Looking at the featured artists you find indeed no typical reggae artists, you see names like Waldeck, Seven Dub or Fat Freddy’s Drop, all standing for a different approach at dub music, maybe in the tradition of Kruder & Dorfmeister.

The album seems to tell a story through the music. That is very nice (compare to the album “Dreams Of A Lost Soul” which has the same idea). It could be an audio book of dub or something. An indicator for that is also that the tunes are mixed into each other: one big tune rather than many single ones. Very relaxing, in a way meditative. For example in the beautiful “No Ordinary Life” by Chin Chillaz with Jen who actually tells a story with a very nice voice. It reminds me of meditation CDs where you might have a teller who helps you relax.

Of course, not all tunes are strictly chilly and meditative, though all of them have this undertone in them. This can lead to very interesting effects like in “Music Makes Us Feel Sexy”, a combination of a roots stepper (very familiar riddim, just I cannot come up with the title, of course *gosh*) and meditative soundscapes.

This outer space feeling which I enjoy so much (how often do I mention it in my reviews?!) can constantly be felt throughout this CD. It’s senseless to point out certain tunes about it because it’s always there, deeply buried into the music. And above it, you have different sorts of music, from reggae (“Intense Dub”, “Cay’s Crays”) to steppers (“Katy Copy”, “Running Away”) to trip hop (“Cadillac Track”, “Worldwide”), whatever you want. Even latin-fashion (“A Moment In Dub”, “Un lugar”).

Quite at the end comes the summary of the whole album: “Comfy Dub”, the title track. Brillant tune, perfectly made for automatical head nodding. You can’t control it. Not with such skanks, no chance. They force you to, believe me.

All in all, “Comfy Dub” is a very surprising compilation from Germany. How did it happen that suddenly, German reggae & dub is not only wannabe-jamaican? If this continues, we will soon be back in the mid 90s when dub was the f*cking best thing in the whole world – and that not only for myself (of course, it always has been for me and still and will always be and on my grave stone will be written HE LIVED IN DUB AND HE WILL REST IN DUB). 4 stars.

Check www.myspace.com/comfydub