Mislead Convoy 'Tickling The Dragon's Tail' Review

Artist: Mislead Convoy

Title: Tickling The Dragon's Tail

Label: Dubmission Records

Released: 14^th July 2014

It's been a fair while since Pitch Black burst on to the worldwide scene, While other acts such as Fat Freddies Drop and Salmonella Dub who put New Zealand on the map when it comes to reggae, they were more digital. Paddy Free's solo project focused on indidgious Māori music, while Mike Hodgson under the Mislead Convoy moniker has retained elements of the Pitch Black vibe delving even deeper into the relationship between dub and electronica.

The album opens up with an elongated ambient intro on 'It's In Here' which contains a sample of the album's name. When the beat did kick in I found myself transported into a world of slo-mo spacey dub whose atmosphere I was happy to float in for some time. Next up is 'Critical Mass' a twelve minute piece of two parts the first a bass heavy dub that takes you to the very edge of sonic compression while the latter has a more chilled atmosphere with more piano keys.

This flavour continues throughout the album and although in many ways the tracks bear similarities, they also have their own characteristics for example 'Ring Wraith' contains a lovely incomprehensible sample while 'No Ganja Required' a collaboration with Vlastur Dub combines hauntingly spacey synths with some fantastic digital drum patterns.

Well if all this isn't enough the vibe continues with a 55 minute bonus track 'Long Into The Embers'. My advice to fans of Pitch Black … join the convoy and get ready to be mislead through the realms of space-themed synths and digi-dub I doubt you will regret it.

Review by Woodzee

Links:

 http://misledconvoy.bandcamp.com/ 

http://dubmission.bandcamp.com/