Sound Check

Return to the universe of dub

By Morgan Keep
Music Editor

Sacred System
Chapter One--Book of Entrance
(ROIR)

Badawi
Bedouin Sound Clash
(ROIR)

Manasseh Meets the Equaliser
Dub the Millennium
(Acid Jazz)

Though it's hard to resist buying yet another Lee Perry album or the newest Blood and Fire reissue, there is also much new dub to be had. For those who dare venture past 1977, there are some great treasures waiting.
Producer Bill Laswell and his Sacred System bring us Chapter One--Book of Entrance, a self-proclaimed "trance dub" album that travels through several different strands of bass-heavy, instrumental dub, from ambient dub to almost house-like sounds.
The album's production is somewhat sterile and lacks the rootsy lo-fi sound that characterizes most great dub. Luckily, Laswell embellished the tracks with lots of strange little sound effects that almost make up for the overly clean sound. But the overly judicious use of house piano sounds once again works against the album.
"Cyborg Assault" blurs the line between dub and modern-day drum `n' bass by introducing double-speed jungle beats. The effect is exciting, but the housey piano stabs once again return and make one wonder just what type of album Laswell is trying to make. Laswell lays down a funky bass line on "Galactic Zone," weaving tablas in and out of the ambient keyboard pads. And he closes the album with the 16-minute "Sub Terrain," an airy piece of electronica that seems light-years away from where Laswell started the album.
Of course, there wouldn't be anything wrong with Laswell taking these liberties if it weren't for the incredible blue and gold album cover that looks like some sort of sacred Moroccan art, promising more than the album delivers. B-

Like Laswell's album, ROIR slapped a sticker on the cover of Badawi's Bedouin Sound Clash that proclaims the album "The New Dub" and instructs the listener to "Play Loud!" But unlike Laswell, Badawi (aka Raz Mesinai) actually delivers on this promise. Mesinai was born in Jerusalem and studied percussion with Middle Eastern masters, giving him an incredible sense of rhythm that is showcased on Bedouin Sound Clash. He is also a member of the Sub Dub project and a prominent figure in New York's Illbient scene.
Bedouin Sound Clash opens the singing of Honeychild, whose vocals appear throughout the album. Her exotic, Eastern-influenced melodies are accentuated by rain sound effects on "Suspicion." "Suspicious Dub" (a dub of the previous track) marries the rain sound effect and Middle Eastern percussion to a backward drum track and pushes Honeychild farther back into the mix until her voice is just a ghost haunting the track. The album quickly shows that Mesinai has a talent for creating strange new worlds of sound.
"Pressurizor" cuts up bits of old dub records, with Mesinai's percussion added on top, giving the track a great roots atmosphere that Laswell's album sadly lacked. Then the intense "Big Foot" puts forth a fatally persistent bass line that propels the loose polyrhythmic percussion and intermittent scratching effects into some nether-region halfway between dub and jungle.
Mesinai's keen sense of rhythm allows him to skirt this boundary between two tempos. By layering drifting polyrhythms on top of the laid-back dub beat, Mesinai is able to suggest a second, double-speed beat. Bedouin Sound Clash accomplishes the impossible--it works equally well for dancing or head-nodding.
"Attack of the Giant Fruit Flies" is a brilliant mixture of bossa nova drum machine sounds with analog synth sounds that attempt to emulate... well, giant fruit flies. And of course, "Lack of Oxygen to the Brain" is followed up by... "Lack of Dub to the Brain." It's hard to tell which is better--Badawi's rhythms or Badawi's song titles. No, on second thought, the rhythms definitely win out. A

Finally, Manasseh meets the Equaliser on Dub the Millennium, an Acid Jazz release. Dub the Millennium takes a fairly traditional approach to dub compared to Badawi or Laswell. But while the form is traditional, the sound is (like Laswell's work) clean and modern.
Despite this lack of funky grit, Manasseh and the Equaliser use some great sounds and the requisite delay effects to make a thoroughly pleasing dub outing. The loose "Circle of Stone" stands out for its bubbling noises and unique but simple beat. "East" features a harmonica lead along with some goofy sound effects. Unfortunately, the harmonica doesn't work as well in dub as the melodica, giving the track an odd Western feel. "One Small Step" uses some interesting samples that add to the atmosphere.
The album's greatest moment is "Souljah," a slow, painfully funky track that sounds like it's emerging from molasses. It's not really dub, and it kind of makes one wish that Manasseh and the Equaliser had tried to funk the millennium rather than dub it. C+