Last year’s On the Ground was Bristolian band Black Roots’ first album in more than 20 years and was rightly praised by critics and fans. The success has now spawned a dub counterpart to the original vocal version. Its title is simple and effective – On the Ground in Dub.
It collects 15 of the original 17 tracks. For some reason Capitalism and the title track didn’t make it for the dub version.
In classic dub fashion the music has been stripped down, rearranged and recharged, but without losing any of its bright and catchy melodies. This is partly thanks to the excellent and downright awesome horn section and partly thanks to the mixing style courtesy of Louis Becket, who hasn’t drowned the music with the usual dub effects.
The drums and bass are the mains ingredients, which gives the horns plenty of space to do their beautiful thing. It’s sweet with plenty of hooks, yet still militant.
The press release describes the album as a “a modern dub classic”. I can only agree. Definitely one of the best contemporary dub albums I’ve heard in many years.
On the Ground in Dub is now available on CD and digital download.
Reggaemani 