Dub Reviews
| Artist: | KoCha meets Open Dub Foundation | Cover scan:
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| Title: | Worldwide Dub Meeting #1 | |||
| Label: | Almighty Dub Records | |||
| Catalogue Number: | ? | |||
| Format: | MP3 | |||
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| Result: | A little gem | |||
| Review date: | 2008-07-16 | |||
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Man, I nearly missed this. My mailbox is still so full that there are a lot of unread reviews from even 2007. Now I found one from KoCha from Switzerland who had send me a download link to his free album "Worldwide Dub Meeting #1". Well, it's better late than never that I had a look at this one. And what shall I say? I wished I would have known it earlier. A great piece of work fi sure. I remember KoCha's very first steps several years ago when he posted llinks on the Roots'n'Culture community and then later on Versionist. He surely came a long way. On this album he offers three of his riddims and lets three other dub producers add their own flavour (in the form of remixes). That leads to a total of 12 tracks. The first one is already ma favourite, especially the opener (and original cut from KoCha featuring Urb Seargant) "High Karate". Wow, what a dense riddim, thick as the worst fog in London during the late 19th century. A fat beat, a sweet melodica and a killer flute melody. 5 stars for that one without a doubt. All remixes (Irish Moss, Jah Billah, Don Fe) come with a steppers beat, one heavy, one a bit weird and one chilly. The second riddim "Tolerance" does not sound that strong, the original version is a live played and dubbed dub with a not too convincing bass sound. That can definitely sound better. Nice accustic guitar parts though and the chanting is also not bad. The remixes show how you can get a better bass, starting with Jah Billah's dub version which sounds much better, the Lion of Joppa Soundsystem provide a remix which I don't completely understand. It's like that they overlaid the riddim with some kind of effect which pushes it to the back and therefore sounds way too quiet. What's the idea behind that? Ackboo, who has put online quite some promising dubs on various dub portals during the last months, delivers a crispy and well mixed version (although leaving the original bass wasn't necessary in my opinion). Watch out for this guy! The third riddim is called "Unfreeze Dub" and is based on a heavy stepping riddim, this time with a thicker bass sound, extensive e-guitars and effective dubbing. Jah Billah provides a heavyweight "Ice Cooler" version and it sure is cold as ice. A hard stepper (very nice bassdrum kick for a technohead like me, haha), the Lion of Joppa Soundsystem use their distant style again and well, here it works very well. You get this "up in the sky" feeling as if you're outside, maybe sitting on a little grass hill and from the other side of the hill come some far away sounds to your ears and make you happy. And if the "Ice Cooler" was not heavy and rough enough for you, try Jah Billah's bonus "Ice Breaker" version. Again, the title is program. All in all, "Worldwide Dub Meeting #1" is not only a nice idea but also a nice album. And since it is for free, I'd say, what are youw aiting for?! Click here and download the fun! |
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