well this is a name that i haven’t been keeping track of for a while.

as you’ll all recall, a few years ago howie b was the producer/remixer on everyone’s lips.

the man provided a midas touch for anyone who wanted to add a little underground experimental vibe to their groove, and, just so happened to help run one of the few labels that was proud to dive deep into the world of hip hop beats and weird sample loops (r.i.p pussyfoot records).

so when this album arrived in its weird banksy styled coverart (a rough shaven howie b is standing over the casino royale band with big chain and little else on : have a look) i was interested in hearing the results given that the press release describes this as a dub album.

though quickly it became apparent that the final results of these team up are not your like usual dub album.

instead of the reggae based rhythms, howie has taken the music by rock band casino royale (big in italy by all accounts) and stripped it back to the core of drums, bass and sometimes little else. meaning that rather than some summer skanking rhythms, the source beats and structures are of a rock music style, over which howie has applied old school dub science, ie. lashings of echo, reverb, and delay. alongside the rumbling foundation, howie has matched the sparse arrangements with snippets of melody floating in and out of the listeners headspace. whether the tune is delivered via a welcome sax solo, or a heavily processed keyboard motif, these extra treats are always delicately placed in the mix. the results are sometimes rather empty and uninviting, yet other times, absolutely perfect for that late night session in front of the computer, for example the inclusion of vocals and hammond organ during royalesound are very special and break the monotonic nature that could be said of much of the album.

with an obvious love of all things traditional, howie has kept the music organic and rich avoiding utilising heavy digital processing and harsh sonics. in other words, there are no diversions into the world of casio keyboards and thin beats, this is deep deep deep dubbed up rock music, invoking respectful nods towards the more sublime works of adrian sherwood, manasseh, and yes, howies old chums, sly and robbie.

not a show stopper, nor a genre defining album by any means, but one that proves that dub music still has relevance in 2008, and, if i ever get a proper heavy duty soundsystem to play with for a few hours, this is sure to be one of the first albums i test run the woofers out with.

more detail : here