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![Sly Sly](/uploads/1/2/7/1/127157997/694727746.jpg)
They knew what they were doing when they named this record Nordub. Nor for North, represented here by Nils Petter Molvaer. In 1997, when the label ECM brought out the stunning album Khmer, this Norwegian trumpeter shook the jazz world by bringing electronic music into his atmospheric musical world. Nor is also his fellow countryman, guitarist Eivind Aarset and Finnish electro-tinkerer and DJ Vladislav Delay. As for the three letters of Dub, they stand for the genre's most classic duo: Sly Dunbar on drums and bassist Robbie Shakespeare. In 2016, this motley crew made up of the Jamaican tandem and Nils Petter Molvaer hit the stage.
Sly & Robbie A Dub Experience Reggae Greats. This, if anyone is looking for somewhere to start with Sly and Robbie and indeed with Dub,is the one, there are two titans of the Reggae world regarding the Rock stone of Reggae music, the Drum and the Bass, in my humble opinion, the others being Flabbba Holt and Style Scott (RIP) This album shows.
It was quite a warm-up for their studio session in Oslo. In essence, Molvaer's world has always been a hybrid, bringing together textures that were never exclusively jazz. His playing style uses different atmospheric controls without ever losing the creative strength of his improvisations or compositions.
Here, the trumpeter even works his way into the unique Sly & Robbie sound with a perfectly natural air. And that is surely the strength of Nordub. No-one takes over, or tries to overpower the other.
The fusion is total, and sincere. We even feel that our two old Jamaican long-distance travellers have strayed out of their normal comfort zone to take part actively in this music as it takes shape. Just like Aarset and Delay's work, every part is a vital component of the final result.
Together, our five sound adventurers produce a fine symphony of truly singular dub and jazz. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz. Easily the hardest-working and one of the longest-running rhythm sections in the history of Jamaican music, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare have provided the backbone for so many tracks in their 40-plus-year run that it's almost incalculable. In the course of that run, when not crafting what would become classic riddims or backing up pop stars, they were also involved in some of the earliest waves of dub, releasing dub sets like Raiders of the Lost Dub and Gamblers Choice under their own name as well as laying the foundation for countless dub mixes with their playing.
Blackwood Dub, the first strictly dub, vocal-free offering from the duo in many years, revisits some of the tenets of dub they helped develop, sometimes leaning toward the nostalgic, but staying progressive overall. The cavernous production and eerie percussion touches on 'Riding East' have a decidedly vintage sound, harking back to the Channel One days. 'The Bomber' fits into this pre-'80s sound as well, with Lee Perry-esque weirdo electronic flourishes riding Sly's hypnotic Syndrum rhythms. Throughout Blackwood Dub there are new subtleties that acknowledge the infusion of dub into the digital world that's happened in the time between its roots in the '70s and the very different landscape of 2012. The watery electronic bubblings that underscore 'Burru Saturday' and 'Communication Breakdown' add life and a slightly modern feel to these masterful rhythms without edging toward dubstep or breaking the flow of the album with radically more electronic production. Likewise, the droning 'Frenchman Code' leans ever so slightly away from the classic dub formula, taking on an almost mantric quality in its repetition.
Dunbar's unwavering bassline coasts on tabla-informed drum patterns and stereo delayed bursts of Mikey 'Mao' Chung's slinky guitar lines. The ten songs on Blackwood Dub represent less of a look backward or forward for Sly & Robbie as they do a continuation of a still growing tradition. It could be backing up Britney Spears or laying down a set of burning dub tracks such as these. At this point it's just another day at the office for the Rhythm Twins, in the most natural, organic, and exciting way possible.© Fred Thomas /TiVo. The legendary Jamaican rhythm section of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare have been quite busy since the millennium turned, working for numerous other artists while minding their Taxi Gang label and cultivating careers, so 2012's Blackwood Dub was the only strictly Sly & Robbie, strictly dub album for quite some time.
The 2014 release of Underwater Dub is a worthy follow-up and a sign that it's back to duo business after so many years behind the scenes, and as such, it's a more relaxed, more mellow, and more humble affair than its predecessor, free from living up to those 'comeback' expectations. Living up to the album's title, the echoing and swaying 'Dictionary' is a slow slide into an album that pounds harder on cuts like 'Forward March' and the wonderfully looping highlight 'Stormy.' Playful touches are added as 'Spray Belly' opens with a Lee 'Scratch' Perry-type sample and the bright melody of 'French Woman' toddles about like a Mademoiselle in high heels; then deep sea diving happens during the cavernous 'Melissa,' while the closing 'Thumb Drive' messes with a computer beat before revealing a hidden track that sounds like dubstep ricocheting around the Taxi Gang studios. Blackwood Dub is the tighter release, but sprawling and comfortable Sly & Robbie is found here, so consider both albums excellent and complementary.© David Jeffries /TiVo.
MAMBO TAXI, Sly and Robbie's 1997 album, is such a brilliant idea that one wonders why nobody ever did it before. Rhythm section and production team Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare pepper this album liberally with reggae and dub reworkings of classic film themes, and rather than sounding like a cheap gimmick, the combination actually works wonders. The themes they choose range from the inescapable-Lalo Schifrin's 'Theme from Mission: Impossible' and Ennio Morricone's 'The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly'-to more obscure melodies like the theme from Billy Wilder's 1961 film THE APARTMENT.
Sly and Robbie tread a fine line between straight-up cover and radical revision, careful never to lean too far in one direction or the other. The originals, like Dunbar's moody 'Fire in the Oven,' are similarly cinematic with a blend of reggae and soundtrack-style jazz that often feels like a more daring version of previous Sly and Robbie instrumental albums like 1988's THE SUMMIT. MAMBO TAXI is a delight for fans of both reggae and soundtrack music.© TiVo. Friends relies a little too much on the polished reggae-pop of Maxi Priest and UB40, both of whom make guest appearences on the disc. Since Sly & Robbie make their sultry grooves sound effortless, they can make even the slick pop of Lionel Richie's 'Penny Lover' and the Mick Hucknall duet 'Night Nurse' sound appealing, and they can prevent 'Theme From 'Mission Impossible' from sounding kitschy. Nevertheless, these songs bog down the record, especially when compared to the covers that work - a seductive take on Cole Porter's 'You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To' and a ripping version of the Stones' 'Satisfaction.'
Such high points are surrounded by amiable, undistinctive filler that never quite ruins the album, but prevents it from really taking off.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo.
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