Bombay Dub Orchestra – Bombay Dub Orchestra (6 Degrees)
Reviewed by Sadie O., 3/5/06
Very slightly Indian-flavored relaxed electronica from a British production duo and Indian string orchestra. Probably more Electronica than World, in all actuality. Very lush, extremely relaxed. Most songs ends a bit short of given times (which are hard enough to see!) Right on the borderline of being elevator music, IMO. I liked their cut on a world Latin comp, but this is nowhere near as danceworthy. Disk 2 is the “dub” versions (remixes, little real dub).
Some vocals, but little in the way of lyrics, no FCCs. IMO 4, 7 and 10 are best tracks on disk 1, 11 and 1 are ok. Tracks 2 and 3 on disk 2 are quite good (they have a beat!!!), 4 and 6 are ok.
Disk 1:
1. *atmospheric swirly noises slowly grow and differentiate, cool downtempo beat starts around 40 seconds in. Barely discernable female vocals, mostly spoken. Slow atmospheric fade.
2. Bloops and spoken male vocals (French), again a beat comes in quite late, this time very laid back. Nice violin. Extremely chill. Another slow fade.
3. Flutes and strings – definitely an Indian flavor to the flute. Barely discernable beat – EXTREMELY chill. Female Indian vocalist does a bit of “aaaaahhh….” Ends a few seconds short.
4. **Male vocals, Arabic? Violin. Beat comes in around 30 seconds in, actually kind of uptempo, although not terribly insistent. There IS a sort of operatic sound to the strings. Interesting juxtaposition.
5. Again, atmospheric, beat comes in late… midtempo, highly orchestral, lots of electronica bloops in second half. Almost ends about 30 seconds from stated ending, then very faint wave sounds.
6. Bloops and chimes and reverb. Extremely chill, no beat. Good for going to sleep to… a bit of pretty acoustic guitar towards end.
7. **A bit of sitar, male Indian vocals (carnatic), lots of strings. Beat comes in around 50 seconds in – good to hear a beat again! This one actually sounds fairly Indian, unlike the rest of the record.
8. Very downtempo beat comes in after a full minute. Orchestra and electronics, hint of female vocals.
9. Some piano, no beat, very slow, a bit sad.
10. **Flute, piano, midtempo rather latin-jazzy beat. A bit of accordion, even, some cello. Nice to hear actual instruments and a beat with a bounce! OK!
11. *Sounds like humpbacked whale calls, as well as a bit of Indian instrumentation, female vocals. Fairly strong midtempo beat comes in about 2 minutes along, with burpy female vocals, a bit of sitar. Rather cinematic. Gets atmospheric and beat-less later.
12. Piano, extremely slow.
Disk 2 (remixes):
1. 8:43 soft sitar arpeggios, echo-y electronica, doesn’t hit full volume til almost a minute and a half in. Extremely chill, trance-y, no beat for most of song, VERY electronic, but nice.
2. **5:33 sitars and bloops – very dub uptempo reggae/dance beat. Electronica and random vocal noises (reggaeish), great riddim.
3. **6:20 cool uptempo tabla beat with electronics and violins. Very cinematic, dramatic.
4. *6:12 very relaxed beat, violins and random vocals (male, Arabic), piano. Electronics not quite as dramatic as elsewhere.
5. 7:25 atmospheric electronics, random, some violin. No beat. Sounds like the soundtrack to one of those “Italy from Above” fly-over shows. Slow beat comes in after 4 and a half minutes.
6. *6:56 slow atmospheric build, cool relaxed beat after a minute, very laid back yet a bit menacing.
7. 5:38 slow build with violins, so sad sounding! Melancholy and violins… Very classical in nature. No vocals, no beat.
8. 5:39 low and slow, strings and electronics. Bedtime! Ends about 15 seconds short.