Dub Project

Having perfected the art of roots revivalism with Volcanic Dub a few years back, Ryan Moore has spread out his talents ever since. Last year’s foundation rockers saw him work with vocalists for the first time, with generally good results. This year he has two discs out, a collection for ROIR which combines some older tracks with newer material, and the poorly named Dub Project. Anyone who thought he had abandoned rougher edged sounds in the name of roots purity is dead wrong. Starting with a rambling vocal take from Michael Rose — this isn't a song, simply vocals over beats — he presents ten open-ended grooves with wild (even by his standards) processing. Digital, analog — it doesn’t matter. It’s all deployed for its harmonised and echoic effect. There’s very little songwriting to speak of, and in that way it resembles a Laswell project. This is a musical diary, and if he keeps releasing these kinds of projects some will turn out good and some will lack distinction. This one has the thrill of experimentation to make it recommendable. For all its open ended qualities, there is one nugget of a tune to rank with his best work: Shyama's raga-rific contribution to the slow burning hip-hop groove of "Joy.”