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1. Oh How Joyfully Dub
2. First Noel Dub 3. Jingle Bells Dub 4. Go Tell It On The Mountain Dub 5. Come All Ye Shepherds Dub 6. Morgen Kommt Der Weihnachtsmann Dub 7. Oh Come Little Children Dub 8. Twelve Days Of Christmas Dub 9. O Come All Ye Faithful Dub 10. Silent Night Dub 11. We Wish You A Merry Christmas Dub 12. Lasst Uns Froh Und Munter Sein Dub |
Last Christmas seems only moments away, but that hasn’t stopped these four doughty Swiss musicians from decking the halls in their studio, getting the bass speakers to rumble and the loops to trill. In dulci dub jubilo! In their low-slung reindeer racing sleigh, DUB SPENCER & TRANCE HILL glide through the night of nights with twelve box-fresh cover versions pumping through their speakers, utterly unafraid of overworking a cliché. The Zurich/Lucerne collective have lavished their charming, futuristic sound elements on the season, pounding through this winter wonderland, hovering somewhere between pop, dub and surreal electronics, liberally spiced with retro roots rocker attitude with a lavish scattering of warm analogue delay and reverb effects. This album sits skillfully right at the intersection of elevator muzak and elegant dub, and it has a very simple, unpretentious message: without a groove there’s no dub – and no Christmas either.
And now for something completely different....
I confess that Dub Style is not my favorite and that Dub Spencer & Trance Hill were completely unknown to me. I love Reggae, but Dub Style is dripping in so much reverb, I always feel like I'm lost in a dark, wet basement. And let me say, before I get letters of complaint from Dub fans, that Dub Style may have grown out of Reggae (Lee "Scratch" Perry was one of its earliest pioneers), but that's not the entirety of Dub (and it isn't all about the reverb), anymore than Ambient could be considered a mere sub-genre of New Age. But I'm dumb, so I'm dumbing it down for my own head. Are we cool?
OK. So, as it turns out, Dub Spencer & Trance Hill are pretty well known in the universe of Dub, and they've gained popularity beyond that universe with their Dub interpretations of Alt Rock classics like Metallica's "Enter Sandman" and the Clash's "London Calling" (which is a kinda "full circle" thing, since The Clash were heavily influenced by Dub). The four person band hails from Switzerland and, as so much Dub is a studio creation, it might surprise some to learn that Dub Spencer & Trance Hill are a live band and have been touring since 2007.
So it's about Dub time they got around to doing a Christmas album, doncha think?
"Christmas In Dub" is not the first Christmas Dub we've had. Most Reggae Christmas albums contain Dub versions of the songs thereon. Nonetheless, "Christmas In Dub" is the first full Dub Christmas album I've come across (and, again, this isn't a universe I'm familiar with) that comes from the Dub culture rather than the Reggae culture. As such, it's a bit more...hmm, what adjective works here...interesting, adventurous, Rock accessible. I can't seem to find the right word but, for the Christmas music obsessive who has pretty much everything and is looking for that extra something different, "Christmas In Dub" becomes a nearly essential add to the collection.
Naturally, "Christmas In Dub" is available in vinyl, as well as CD. Both CDs and vinyl are limited to 999 copies each. Dub Spencer & Trance Hill also have song samples for all the tracks. And don't be surprised if there's a slight delay in shipping. Amazon lists "Christmas In Dub" for October 5, but there's vinyl, it's an import, and the original scheduled release date in Europe was supposedly November 2.
Lacking a full Christmas tune, here, let's treat you to Dub Spencer & Trance Hill's cover of Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water".
I confess that Dub Style is not my favorite and that Dub Spencer & Trance Hill were completely unknown to me. I love Reggae, but Dub Style is dripping in so much reverb, I always feel like I'm lost in a dark, wet basement. And let me say, before I get letters of complaint from Dub fans, that Dub Style may have grown out of Reggae (Lee "Scratch" Perry was one of its earliest pioneers), but that's not the entirety of Dub (and it isn't all about the reverb), anymore than Ambient could be considered a mere sub-genre of New Age. But I'm dumb, so I'm dumbing it down for my own head. Are we cool?
OK. So, as it turns out, Dub Spencer & Trance Hill are pretty well known in the universe of Dub, and they've gained popularity beyond that universe with their Dub interpretations of Alt Rock classics like Metallica's "Enter Sandman" and the Clash's "London Calling" (which is a kinda "full circle" thing, since The Clash were heavily influenced by Dub). The four person band hails from Switzerland and, as so much Dub is a studio creation, it might surprise some to learn that Dub Spencer & Trance Hill are a live band and have been touring since 2007.
So it's about Dub time they got around to doing a Christmas album, doncha think?
"Christmas In Dub" is not the first Christmas Dub we've had. Most Reggae Christmas albums contain Dub versions of the songs thereon. Nonetheless, "Christmas In Dub" is the first full Dub Christmas album I've come across (and, again, this isn't a universe I'm familiar with) that comes from the Dub culture rather than the Reggae culture. As such, it's a bit more...hmm, what adjective works here...interesting, adventurous, Rock accessible. I can't seem to find the right word but, for the Christmas music obsessive who has pretty much everything and is looking for that extra something different, "Christmas In Dub" becomes a nearly essential add to the collection.
Naturally, "Christmas In Dub" is available in vinyl, as well as CD. Both CDs and vinyl are limited to 999 copies each. Dub Spencer & Trance Hill also have song samples for all the tracks. And don't be surprised if there's a slight delay in shipping. Amazon lists "Christmas In Dub" for October 5, but there's vinyl, it's an import, and the original scheduled release date in Europe was supposedly November 2.
Lacking a full Christmas tune, here, let's treat you to Dub Spencer & Trance Hill's cover of Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water".
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