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Dub Trio’s latest only half dead
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by Alex Truong
Friday, February 1, 2008
A good Dub Trio album is like a good wop — lots of
excellent things mixed together with a little bad stuff thrown in to form
something that is so awesome you have to tell somebody about it.
Dub is a genre that can be traced to King Tubby, the
Jamaican native who crafted popular songs from samples and referred to the
turntable as an instrument rather than merely a tool. The DJ (or “selector” for
purists) mixes together different recordings, usually boosting or enhancing the
rhythmic drum and bass portions to achieve a danceable mix of pop, electronica
and hip-hop.
Dub Trio’s new release, Another
Sound is Dying, is aptly named. The album contains a liberal amount of
heavy metal, and if that excess was just a little less cool sounding or a
little less cohesive, it would be totally confusing. But the problem here does
not come from the composition. For a band that comes off as a mix of ambient
music, punk and hip-hop, it does little to justify anything else but the
secondary description.
Mostly, Another Sound
is Dying rambles on through sometimes cool, sometimes boring metal riffs and
occasionally jumps through a chilled-out drum and bass interlude with a little
hint of reggae. Anyone that digs the heavier parts of this album could pick up
a cornucopia of more satisfying collections. Just search Google for “Keith
Buckley” or “Mike Patton,” and you’ll get some good hits.
On the positive side, Dub definitely gets its point across
right away. From the first track, “Not for Nothing,” you get the idea of what
the entire album is. The consistency could have been compromised in many
places, but right as the listener is grooving along to a short, funky interlude,
it gets right back into its metal leanings. Strangely, there are few vocals on
this album, which mostly leaves the listener wanting more.
This album is enjoyable, but it is definitely not
revolutionary. It does what it does with competence, but there is nothing all
that thrilling about it. For those who occasionally enjoy listening to a little
metal and need some kind of buffer, or for someone just looking for a fresh way
to procrastinate, Dub Trio is a great find. However, it grinds a little too
often when it should be bumping, and by the 10th or 11th track, the album just
becomes repetitive. A greater variety of sound would have added depth to the
album, but instead it wallows in a confusing, murky water of heavily distorted
guitar riffs waiting for some solid (or at least decent) vocals.
2 1/2 stars out of 5
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