Brain Damage

"Sterile Pt. 2 (Live)"

BY David DacksPublished Jun 30, 2009

Earlier this year I wrote an article about the persistence of the term "world music," and cited France's dub colossus Brain Damage as being one of the few artists capable of actually achieving a global sound without dumbing down their approach. Spoken Dub Manifesto, their last album, was an absolute triumph of dub poetry in several different languages mixed with diverse yet teeth rattling grooves.

Their long-awaited follow-up is their first ever live recording, to be released in Europe on September 28. The mighty Jarring Effects' label, France's pre-eminent label for the many branches of dub, has released a track to stoke our appetites in the meantime.

The vocals here are provided by Black Sifichi, one of the stars of Spoken Dub Manifesto. His Burroughs-meets-Osterberg flow keeps the audience hanging on even when the relentless steppers groove drops out completely for an extended stretch. Big tune!

Download "Sterile Pt. 2 (Live)" here.

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