Witchman Vs. Jammin Unit

Inferno

BY Chris TwomeyPublished Sep 1, 1999

The very active Witchman delivers his best release so far, built from samples of the dub-techno tracks on Jammin Unit's 1997 Deaf, Dub and Blind album (Blue Planet/Instinct). Several of that CD's grooves were perfectly suited for versions, like the jump up bass line of "Life On The Balkon" that now plays off jazzy drum fills in the new "After Midnight." And the bass line from Jammin Unit's spacious "Dub Is In The Air" is pumped up into something reminiscent of Meat Beat Manifesto's "Radio Babylon" in Witchman's "Filter Voodoo." He also treats the spaghetti Western-ish "Blind Television" to a new rhythmic framework in his "Cathode Ray Dub." Overall, Witchman smoothes out the leftfield elements of Jammin Unit's often eccentric tracks. Voice samples and the lower-fi drum machines are replaced by bottom-heavy dub-hop beats and Witchman's suspenseful movie-type atmospheres ("Dark Roots"). He improves on the comedic original of "Deaf, Dub And Blind" by placing its Spanish guitar loop over more complimentary jazzy hip-hop beats for "Ice Is Blue." Inferno also features three Witchman originals including the stand-out digi-dub track "I-Man Dub."
(Blue Planet)

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