After two mouths with Dubcall’s album on high rotation at my crib, the club and at a number of festivals this summer (it sounds huge on a big rig), I have finally have the words to describe his album to the masses – unbelievable!
When NiceUp handed me Dubcall’s debut album I didn’t know what to expect. It’s awesome being introduced to new music this way and I can safely say I have been hooked on Dubcall ever since!
To fill you in, Dubcall is a Swedish-based producer that handles everything on this heavy weight dub album, from the very live sounding drums to the driving bass lines, haunting keys and the massive dub outs. He is influenced by the original dub masters – King Tubby, Lee Perry, and Augustus Pablo.
Those of you who like your dub in a ‘traditional style’, with emphasis on drum and bass with the dubbing in and out of other instruments and voices rather than an over-reliance on sound effects, will really get your kicks when spinning this CD. His sound is also very organic.
From the very first track, The Dubinvestigator’s Blessing of the Brock, Dubcall’s firm and accurate grasp of the genre is apparent – it’s a haunting track, nice keys, warm bass and phat dub outs, the perfect introduction to Dubcall’s sound if you are a first time listener. Other standouts are Daeman Alcoholy, which is bass driven and has everything a dub lover could want and Boomsound Meets the Dubinvestigator Uptown – this is a brilliant track with a nice tempo change-up for the chorus, big bass, big dub outs and mysterious keys. Tto be honest every track for me was excellent!
The good tunes just keep coming – there’s no slacking or slipping in of the odd filler track to pad it out and make up the 14 tracks. Some of his tracks remind me of Salmonella Dub in their early days ala T.H.C Winter, when they playd a lot more heavy dub. This album is an end to end listen – there is no need to skip tracks as they are all dope, plus the production and sound is of the highest standard!
Dubcall’s album Dead But Dreaming is a must have album for all lovers of dub/roots and culture – for me it has been my travelling sound track for this summer (and I’ve been up and down NZ all summer). It’s uncanny how he has produced an album that portrays the New Zealand landscape so well with an island vibe, when he lives in a snow covered country such as Sweden. Dubcall is an extremely talented producer, cop this album!
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