked keyboard solo, before “I’m Feeling Lonely” closes with its skanking guitar. This is a unique mix of musical styles, coming out of San Diego, CA, that is pushing the past forward in all the right ways. Hopefully their follow-up, expected in 2013, will continue the inspiring trend:

01/01/13 UPDATE: Here’s two new tracks (currently available for free) as a new album preview:

Astroboter’s Beat Sutras Vol. 1 pushes instrumentals forward, deftly combining diverse source materials into surprisingly cohesive and inventive beats. Music aside, this is an interesting artistic endeavor: not only due to the limited cassette edition available in addition to the now-standard digital release, but also with pairs of tracks being released gradually (or the whole twelve in exchange for your email). As for the tunes themselves, they are heady multi-layered genre-crossing productions. “Ex Voto” is the clear standout (with 8 of 12 tracks publicly available), its hip-hop drums are funky, a nice vocal sample emerges, and then it methodically fades before rebuilding. Everything starts with the simple beauty of “Mara (Prologue),” and “Sounds of Psylence” is thankfully psy-funk not Psy. The majesty is in the details - these beats are well-crafted and deceptively simple. Eastern influences abound throughout, so the theme of Sutras is far from indulgent, and tracks like “Maester & Scholar” and “The Flood” elegantly glide through their short run-times. Latest public releases “Isca” and “Fire Sermon” are both mellower instrumentals. Get these free beats in your head now:

PhOniAndFlOrE present Dubsteady, an electro-dub odyssey that, while clearly prioritizing modern over classic, has echo and reverb hidden amongst its heavy basslines and varied influences. Opener “Disco Dub” fuses hip-hop and electro over a pulsating beat while “Scoopy” is synth-laden and equally relentless. The title track is a bit mellower, yet Injham’s well-layered remix, with its epic intro and almost glitchy drums, pushes the musical boundaries even farther. Closer “Capture” is more heavy electro-dub, a strong final statement on the sound that this prolific producer is championing.

FREE DOWNLOAD from the French Dub Released netlabel.

Eclectically-sampled beats comprise GHprodu’s freshman beat tape, Beats Overdue,  alternates between lush orchestration, digital rhythms, and various interpolations of funkiness. Some elements are hyper-futuristic, while others have been well dug for. This concoction of influences means each beat is hard to pin down… opener “Clad Myriad” crashes such genres together, while “Time To Go” is much more chilled out; standout “Take Two” features a piano alongside gritty Eastern string-work, before a flute shows up almost late for the jam; “Do It” is bombastic, perhaps awaiting a proper outro; finale “Back” is the strongest in the latter half, an alien disco of of sorts. This is an interesting collection of beats, well-worth a listen if you know no beat is too underground: