In Poland there is not too much dub live acts so I wonder why – when such project appears – it’s not mentioned almost anywhere. So I want to break the silence today introducing a project by Kalina – a man, who played in a reggae band Arkapark, a jungle Hajer Boss and a punk Hercklekot. He describes himself as a producer, author, lyricist and vocalist. Kalina in Dub is his first solo project. On our scene there are a very few people like him – “one man army” living with music. He loves dub so much that he decided to finalise the project no matter what.
Album “Second hand” contains 14 tunes (remixes to be more precise), where the common denominator is dub in its wide meaning. The album is opened by “Ktoś czeka”, where Kalina serves us Asian-inspired melodies introducing to a meditative state, just like in “Dub” – that tune by Jamal gains power in the Kalina’s remix with his beautiful melodica. The next track is remix of Dub Syndicate “Fire Burning” with a lot of echoes and effects – honey for the ears. There is a surprise – a guest appears on the album and it’s Bajka from Fire In The Hole in the tune originally recorded for Hajer Boss but on a dub rhythm, what makes me wonder why she doesn’t appear on dub productions too often. This tune also has a beautiful saxophone part recorded by Janusz Makowski. In the 5th track Kalina faced a Polish reggae legend: Izrael – “See I&I” is a very good version stepping into dubstep climate, with a charming melodica. In the next remix he meets another legend, this time an UK dub one – Alpha&Omega and “Meditation Rock” is one of my favourites from the album, you have to check out how he spiced up that seemingly calm tune. When we approach the half of the album dubstep climate begins to rule, a good examples are “W Korbielowie” and a classic by Bob Marley “Mr Brown”, reminding me of Radikal Guru’s productions – a real soundsystem killer. The next tune is “Nie ma nic” – a remix of Hecklekot, a punk band where he was the vocalist. Here we get a solid dub with a tough bass line, spacial effects and strong lyrics, just like in “Na szczycie” by Grubson. Next we head to “Święty szczyt” (The Holy Summit), a classic track by Kryzys, where Kalina sings a very important for some people lyric that perfectly fits the music. We are getting closer to the end and we get another classic tune of a certain generation – “Centrala” by Brygada Kryzys (my next favourite). The vocals are great and the composition is so varied that after you hear it once you know you will come back to it a lot of times. The last track is “Słoneczko” by Konopians – I really like the original version but I miss something here – maybe too few vocals.
To sum up – if you haven’t heard of Kalina you need to catch up and – if possible – see him live, as it’s best to listen to music like that live, when the artist can afford much more. If you like a lot of bass, full range of effects and echoes then you have to check this album!
Links:
https://www.facebook.com/kalinaindub
