Suns of Arqa 'All Is Not Lost, All Is Dub:The Remixes' Review

Artist: Suns of Arqa

Title: All Is Not Lost, 

All Is Dub

The Remixes

Label: Liquid 

Sound Design

Released: 

28^th November

The Suns of Arqa's released 'All Is Not Lost, But Where Is It?' On Liquid Sound Design back in April this year. This wasn't a stereotypical S.O.A. release of Carnatic Indian music fused with Rastafarian Niyabinghi drumming but enhanced and focused on the dub elements with Youth, the Orb and Raja Ram on production. Label manager Robin Triskele has drafted in a wealth of talent to dub-the-dub so to speak and add a fresh lease of life to the tracks.

The proceedings kick off with Total Eclipse's version of 'Mother Tongue' which initiates with a tripped out raga fused with NASA samples and fades in and out of some beautifully melodic synth sequences and guitar licks. I must confess I'm not really familiar with Total Eclipse but I like the way they've stepped back and mellowed this track out but retained the original drive of the piece. The Saafi Brothers put their stamp on 'Sadrayama' which again seems to take a step back into a more eastern dub and dropping the squelch of the original.

Following on Kakan Dub Lagan add's his magic to 'Eramus Dub' which retains plenty of old skool reggae dub flavours alongside laid back synths, samples and scratches which he modesty but effectively tweaks I definitely got a soft spot for this one. Tor.Ma In Dub's take on 'The Fool Ascends' begins with a dark atmospheric intro with slow piano bass notes, before the reggae is slowly introduced, gaining volume and then is dubbed out in alluring and dream like fashion along with the eastern instruments and vocals.

Once again it seems like a step back from the initial release with Kuba's version of 'Discordant Dream' with a more dream like quality to the piece and the tribal drumming more of a pitter patter nestled amongst the dub. This theme follows once again somewhat surprisingly with Eat Static on 'The Truth Lies Therein' where you might expect a more full on approach he utilises the poetic spoken word perfectly throughout this frankly excellent eastern dub. The release concludes with Youth's re-mix of 'Pablo's Lament' which if you've brought either of the two previous S.O.A. releases on L.S.D. you will already have if not it's a harmonica fused piece of reggae dub with some interesting twists and turns.

As I mentioned previously this is not a stereo-typical S.O.A. release however, I would imagine most long-term fans of Michael Wadada's Suns of Arqa are fans of dub and will accept this for a S.O.A. in dub release. Personally, I'm definitely taking that view even though the Indian vibes take a back seat and I have to say I actually prefer this re-mix album to the original release.

Reviewed by Woodzee.

Links

 https://liquidsounddesignuk.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/LiquidSoundDesign/?fref=ts

https://www.facebook.com/RobinTriskeleDJ/?fref=ts

Liquid Sound Design 'Dakini Mother Tongue' Compilation Review

Artist: Various

Title: Dakini Mother Tongue

Label: Liquid Sound Design

Released: 10^th October

Liquid Sound Design was created in 1998 by Youth as a sister label to Dragonfly showcasing the more down-tempo output aimed at post-club listening. Eventually, the management of the label was taken on by Pathaan and is currently in the capable hands of Robin Triskele.

The album commences with the Ozora mix of 'Return To The River Ganges by Celtic Vedic and features a wealth of established talent from the world music scene including legendary dub bassist Jah Wobble and Youth himself. As you may of anticipated the track is a heady exotic fusion of Celtic and Indian vibes easing you in gently before dropping the dubby bass line and introducing Shri's sultry vocals (who some may recognise from previous work with TaTva Kundalini and Gods Robots with Janaka Selecta). This is followed by the Bhanda Dub of 'Amethyst Corrida' by Wadada Youth Mundy which maintains the theme with tribal drums rolling along behind melodic harp strings, flutes, sitars and an orchestral violin break which complements the piece perfectly.

The album then moves away from the eastern mood with the Irresistible Force Dub Mix of Tecktures feat. Mixmaster Morris 'Giant Robots In The Sky' which is frankly a beautiful piece of dubbed out choral ambience. The compilation then switches back to the eastern fusions with Kuba's 'By The Foot Of Your Mountain' which begins with a Ravi Shankar'esque Sitar intro slowly teasing intermittent drum hits before the laid-back dub and Indian vocal takes full effect.

With the general stance of this compilation so far it's no surprise that Youth's Navigator Dub of Suns of Arqa's 'Navigator' is plucked from the previous L.S.D. re-mix E.P. packed full of tribal chants  & flutes that provide the listener with a dubbed out chill before exploding into pounding drums with trance like sequencing sections. The mood switches once again with the Bhanda Dub of Brother Culture vs Youth on 'People Love The Music' a bass heavy dance hall riddim bringing the reggae back into the dubs.

Yet again the style reverts back to the east with Ghostliner's 'Phoenix' an exotic dub with tribal vocal stabs and percussion that's rather fitting to the compilation as a whole. The album closes with the long awaited return of the Dub Trees (Youth, Greg Hunter and Twisted Records Simon Posford) where the Youth vs Cosmic Trigger Dub of 'Future Roots' is a lovely fusion of speaker shaking reggae dub and psybient sounds.

To conclude this is a solid release and continues the quality and style fans of Liquid Sound Design have come to expect. There's a heavy eastern element to the album which made me wonder why they didn't stick with that format throughout the whole release. However, I can answer my own question as the tracks that didn't fit that pigeon hole are too good to leave out.

Reviewed by Woodzee.

**For the chance of winning a Bandcamp redeem code for this release tune into the Chill Out Sessions on Boxfrequency.fm at 20:00 G.M.T. on Sunday the 25^th of October and keep your eyes peeled on the facebook event page https://www.facebook.com/events/1494797440820745/ **

Links

https://www.facebook.com/LiquidSoundDesign

https://liquidsounddesign.bandcamp.com/

http://www.triskelemanagement.com/

Suns of Arqa 'All Is Not Lost, But Where Is It?' Review

Artist: Suns of Arqa

Title: All Is Not Lost, 

But Where Is It?

Label: Liquid Sound 

Design

Released: April 2015

The Suns of Arqa have been producing their blend of Indian classical instrumentation and Rastafarian Niyabinghi drumming under mainstay Michael Wadada and a prolific number of guest artists from around the diaspora since 1979.



This latest offering produced by Youth who has also roped in Raja Ram on flute and the Orb to step behind the mixing desk and add their years of production experience to enhance the release.



The opening track 'Mother Tounge' begins slowly with a mish-mash of chopped up SOA clips and samples which are soon accompanied by a powerful rolling beat providing a whirling dervish of psychedelic dub. This is followed by 'Sadrayama' which for the first couple of minutes is a more laid back affair. However, once the drums kick so does the squelch which works in perfect balance with the sitar sounds.



Bird song and spoken samples are the introduction to 'Erasmus Dub' a laid back piece of dub jam-packed with reverb, samples and scratches. Soft female vocal samples and fx are blended with bamboo flutes and song in 'The Fool Ascends' which although still dub ditches the reggae elements in favour of a more ambient chill feel.



'Discordian Dawn' begins with a cello like intro integrated with sequenced synth's before bamboo flutes and tribal drumming which are dubbed out in appropriate places stream through the main body of the track. There's an elongated piece of poetic dialogue nestled over distorted and dubbed out SOA with 'The Truth Lies Therein' before the vocal song and rolling drums are implemented along with trance like synth's.



The closing track is Youth's Dub mix of 'Pablos Lament' plucked from SOA's last e.p. and for me it's a gem. Traditional reggae vibes and harmonica are fused with SOA vocal hooks and reggae vocal samples in this dub-fest. There's also plenty of twists, turns brakes and turns of speed within the piece to maintain your interest.



If hearing the Suns of Arqa put through the array of fx and reverb and echo chambers of the dub laboratory appeals to you, then you can't really go wrong with the men behind the desk on this release.



Reviewed by Woodzee.

http://www.sunsofarqa.co.uk/