Anarchy & Alchemy

Dub Gabriel – Anarchy & Alchemy
Reviewed by Sadie O., 9/21/08
Dubstep/Dub/Electronica with lots of guest vocalists. Styles vary and defy classification, but always with one root stuck in Dub. In the growing area of multicultural club dub, this is a solid, interesting contribution.
FCCs on track 4 and 9. I like 1, 5, 9 and esp. 3.
1. 3:46 ***electronic bloops and diatribe against money. Riddim comes and goes, echo-y dubstep. Compelling chorus, dancehall vocals.
2. 4:46 **swingy percussion, female spoken word in a sort of beatnik/Gil Scott Heron style, echo-y electronics.
3. 3:51 ****interesting electronics combining drum/chime sounds, high-energy soca/dancehall vocals.
4. 3:29 FCC: “shit” x2 **electronic squeebles, slow dancehall skank, vocals are some sort of metal/hip hop/skatepunk thing.
5. 3:39 ***downtempo, almost a belly-dance groove, dancehall vocals. definitely a fun combination.
6. 5:11 *pretty electronic chimes fade in, mellow female spoken word in French. No real beat, just trance-y electronica.
7. 3:44 **downtempo tabla intro, spoken word in Arabic and Spanish, with hints of Middle Eastern ney (?). Unusual.
8. 4:32 **downtempo dubstep, male hip hop vocals with a British/Jamaican sound.
9. 3:20 FCC: “fuckin” ***swingy beat with electronic gronches and hand percussion. Female hip hop vocals.
10. 5:00 *organ chords intro, quavery and deeply sincere vocals by Michael Stipe. 4/4 beat and random violin sawing – I find this hard to listen to, but it could rock your world, who knows. Feedback outro.