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As apologies for being shitty with responses lately, I sat down and wrote a somewhat serious review to this this morning, after I woke up, but before I went back to sleep. It’s a bit out there, it’s very rambly, and it’s rather long, but oh well. Thought I might as well post it, for some reason. At the end is a MUCH more coherent response.
Well, I’m hungover, possibly/probably still drunk, and my thermometer says it’s 25farenheit outside, so this seems a perfect time to listen to this. Can’t update my iPod for some stupid reason, hence my late response, but I’m hooking up my laptop to some rather decent headphones as I drink electrolyte-infused water.
“Deep Inside Mind” is an excellent opener. Dreamy as fuck. Rolling waves of dubby-sounds. I like.
Love that drum that comes in at 8:22. Hypnotic bassline. Someone walked by my windows in shorts. The hell is wrong with them? They’re going to freeze to death.
Cymbal at 11:05 is beautiful. Whatever is playing at 12:45 is fantastic. Seems like the speed or at least the intensity has picked up slightly. More rolling waves of dubby sounds.
Stabby sounds at 14:20. Was this a transition? Faint vocals teasing. Beautiful melody there at 15:15. Is that called an arpeggio? I have no idea how to describe music.
Ooh, breakdown at 18:00. Beautiful melody and vocal still twisting around each other. For some reason makes me think of outer space. Maybe it’s the faintness of the vocal. Is this one track or two? Fantastic, whatever it is.
Another breakdown. I’m totally lost on what track is playing, now. Groovy bassline at 19:50, yet more relaxed than the previous song. The melody at 21:30 isn’t as fast as the one previous, makes this a nice valley. Picks up a bit at 22:30 when that hi-hat comes in. Dubbing along.
Faint static at 25:00 reminds me of a desolate nuclear fallout zone.
Looking at comments you say 27 is Nitrogen Music, which shocks me. I would have thought I had heard five or six songs already, not just four. Great track selection, very multi-faceted songs. This bassline for Nitrogen Music is fantastic.
Another melody coming in at 29:40ish, faint. Is this Nitrogen Music still, or Dublight? I have no clue. The melody seems to be dancing around my ears, while the guitar and synths build up and up. Beautiful.
Love those drums (congos?) at 34:00. One of the best things about this set is that you go through so many different moods and sounds. Even though everything has the same hypnotic dubby sounds and it all mixes together so well, there is a clear progression going on, which keeps my not-sober attention and doesn’t blur together in a monotonous way.
Whatever this track is, it’s great. Feels like a wave building and building, about to crash. Reminds me of many progressive tracks, getting bigger and bigger, like Bedrock’s remix of Cowgirl or Intoxication.
Slight moment of relaxation, before we move on (new track?). This bassline at 39:30 doesn’t seem like dub-techno, it straight up feels proggy. Hypnotic, but proggy. Not sure if that makes sense, but seeing other people talk about the progressive feel of this set, hopefully it makes some sense. It makes me want to dance, which is not something I often feel listening to dub-techno.
The breakdown at 43 reminds me of Reykjavik. No idea why – I’ve never been there.
Is this a transition at 45, or the same song? Your mixing skills and track selection have totally left me behind. This is either an insanely long transition or a new song or something. Well, obviously it’s something. Logical necessity, that. Beautiful, too. Nice long valley after the peak at 40ish.
Sounds building up at 48. Excellent, whatever is playing. I’m going to assume this is “Water”, because I feel like I’m at the beach during the dead of winter, bundled up, probably drinking from a flask, and watching the waves come in and out.
50 is definitely “Trajectory”, so that must have been “Water”. “Trajectory” is a fantastic track, and that whole “Stories” album was great. Can’t believe he just gave it away for free. Thanks for recommending that, a few weeks ago. Have given it multiple listens since then. So good.
Again, really not what I think of when I think of dub-techno. The “soundscapes” you go for tend to be similar, no matter the genre, which is what I think people are getting at when they say it has your sound. That’s a good thing, from my view, since I tend to love similar sounds.
“High Speed Travel” is a fucking groover. Nothing else to write.
“Theta” is such an excellent track. It’s a shame DSO put out so little. Everything they did was fantastic.
Interesting drum pattern on “Cortinaz”. Took a bit for me to like it, but then started to really enjoy it.
Bassline coming in at 1:09:15. “Captain Storm” is groovy as fuck. Is this even dub-techno? Feels like deep house. [I see Adam wrote that, too]. What is a genre, anyways? Can a song be in two? Serious question, there.
“Drofn #2” is just plain beautiful. I’m jealous of the guy who said he landed a plane listening to this. Epic way to end this mix, imo. Feel like I’m on top of a Table Mountain, with this one, watching the sun set on the ocean.
Absolutely excellent mix, here. I really hope I can fix my iPod, as this will definitely make for a fantastic morning commute mix, or ideally a skiing mix.
What makes this so good is not just the mixing, which was sublime, but the programming and track selection. The move from lethargic, hypnotic, beautiful but rather standard dubby stuff at the beginning to the melodic, groovy stuff at the end was done fantastically. Not just one linear upward slopping line, but peaks and valleys along the way. The tracks were all beautiful. Contra to some who have posted, I’m definitely going to look into some of these songs, to try to find more albums to listen to like “Stories.” Throughout the mix, as you can see if you care to read my long spiel, I found myself in many different moods and locations.
With a lot of dub-techno sets (sorry, other people who do dub-techno sets) I tend to lose focus and get kind of bored, no matter how hard I’m trying to focus entirely on the music, which does end up making fantastic background study music, but no more. This was the opposite. When I tried to do some reading I was unsuccessful, as I found myself drawn back to the music, and had to just go back to listening and looking out the window.
It definitely had your sound to it, I agree with whomever wrote that. On the topic of dub-techno or not, I'm really unsure. I don't listen to too much of it, but this felt very different to what I normally hear. Would it be fair to say the stuff at the beginning was more dub-techno and the latter stuff wasn't? But what was it then? Deep house? Again, can a track be in two genres at once? Perhaps, since genres are sort of arbitrary marketing titles to help us distinguish and categorize. Anyways...
Outstanding stuff, Jack. Job well done.
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