Tor.Ma in Dub 'Among Aliens and Gods' Review

Artist: Tor.Ma in Dub

Title: Among Aliens and Gods

Label: Dubmission

Released: Friday 21^st July

This Mexican solo producer has added life experiences to the various styles of music he has developed over the years, creating a biography of bass that incorporates his love of sci-fi movies, the books of H.P. Lovecraft, the recent birth of his daughter and a spectrum of other life experiences.

The titles of the first two tracks ‘The Colour of Space’ and ‘The Elder Gods’ will be clear to fans that it’s a nod to the aforementioned H.P. Lovecraft. As I pressed play after the first few notes I established that the music doesn’t reflect the macabre. With soaring synth passages nestled between bass heavy dub reggae. Whilst the latter track is a tad slower to begin it’s just as bass heavy with aggressive drum patterns at the climax.

Moving forward is pretty much of a muchness. Which is no bad thing if you’ve been hooked in by the previous two tracks. Although dub reggae is at the heart of the productions there are some quite individual twists, with tracks like ‘The Waiting’ and ‘Dreams of Anaho’ for example incorporates 80’s retro synth sounds commonly heard in synthwave. While the final track of the album his re-mix of Jumpstreet’s ‘Little Bot’ where the looped bassline builds and drops amongst the harmonica and psychedelic glitches.

Reviewed by Woodzee

Links

https://smarturl.it/aliensandgods

https://tormaindub.bandcamp.com/

Terra Nine 'Eternity Remixes' Review

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Forthcoming on Sofa Beats the electric voila driven electronic compositions of Terra Nine are given a makeover by some of the biggest producers from the world of psy-chill, dub and downtempo electronica.

We get underway with Kuba’s take on ‘Dub Terratory’. Now this particular track is featured a number of times and I’ve yet to hear the others to compare. But this is great! The soothing bamboo flutes drift off the electronic dub perfectly, creating a vibe that is uplifting to my mood. This is followed by the Kaya Project and although they also utilise the bamboo flute, take a somewhat different (but equally amazing) approach to the same piece. Utilising an acoustic intro that leads into a more squelchy and percussive number. By this point we move along to Pete Ardon the brainchild behind Orchid-Star and his re-working of ‘Incandescent’, which once again drifts lovingly between melodic electronics and eastern elements that are pleasing enough to the ear.

Once again we return to the ‘Dub Terratory’ track this time with Gabriel le Mars dub mix. As you may have anticipated there’s more drive to this version, than the previous two. The spanking bassline and melodic loops setting me in mind somewhat of System 7, another job well done. Despite his recent return to the downtempo arena, Tripswitch on this occasion applies the melodic prog sound he has also become associated with, on ‘New Vibration’. Whilst Green Beats takes a melodic and electronic approach as opposed to the eastern sounds on ‘Dub Terratory’. Providing a listenable alternative to the previous re-mixes that slots in nicely to this section of the album.

Next up his Gaudi who adds his production wizardry to ‘Dub Terratory’ applying a more traditional reggae drum pattern to the bass and drums, which balances nicely against the soothing elements of the piece. We then move onto Noosfaere’s re-working of ‘Ocean’ where they drag the piece into darker territories ranging from slow and heavy to more aggressive drum patterns. Then to see us out is Terra Nine’s No Words Re-mix of the title track (which was my personal favourite from the original album). There’s an almost orchestral feel to the music, with some beautiful piano keys juxtaposed against a two-step beat which creates a loving marriage to the overall effect.

Reviewed by Woodzee

Links

https://beatspace-sofabeats.bandcamp.com/album/eternity-remixes

https://soundcloud.com/sofa-beats-1/sets/terra-nine-eternity-remixes