I have this habit of occasionally buying an album without really knowing what’s in it, without listening to samples, without knowing anything about the artist. A blind buy. I found some of my best music like this. In 1999 I read somewhere on the net that there is a dub band from New Zealand called Pitch Black. Sounded intriguing enough, so I bought Futureproof from their label’s website and it was an instant love affair. Electronomicon followed soon and the masterpiece that it is, it made me become a devout follower of the kiwi duo.
Rude Mechanicals arrived on my desk not long ago and at once monopolized my play list free time. There is no revolutionary message here, no new genre invented, nothing I’ve never heard before. It’s just Pitch Black- massive sounds, huge engulfing atmospheres, perpetually hypnotic, every track telling a story, and always with that swaying stoned dubby gravy slowly dripping everywhere. Standout moments are in the classic dub 1000 Mile Drift (T2), the trancey Sonic Colonic (T3), the ultra hypnotic covered with a fog of mystery Transient Transmission with the excellent twisted vocal work (T4), the energetic super groovy Bird Soul (T5), the ragga fused moving Rude Mechanicals (T7), and the beautiful melancholic fragile melody of Fragile Ladders that makes me feel that lump in my throat that comes only before crying (T8). |
