A long time ago somebody said that dub has no limitations or borders, it exists outside the reggae sphere. After listening to AudioArt project that phrase is even more significant – dub is just everywhere!!! Tenor Uly E. Neuens dedicated many years of his life to classic opera repertoire and the old music and in addition he’s a reggae fan for 20 years. Using his voice he magnetized i.a. Garnier Opera, Comique Opera placed in Paris, National Theatre in Madrid, The Grand Theatre, however he could be most often heard in France. Thanks to his passion to music he decided to connect those two different musical worlds and make them complement each other. Irie Ites Music label helped him with that – they are trying to build bridges for different reggae variations since 2008. AudioArt is desired to build a catwalk between the classical and popular music, “revitalize” them and breathe life into them.
Album “AudioArt presents Op’Ra Dub Style” (One Drop Music / Irie Ites Musica) contains compositions of such artists like Aldubb, Dubble Dubble, Dubmatix, Dub Spencer & Trance Hill, Tune In Crew and TVS and remixes by Irie Worryah and Philipp Greter (Dub Spencer & Trance Hill). It’s opened by “Pax”, beautiful lyrics about peace all over the world; TVS is responsible for music here and the winds are played by Hornsman Coyote himself and Speng Bond is a vocal guest, that tune has been released on a 7”. In my opinion, this tune is a masterpiece, I’m not a big fan of classical music, but it’s important for me, 1st of January I start with Vienna new year’s concert – and here I get all that I love! The next track is “Gloria” on Aldubb’s rhythm – it confirms that the connection between classical music and dub isn’t overdone, similarly “Domine” by Dubmatix, where the trance interlaces with a beautiful tenor, just unearthly sounds. In “Hossanah” we can hear bass line from “World Jam” riddim which creates an ideal integrity with the reverbs and space. “Credo” by Dub Spencer takes us to region of calmness and harmony. The next tune “Terribilis” is a very good steppers by Dubble Dubble – here warm Jamaica connects with dark, but interesting Latin. Tune In Crew made a dubstep track, where Uly’s voice towers above crazy wobbles. After the 8 tunes it’s time for dub versions – Philip Greter presents one track with emphasis on winds section. I love tunes like that, where rare vocals are outshined by trombone solo. The second one is a typical dub version, which is really calm. We also get remixes by Irie Worryah, where “Domine” and “Gloria” is in the climate of Radikal Guru and Alpha Steppa. The last track is Aldubb’s version of the “Ode to Joy” sung by Uly in German – what a masterpiece – connect dub with heavy bass with winds and a whole orchestra – beautiful music!!!
I’m greatly impressed how do songs that you can hear in the churches, that are Gregorian lyrics, sound on rhythms that I love, a huge energy projectile. That’s one of the albums that make you want to live when you listen to it! I bow down to all of the artist who took part in this project. We will for sure crush Babilon’s walls with sounds like that! Ps. Listen to the samples and and an interview with Uly
Destroy All Concepts, a label maintained by Dub Gabriel, presents itself as a cross-cultural home of an exploration of music and artists’ collaboration. Two new 7” releases are a great proof of the above description. The first one (“Kulture”) takes us to the jungle sounds of Brooklyn. Brooklyn Jungle Soundsystem, formed in the late 90s by Dr. Israel, gives us a nice mixture of jungle and dub with so good, uplifting lyrics – at least for me, because sometimes this crazy world looks like there is still not enough words about knowing yourself and understanding others, about harmony. On the flip side the tempo is slowed down by Dubmatix, who put his light, spatial dub sound to the mix. Both sides I listen with a great pleasure and the lyric still resonates in my head.
The second release is also cross-genre. Here Dub Gabriel’s pumping club, raggabass sounds are voiced by an artist with appropriate skills for such sounds – Ranking Joe – who sings about freedom fighters. The B side contains dub version prepared by RSD aka Rob Smith and here the rhythm is more broken.
