Dub Trio

Live dub bands have been in ascendance since the mid-’90s, with technology making it easier to dub oneself live on the fly. With the ability to dub it your own way comes a heightened awareness of the poly-rhythms created by ricocheting effects. Dub Trio are far from a roots band, even though it's clear they value all the right Jamaican influences. "Drive by Dub” features a theme based on the Twinkle Brothers, "Scoop Em and Smash Em” relates to Prince Far I. Otherwise, the sound is spare and tight with guitar, bass and drums, with occasional keys. The intensity of their approach is most felt with the processing on the guitar. All kinds of delay, heavy feedback, ghostly slide or pure howling distortion make for a wide-angled dub lens. The drummer has a great Sly Dunbar-influenced, metronomic touch, able to change up his style to half, double time or triplet, depending on where his delay is taking him. As for the bass, it doesn't roll through every track, quite often it serves only to accent the kick drums, evoking dancehall production rather than roots. They're obviously built to do this live, so the three live tracks at the end really give a sense of the excitement of their shows. This is a promising debut, and it will be interesting to see if they continue along this path or broaden the instrumentation.