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Jah Wobble & Bill Laswell | Radioaxiom: A Dub Transmission

Dub in a white way.
CD, Axiom

Tekst: Bas Ickenroth

Publicatiedatum: 02 januari 2002

There are few more active people in the musicscene than Bill Laswell. Numerous albums with all sorts of themes and styles are released each year. Examples are 'Panthalassa', his mix translation made from seventies work from Miles Davis (a procede he also used for some Santana albums), 'Tala Matrix' an ambient/Indian collaboration named Tabla Beat Science with Talvin Singh and Trilok Gurtu, the improv rockband Massacre together with Fred Frith, and his many albums with John Zorn. His interest in dub is spread widely throughout almost all his music, and for this album he chose to dive deep into dub regions, together with fellow dub lover Jah Wobble.
As can be expected with two bassists on the steeringwheel, the sound on 'Radioaxiom: A Dub Transmission' is deep and low. Not too much emphasis on the low end luckily, because Bill Laswell knows how to create a warm, thick, but also bright and clear sound. That sounds definitely helps to get you onto higher grounds, because the music itself is trippy dub in optima forma. With help from people like Sly Dunbar and Nils Petter Molvær, the results are stunning explorations in dub, psychedelia and jazz. Especially the processed trumpet sounds from the latter create an atmosphere not unlike Miles Davis in his most psychedelic works. These passages also show that the Miles influence, via 'Panthalassa', has a big role in the Bill Laswell series, and it gives a possible view on how Miles would have sounded if he had chosen to walk the path of dub. Another act the music reminds of is HiM, the band from masterdrummer Doug Scharin. Which ofcourse isn't that strange because a: Doug Scharin loves dub as well, b: Doug Scharin loves Miles as well, and c: Doug Scharin once was a student of Bill Laswell.
The music itself are atmospheric soundscapes, filled with those typical dub basses, jazzy trumpets, and not quite unimportantly, some Asian and North-African influences. Beautiful eastern vocallines provided by the great singer Gigi are present on two of the seven songs, giving those tracks quite some melodic infusions. The great tabla work makes the Indian influence complete. It also gives the music just those necessary injections to stay away from easy listening territory, as some soundscapes are just on the verge of too easy and uninteresting. However, once you're really getting into the echoes en delays spread over a tight base of drums and bass, there is no escape possible. Jah Wobble and Bill Laswell have created a sticky swamp full of warm echoes, in which you get sucked in easily. And that spot is very comfortable.

http://www.kindamuzik.net/recensie/jah-wobble-bill-laswell/radioaxiom-a-dub-transmission/1073/
Meer Jah Wobble & Bill Laswell op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/jah-wobble-bill-laswell