Seven Dub

This is the perfect chill album if you don’t dwell too long on the lyrical content; but seeing as chillin’ and critical thinking are rarely compatible, your ears will most likely stick to processing this French duo’s nu-jazz/reggae fusion remix of their third album, Rock With Me, and Angelique Willkie’s (Zap Mama) silky voice. Acclaimed remixers (for the likes of Femi Kuti and Manu Dibango) and contributors to fine compilations everywhere, Seven Dub’s smooth club style is injected with lots of hard dub production making for fresh contemporary electro dub in the style of Boozoo Bajou. Producers and multi-instrumentalists Patrick Bylebyl and Guillaume Metenier lay solid groundwork for each track and deliver a few stellar instrumentals (notably the bass heavy "Back to Ashes”) but it is often the guest vocalists that define the songs. Willkie is featured almost throughout and her velvety handling of "Rock with Me” and "Running Away” set the pace for much of the album, keeping it laidback, romantic and lounge-y without being kitschy. I was excited to see dancehall pioneer Lone Ranger in the credits, but he deserves a crack at a better track than the reggae/funk of the touristy Jamaica tribute "It Doesn’t Matter.” The track does little to show off the considerable talent of dancehall’s proto deejay and ends up being London deejay Zakeya who steals the show with her sexy chanting on a duet with Willkie called "Fire.” Put down the MP3 player and listen to this on something with a woofer.