Joe Ariwa

Dub Tech Dub by Joe Ariwa begins with an awesome double shot of bass bin shaking digital dub. On "Dub in Combat,” Ariwa weaves together a lush fusion of vintage ’70s and ’80s dub, setting the echo-drenched horns, flailing conga action and dub-y dancehall riddims on channel one. "31 Flavours” oscillates between jungle and two-step, with Ariwa steadily mixing these stuttering beats into thickets of delay and reverb. This is why Ariwa’s debut seems so promising, whetting the listener’s appetite for ten more tracks of high-grade electro-dub. Sadly it’s not so, as much of this is inexplicably clogged with filler. Thankfully, Ariwa steps up the quality control for "Mission To Be Genie,” where he subverts dub-step’s minimalism with clever piano arpeggio samples skittering around expansively repeating, quick beats. The production is impeccable. It’s no surprise that Joe Ariwa has strong studio engineering chops; his father, Neil Fraser (aka the Mad Professor), has recorded over 160 reggae albums at his London, UK-based Ariwa Studios. "Adventure In ARaRaQuara” is a dub-stepper so trippy and spastic it could upset the most rhythmically astute two-step dancer. And "My DJ” is an intense hip-hop track with a broken beat flavour that features the grimy flow of MC Kar’ Melody. After, Ariwa cleverly mixes the track into a potent hip-hop dub "version” for all the selectors. Brilliant.