• Image of Sly & Robbie - Dubrising

Here's what the critics say:

fdrmx dot com:

Sly and Robbie’s Dubrising is not only the best reggae album of 2014, it is a testament to the sound and vibe that the duo created in the uncertain yet transformative post-Marley era of the early 1980s. It is an album which will lock the jaws of dub-mixologists everywhere as they ponder their future in a world inhabited once again by Sly Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare and Paul “Groucho” Smykle.

TABOU1 is happy to announce the upcoming release of "Dubrising", Sly & Robbie's new album.

This project features the legendary sound wizard Paul "Groucho" Smykle, who mixed dub masterpieces like Sly & Robbie's "Raiders of the lost dub" and "Dub Experience", Black Uhuru's "Dub Factor" and the ground breaking "Ini Kamoze". Groucho had not worked with Sly & Robbie in nearly 30 years…

After making sure the project made sense from an artistic standpoint and talking it over at length with Robbie and Sly, Groucho picked 12 tracks from sessions with Horace Andy, Chezidek, Bunny Rugs and Khalifa produced with Sly & Robbie between 2006 and 2012. The instrumental parts had been recorded live at Harry J and Anchor studios in Kingston. Ever the perfectionist, Groucho asked Dan Donovan (of Big Audio Dynamite fame) to lay down splendid synthesizer overdubs and Bunny McKenzie to add dread harmonica parts. These additions provide a more coherent atmosphere and give "Dubrising" its own soul.

We decided to mix the album the old school way: live on a soundboard without any link to a Protools station. Working without a safety net is possible only if things are prepared well in advance. Groucho spends roughly a full day setting things up, from sound to effects and nobody is allowed to spy on the man! Whatever he does, the end result is stunning snare sounds, awesome reverb and delay choices, etc...

The result is sumptuous: the sound is heavy as uranium yet warm and silky smooth. It can delight any user on any system, from an mp3 player with small ear buds, to an audiophile stereo with gazillion dollar speakers, and of course, what's probably the most important for Jamaican music, the sound systems. Refusing to enter the loudness war and arms race, "Dubrising" nonetheless blows away other ultra compressed, harsh tunes that, unfortunately, are increasingly the norm in today's sound systems.

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