As many of you know, I am a big music collector. The other day on the KLF List, there was a thread about a group called Bombay Dub Orchestra. They sounded interesting to me, so I checked them out. In my opinion, they fall under the Genre of Downtempo.
Now, I am not a big fan of Dub, on a whole. It is a sub-genre of reggae. Most of the dub I have heard was bass laden with slow drums and scattered vocals and sparse instrumentation.
BDO has a different approach to this genre. They have a lot of Trance elements as well as a 28 piece orchestra in the mix and Trip-Hop elements as well. The sounds capes are very lush to the point of being very atmospheric and experimental. The vocals are very tribal with a Mid-Eastern accent. You can hear very neat keyboard sequences and very lush layering of the instrumentation. Some of the songs are very familiar in sound with some ripe for film scoring with a 60s tint to the music. I can totally hear the different elements in the music and the have captured them in a style that works amazingly well in today's music scene. You can hear the dub elements in the bassline and the reverb-drenched, proto-psychedelic sounds of Jamaican dub.
They have a sound similar to Air, but with a 28 piece Indian String section. Their sound is more refined than that of Air's. Another band in this genre would be Thievery Corporation based out of Washington DC. Other significant acts include: Bonobo, Zero 7, Fila Brazillia, The Dining Rooms, Funki Porcini, Tosca, Kristallin, Pressure Drop, Urban Myth Club, Gotan Project, Sofa Surfers, Amon Tobin, Sundae Club, Glideascope, Saru, Röyksopp, dZihan & Kamien and Peace Orchestra.
If you like music to "chill" to in the late evening or listen to during the night, then I suggest Bombay Dub Orchestra as a good album to purchase and support. Lots of this music is produced and never gets to The States or is ever heard of by the general masses of the purchasing public. This is a great album by the U.K.-based duo of Garry Hughes (Björk, Sly & Robbie) and Andrew T. Mackay (VAST, Annie Leibovitz)
It is a shinning star in the sea of music that is today.
Now, I am not a big fan of Dub, on a whole. It is a sub-genre of reggae. Most of the dub I have heard was bass laden with slow drums and scattered vocals and sparse instrumentation.
BDO has a different approach to this genre. They have a lot of Trance elements as well as a 28 piece orchestra in the mix and Trip-Hop elements as well. The sounds capes are very lush to the point of being very atmospheric and experimental. The vocals are very tribal with a Mid-Eastern accent. You can hear very neat keyboard sequences and very lush layering of the instrumentation. Some of the songs are very familiar in sound with some ripe for film scoring with a 60s tint to the music. I can totally hear the different elements in the music and the have captured them in a style that works amazingly well in today's music scene. You can hear the dub elements in the bassline and the reverb-drenched, proto-psychedelic sounds of Jamaican dub.
They have a sound similar to Air, but with a 28 piece Indian String section. Their sound is more refined than that of Air's. Another band in this genre would be Thievery Corporation based out of Washington DC. Other significant acts include: Bonobo, Zero 7, Fila Brazillia, The Dining Rooms, Funki Porcini, Tosca, Kristallin, Pressure Drop, Urban Myth Club, Gotan Project, Sofa Surfers, Amon Tobin, Sundae Club, Glideascope, Saru, Röyksopp, dZihan & Kamien and Peace Orchestra.
If you like music to "chill" to in the late evening or listen to during the night, then I suggest Bombay Dub Orchestra as a good album to purchase and support. Lots of this music is produced and never gets to The States or is ever heard of by the general masses of the purchasing public. This is a great album by the U.K.-based duo of Garry Hughes (Björk, Sly & Robbie) and Andrew T. Mackay (VAST, Annie Leibovitz)
It is a shinning star in the sea of music that is today.
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