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(OM/Stomp)
This cd is a live mix by J.Boogie’s Dubtronic Science, with J.Boogie on turntables, vocals by Tony Moses, sitar played by Gabby Lang, and joined by saxophonist Charles Cooper and flautist/baritone player Carlos Arriaza. The group’s song Try Me, track 11, which features vocalists Goapele and Capitol A is a great sample to gain a sense of the style of the musicians behind the whole mix.
Starting with Soulstice, Wind a J.Boogie remix, this is a latin fed slow house track overlaid with scratching that adds to the clear female vocals. Romanowski, Rob Symeonn and Variable Unit give a very dubby groove, not in a rush to get anywhere but a higher state of relaxation.
Asheru slides in with a lounge beat backed by a rolling rap and a smooth male chorus, the rap samples a lounge break that is used to create a very easy melody. Lone Catalysts and Strange Fruit Project continue the smooth almost rnb movement of songs
Piakhan and BJ’s Queen City has a string sample that is layered with Cooper’s saxophone and Arriaza’s flute that move the track along dreamily, mixing into DJ Mitsu with Right Here, a slightly more uptempo track melding rnb with a slow house beat
Zion I featuring Martin Luther moves a soulful beat-driven, chorus backed rap track that J.Boogie uses to introduce a mix of his band Dubtronic Silence’s Try Me.
Encore step out, followed by Farid to keep the rhythm and melody moving. The music is not too densely packed which allows for a clearer, easier listen. Next up, J.Boogie and Co. feature vocalists Zion I and Duece Eclipse with the song You’re a Murdera, a song against George Bush, junior and the war in iraq. With declarations that the president is ‘a gangster and a murderer’ this is a snapshot of the time it was made.
DJ Zeph continues with Dubtronic Science’s intro reminding again of the San Fransiscan sound that record label Stomp say is behind the band and their mix. Shake it on Down is a sax-added track that you’d only hope you were getting and giving eyes to some cutie across the room to. Hearing this will have me searching out some DJ Zeph for sure.
Amp Fiddler’s Dreamin is an uplifting song that moves the mix into a stronger beat, the handclaps come out in this track and gets the smiles raised up a notch. DKD slows this back a little for a while with brighter day…now either san Francisco gets so much sun that it’s most of what occupies and influences their light beats or they have such constant grey weather that they compensate for it with their graceful tunes.
Blu Bizness’ Remembering Sol, accompanied by Arriaza on flute is a fluffy little track that would do well on any chill compilation, the tight, sampled drums add the energy to the song as it swings into the sharp house song Stillness Meets Me by Projections.
Mark Farina moves across Projections with shaking cymbals to bring in the flawless house sounds he’s known for with J.Boogie’s remix of Dream Machine. Mark Rae cuts into this with a guitar line that moves up and down to move the body along with the kick snared beat.
Thievery Corporation’s remix of Thunderball’s Pop the Trunk is a smooth, beachside cocktail drinking tune, be sure to be at least swinging your hips by this time or you may hurt yourself.
A bongo style cowbell beat gets going next, Coppa’s Cornnuts and Courvoisier is a one minute, 45 seconds lead in to Dubtronic Science’s Purple Perpendicular Phonics. The bongoes sampled behind the monotone, delayed rap and a more upbeat style by P.E.A.C.E and Raashan Ahmad gives a humid feel to this smooth track. J.Boogie’s attention to the production as well as to the groove is a strong backbone through this mix.
Quantic steps in next, with music for your meditation Use What You Got, a house song that is off beat enough to confuse most chin strokers. The jazz and soul backgrounds are evident in the samples and influence. There is a soul to this that lifts them up while metaphorically planting them firmly into the ground. Goapele’s song Closer, remixed by DJ Spinna is a lovely track that echoes across the more relaxed calypso beat to slow down near the end of the album.
DJ Tonk featuring Asiah end the set with J.Boogie’s remix of Forgive Me, a song that feels like the last few warm down moments of an aerobic session, relaxing and calming yet fused with the energy of the set played, the movements from dub, through rnb to soul, then onto San Franciscan flavoured house and rap.
You can almost see the sun going down, the chairs beginning to be put up at the end of a night, or a simple kitchen with the smells of breakfast and a warm sunshine through the window as Asiah’s vocals breeze over the final track of what is an easy moving collection of tunes from the OM record label.
