Sly & Robbie meet Dubmatix | "Overdubbed"

About time for a Grammy

In Reggae, all roads lead to the “Riddim Twins”, Sly & Robbie. Now, Sly & Robbie meet Dubmatix. The Canadian producer and multi-instrumentalist got his hands on original Sly & Robbie tracks and spent months crafting this new album, "Overdubbed". 

The opening track ‘Dictionary’ spells out the terms for this album. MASSIVE bass is taking away your breath. “Are You Ready?” is the rhetorical question. Yes, we are!

For those of you who are not familiar with Sly Drumbar’s and Robbie Basspeare’s work - which is after all possible, especially for the younger generations - don’t worry, you will be able to quickly catch up. After listening to this album you will start to backtrack the Riddim Twins catalog and you will be astounded.

Dubmatix has managed to fuse Sly & Robbies’s signature bass lines and drum patterns - accompanied by overdubs from Chris Butcher on trombone, John Pittman, trumpet, Paul Metcalfe on saxophone - and turned into them something completely new.

“Overdubbed” is not a re-work of existing material. It is a re-invention of Sly & Robbie and more…

This album rides East, West, North, and South. It is all over the place. A kaleidoscope of different flavors, feels, and atmospheres. Dubmatix goes all out on this album. His most eclectic so far. Just listen to the killer bass on ‘Ride East’. We need not say more…

Yet, we cannot stop raving on about this album, so let’s move on and jump over to the ‘Great Wall’ in order to encounter some percussive wizardry between Chinese woodblocks and hi-hat loops. Where East meets West.

On to ’Communication Breakdown’ featuring Jay Spaker from John Brown’s Body, where we pick up some Congos sentiment. Fisherman row your boat… if that makes any sense to you. The lyrics may verse a breakdown, musically this track communicates a lot of hidden gems for the uninitiated and delivers them in capital letters for those in the know.

Dubmatix is ‘Dirty Flirty’ with the number of references he has put into the tracks on this album, not only in terms of artists but also with the inclusion of different genres and instruments.

From the Afro-Brazilian drumming North-South encounter on ‘Dirty Flirty’, we make the ‘Great Escape’ to the lounge of this music academy called “Overdubbed”, where Dubmatix lectures us on how to incorporate knowledge, time, history, and fine taste for music into one album. Musicology, the school is in girls and boys!

“Overdubbed” can not be glossed over. It demands respect. Its sound production is not with ‘optimized for iTunes’ in mind but re-creates a legacy, multi-layered, atmosphere. Do you remember how you used to unwrap your freshly purchased vinyl, after hurrying back home from the record store? The smell of it? So dust off your old record player, reconnect your stereo set, put the needle in the groove, and turn the volume up as loud as you dare!

“Overdubbed” takes you on a trip to a timeframe where music was made, created, not-produced, musician’s music. Dubmatix took from the masters Sly & Robbie and gave far more back to us. It’s about time for a Grammy…

 

Sly & Robbie meet Dubmatix | Overdubbed

Personnel:

  • Drums: Sly Dunbar
  • Bass: Robbie Shakespeare
  • Trombone: Chris Butcher
  • Trumpet: John Pittman
  • Saxophone: Paul Metcalfe
  • Congas, Drums: Pato Irie
  • Bill King: Organ
  • Shaky J: Guitar
  • Everton Pablo Paul: Percussion
  • Vocals: Jay Spaker, Prince Alla, Screechy Dan, Megative, Treson
  • Dubmatix: everything else

Tracklist (CD):

  1. DICTIONARY
  2. SMOOTHIE (ft. Prince Alla, Screechy Dan & Megative)   
  3. RIDING EAST   
  4. GREAT WALL
  5. COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN (ft. Jay Spaker)
  6. DIRTY FLIRTY
  7. GREAT ESCAPE
  8. SHABBY ATTACK   
  9. FRENCHMAN CODE (ft. Treson)      
  10. BURRU SATURDAY       
  11. RUFF HOUSE   
  12. RIDING EAST (Original Western Mix)
  13. COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN (DUB)

 

Echo Beach  (EB125)
CD/LP/Digital
release date 19/01/2018

we like to hear from you