Wednesday, 16 February 2011

DubZealand - review

DubZealand

DubZealand: bass culture music... is a new compilation from (the clue's in the name) New Zealand. Compiled by Jstar and Dr Cat, it has fourteen tracks that cover the spectrum from fairly traditional rootsy dub to some poppy reggae and a couple of tunes that slide into dubstep territory. Here in the northern hemisphere we're pretty much unaware of the NZ music scene but it seems we're missing out on some good stuff! Green Queen Music have done us a mighty favour by making this top quality music available on a CD and download release.

Standout tracks are Big Up Riddim by Dub Terminator, a head-nodding slab of steppers riddim, Dem Only Know by Rhombus in Dub, which has a slight electronica feel and Unitone HiFi's Up To Eleven which captures an old school rootsical vibe with aplomb. International Observer (amazingly, an ex-member of the Thompson Twins) brings some Eastern flavour with Popcorn (Bombay Dub Orchestra Opium Den remix). Jefferson Belt's The Creeping Tings of the Earth has a strange Rasta-inflected vocal but is also quite poppy. Give Some Dub by The Nomad ventures successfully into vocal dubstep/triphop territory. The whole album is great, though, and well sequenced and works as an old-style continuous listen.

The album is available as a download from Junodownload HERE.

Tracks
  1. Struggler's Dub - The Black Seeds
  2. Big Up Riddim - Dub Terminator
  3. Dem Only Know (Dem Only Dub Mix) - Rhombus in Dub
  4. Up To Eleven - Unitone HiFi
  5. Arms Over Jordan (Deep Fried Dub Remix) - The Red Eyes
  6. Popcorn (BDO Opium Den Remix) - International Observer
  7. The Creeping Tings of the Earth - Jefferson Belt
  8. Lady Love (Richie Price Instrumental Mix) - Sola Rosa feat Bajka
  9. Give Some Dub - The Nomad
  10. Sing it to Me (Tikidub Sings It - Tiki Taane Remix) - Knights Of The Dub Table
  11. Haunted Out-take (Interlude) - Interlude - Sola Rosa
  12. South of the Line - Pitch Black
  13. Collie Herb Man (Joost Langveld & Roger Perry Reactor Dub) - Katchafire
  14. Blessting - Jstar & Dr Cat

DubZealand

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