JAH WOBBLE — Jah Wobble & Bill Laswell ‎: Radioaxiom – A Dub Transmission (review)

JAH WOBBLE — Jah Wobble & Bill Laswell ‎: Radioaxiom – A Dub Transmission album cover Album · 2001 · Dub/Ska/Reggae Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
js
When their careers first began, it was hard not to notice the almost doppelganger like similarities between bassists Jah Wobble and Bill Laswell. Both came up through the late 70s post-punk scene, both featured a deep dub influenced sound, and both were pioneers in the growing art of self produced home recording. I’m sure they noticed the similarities because it wasn’t long before they began to work together on some projects, including “Radio Axiom a Dub Transmission”, one of their best. This album features the sort of dub influenced groove music you would expect from these two, but this time around they took the time to build something very special, not the easy ‘dub by numbers’ productions that these two can sometimes be guilty of. The difference is in the rhythms, fortunately Bill and Jah assembled a top crew of percussionists led by dub drum master Sly Dunbar, instead of relying on simple looped beats, something that has marred some of Laswell’s past albums in particular. This polyrhythmic foundation is topped with an all-star cast that includes space jazz trumpeters Graham Haynes and Nils Petter Molvaer, Nicky Skopelitis’ always perfect guitar textures, North African vocalists on a few numbers and subtle keyboards throughout.

The rhythms on here vary from straight up dub to a that sort of Jamaican/breakbeat rhythm that was made popular by The English Beat and The Police. Although there are outside influences, this album maintains the stoic integrity of a true dub record with no cuts standing out as incongruous sore thumbs. The flow from song to song is excellent as the rhythms vary enough to be interesting, but never enough to mar the album’s overall continuity. Both Laswell and Wobble have been guilty of ‘phoning it in’ before, but not this time around, “Radioaxiom” features a careful and precise production that ranks it near the top in the cluttered and over crowded field of modern jazzy dub music.
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