"The palette swap from the chameleon acrylic of the progressive behemoth into Deadbeat's contrasting charcoal hues is a nearly one to one mapping"
Dub techno and Sasha are two concepts that would not readily associate with each other. So when a double LP dub remix journey through Last Night On Earth back catalogue by Scott Monteith – aka Deadbeat – was announced, it was something that definitely turned heads.
Once you start listening to ‘LNOE In Dub‘, you realise how much the concept makes sense. The palette swap from the chameleon acrylic of the progressive behemoth into Deadbeat’s contrasting charcoal hues is a nearly one to one mapping. Every expansive chord progression and arpeggio hook translates into the resonant atonal harmonies as laid out in any number of classic Basic Channel records.
This isn’t a simple reduction into mere black and white, Monteith – a dedicated dub archivist, which lends learned gravitas to the mix – explores every scale of grey that exists in-between with tracks that are equally tuned for the dance floor and for home listening.
There is the sepia diesel smog of Dubspeeka’s heavily swung ‘SK4 Dub‘, the sharp strobe lit basement contrast that VONDA7’s throbbing low end ‘Together Dub‘ lives in, the way that both Ejeca ‘Octiv Dub‘ and Alex Niggemann ‘Virgo Dub‘ is like a dense grey fog that swirls with the movement of water, the tense static that is Jody Barr ‘Carson Dub‘ or the exhaled smoke of Jon Gurd ‘After It All Dub‘.
Best of all are the tracks that unfurl halfway through, like one of those moments when you’re walking outside on dark and crisp winter’s evening, only for the moon to peek out from behind the clouds and illuminate the asphalt like a carpet of diamonds as it catches every fleck of ice. Both Hunter/Game ‘Island Dub‘ and Sasha ‘Float Collapse Dub‘ channel this perfectly and instantly capture the imagination on your first listen.
‘LNOE in Dub’ is scheduled for release 14 February. Order a copy from Juno.
TRACKLIST
1. Vonda7 – Together (Dub)
2. Hunter/Game – Island (Dub)
3. Ejeca – Octiv (Dub)
4. Jody Barr – Carson (Dub)
5. Dubspeeka – Sk4 (Dub)
6. Sasha – Float Collapse (Dub)
7. Alex Niggemann – Virgo (Dub)
8. Jon Gurd – After It All (Dub)
Discover more about Deadbeat and Last Night On Earth on Inverted Audio.