"Dread and Gold" is a MP3 only release from Canada's Dubmatix which is available for a little while. On that album he put 10 unreleased dubs which he - as he claimed - chose out of a hundred tracks. Man, how many dubs did he produced?! ;)

His selection is well done as I have to say (even though I don't know how the other 90+ tunes sound). The Dubmatix style is some kind of a mixture of oldschool dub & reggae sounds, mixed with modern flavour, even up to some techno beats stuff. Apart that some Dubmatix tracks are way too melodic or "sweet" (man, I wished my English vocabulary would be better) for my taste, I usually find his sound very refreshing, especially for a tune "in between", if you know what I mean.

And "Dread and Gold" is a good base to start. Already the opener makes you want to hear more: "Killing Dub" features samples from Linval Thompson and - even more important - a truly beautiful brass/horn (whatever it is) section. That brings me in the mood. I don't know which mood but who cares as long as it's a good one. Always clever to start an album with a good tune. Makes one more open for the following. :)

And what follows is an uplifting, smooth steppers collection, more easy than heavy stepping, very melodic and sometimes with a good dose of depth ("Conquered Kingdoms Dub" incl. again some extra beautiful horns and a wicked skanking keyboard; only end too abruptly). "High Crimes Dub" fastens the pace then and "Are You Ready Dub" says it all when it gives your pressure to move your asses and feet. And again, a clever melody section in there.

"Shaolin Warrior Dub" is a good example of what I said above, that Dubmatix sometimes combains the classic dubbing with some more kind of technoid beats. I like that a lot, I'm such a technohead. ;) "Dark Side Dub" then is a very good example of how I don't want it and again what I claimed above: Some of his tunes are way too "sweet" and mass compatible. Brr! *shivering* "Renegade Rockers" fits into this category as well. Luckily, the last tune "Ain't Got No Love Dub" proves that a slow one drop can also sound good. Here, we have the needed profundity. It doesn't have to be poppy, right? No, it hasn't.

So, in conclusion, 8 of 10 tracks are at least good. Not bad rate, I'd say. And you get it for a nice price, too. Wanna check it out? Click here. (You have to click on "discography" and then follow the links. A direct link doesn't work, so it seems.)