Nov 09 '09
Review - B.R. Stylers "Indubstria"
On the 20th year celebration of the German Wall falling down, Dub Flash looks at an album with a wall on it's cover: B.R. Stylers' "Indubstria" on Alambic Conspiracy.
| Artist: | B.R. Stylers |
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| Title: | Indubstria |
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| Label: | Alambic Conspiracy |
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| Cat. no.: | AC 005 |
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| Format: | CD, MP3 |
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| Review no.: | 729 |
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| Date: | 2009-11-09 |
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| Rating: |  |
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| Dub Flash's snap-shot thought: | ||
| I just wrote a very long, nicely written, review and then the program crashed. That is so typical again. I was writing about how much I loved the first B.R. Stylers album, their raw and heavy dub style, always reminding of studio production although being played by a live band. That I have seen them playing live once and how astonished I was about this brilliant music. That B.R. Stylers have a totally unique, fresh and modern sound with perfectly build dubs and wonderful singing by their vocalist Michela. Then I remarked that "Indubstria", which came out earlier this year as (free) MP3 and on CD some sort of breaks with their previous works. And I wondered if the band changed but then came to the conclusion that they didn't. They developed and evolved and the result of these processes can be heard on their new album. It's such a pity that my original review is gone. It is not possible to re-write my excitement for B.R. Stylers. I was sceptical about the album because at first glance it sounded way too rootical for my taste (and I still admit that I find the drums sounding too soft - too "live"; I prefered the old rough bass- and snaredrums from the earlier works) but that I could not change it but starting to like the songs the longer I listened to them. B.R. Stylers manage to always add something special in the songs which suddenly completely change the point of view. A perfect example for this is "No Liar" which starts in a way that made me immediately think: meh... but then Michela started to sing so vividly about that she knows Jah and I thought: aha, well, maybe... and she got me focused and I suddenly realised the crispy skanks in the background guiding the riddim along it's way. And then I heard the cool distortion effect on the bass and I noticed: OK, now I got it. Nice one! And the dub version takes it even one step further. Why? Well, listen to it and notice the part starting at about 2:10. And then realise the one moment at 2:19. That's when the song is at 100%. That is true composing, not just hacking around on the keyboard.  A similar experience happens when listening to "As One". You wait for about 45 seconds and you think: Well, that's a bit boring, isn't it? How shall this go on... wait! As if they realised this themselves while playing, the style suddenly completely changes and then the song rocks and the listener is attached and is actually - listening. And then the tension is build and more and more is happening, dub- and effectwise until the dub version itself becomes a massive piece of music. Heavens! Thick bass and deep sounds. Speaking about dub versions, what I forgot to mention in this second version of the review is that the album features 17 songs, 8 of them coming in vocal & dub fashion, just the title track stands alone. And while the previous albums were mainly heavy stepping, "Indubstria" comes in a more laid-back style - drumwise at least. Just few stepping riddims here (maybe half of the album) and they are not even as good as the other tunes. And this is already the biggest critic point on this album: B.R. Stylers succeed to add a new dimension to their style with the fresh, lively and groovy more reggae-like tunes. But the stepper dub tracks don't sound too convincing. The live drums are too weak to give the needed push to the bassdrum, they don't fit and compared to the previous B.R. Stylers steppers, these tunes cannot compete. Therefore it is no wonder that I like the non-stepping tunes the most: As One, From the Ground, Indubstria (well, it's a some sort of easy-stepping riddim though), Let Them Shine, No Liar and Come Back to the Truth. And their dub versions, of course, too. All in all, B.R. Stylers once again prove why they are one of my alltime favourite bands in the world. The album is totally worth buying the CD version, even if the MP3s are there for free. B.R. Stylers have a unique sound and very likely the best reggae singer in the whole world. I'm not really able to understand all her English but look at this page and you will be enlightened. Good service.  And here you can download the MP3 version of the album for free. Do it. And then buy the CD as an addon. Thank you. |
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