DUBROOM MP3 REVIEW
WWW, February 2009 - His studio is located in Waterhouse, Kingston, Jamaica. It has been there for quite a while now. Don Carlos, Sugar Minott and many more visited Daddy Mix in his Studio Mix.
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Sunday, February 8, 2009
DADDY MIX
DUBROOM MP3 REVIEW
WWW, February 2009 - His studio is located in Waterhouse, Kingston, Jamaica. It has been there for quite a while now. Don Carlos, Sugar Minott and many more visited Daddy Mix in his Studio Mix.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
MASSIVE ATTACK VS MAD PROFESSOR - NO PROTECTION
DUBROOM ALBUM REVIEW
The Art of DUB has been the inspiration for a very large part of contemporary digital music, from Techno to Hip Hop.
In "No Protection", the Mad Professor provides undeniable evidence of this fact in the form of what really is a "missing link" between Reggae and a form of contemporary digital music called "Trip Hop".
The art of DUB and the rhythm of Reggae are connected, very much so. But DUB and Reggae are not two words for the same music.
If only for that reason, it would be interesting to check out "no Protection". It's a DUB remix by the Mad Professor of the music by Massive Attack. This duo used Horace Andy in their works as well, as they provided an excellent Dance version of Horace Andy's classic "Spying Glass". A DUB can be found on this album too.
This is DUB without (necessarily) being Reggae. A wide variety of different rhythms serve as foundations for what are undeniable heavyweight DUB versions. The Mad Professor shows, how the technique and Art of DUB can be used on more forms of music than Reggae alone.
Ergo: No Protection is an album for the DUB Freak, but not necessarily for the Reggae fan. For those who want to know just what influence DUB has on contemporary music, though, the album is an absolute recommendation.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
AISHA - HIGH PRIESTESS
DUBROOM ALBUM REVIEW
On the Ariwa website, she is presented as the Queen of the Roots Daughters and not without reason.
Born in 1967 and already singing eight years later, Aisha would team up with Mad Professor in the 1980's to start what would grow out to a Movement of female Roots singers.
High Priestess is in many ways to be considered as a document. The album was originally produced in 1986, musically way ahead of it's time. In the same time, it was not so common in that time for a female singer to emphasize on Roots and Roots topics rather than Lover's Rock and/or Dancehall.
The lyrics go deep, very deep. "If there is someone to be blamed, let the politicians be named", for example. In a well worked out combination of lead and backing vocals, it becomes clear that Aisha really is one of the best female singers Reggae has ever known.
As said, the music was way ahead of it's time. In the historical context, it is really interesting to hear Aisha announcing the coming digital age in music and how it will be used to spread conscious vibes.
Not a popular opinion back in that time!
However, the best albums and other creative productions are made in spite of popular opinion, in spite of the spirit of the time, in spite of the wishes of the mainstream recording industry of which the Mad Professor has managed to stay away from throughout the decades of his carrier.
Monday, February 2, 2009
MAD PROFESSOR - WHO KNOWS THE SECRET OF THE MASTERTAPE: DUB YOU CRAZY, PART 5
DUBROOM ALBUM REVIEW
It was the year 1985 and lots of people thought how DUB have had it's longest time. After all, the flood of DUB albums from Jamaica was no longer a flood.
They were wrong and they could have known if they would have been looking to the UK and more specifically, to the Ariwa Studio's!
Neil Fraser sat in his studio. He was working on allready the fifth episode of his -now classic- DUB ME CRAZY series. One DUB Album after other was released, and people could hear -or I should say: experience- how just about every new kind technology was used to create some of the weirdest DUB you could not even think of.
Like a true Mad Professor, his obvious genius goes together with an equally obvious "madness". His works are from a lonely quality, that is to say: simply unmatched. The more you listen, the more you hear just what he was actually able to do in a time wherein most people thought of computers and digital technology as something threatening.
No, it's not for nothing that the Dubroom has such an enormous attention for the DUB albums of Neil Fraser, a.k.a. the Mad Professor. He knows The Secret Of The Master Tape!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
MAD PROFESSOR - PSYCHEDELIC DUB
DUBROOM ALBUM REVIEW
A long horn solo spices up the first DUB of this 1990 Ariwa release. It's a celebration to Nelson Mandela and sets the tone for the rest of this 12 track collection of magnificent DUBS.
Time for DUB ME CRAZY Part 10, which looks both back and forward.
DUB has more than once been called "Psychedelic Reggae", and for a reason. However, the word was more popular in the 1960's and 1970's as it referred to spaced out music and various forms of drugs.
The cover and title of Psychedelic DUB is an obvious hint to that period, but none of that can be said about the music. The album was originally released in 1990, and contains some solid Roots riddims, UK Style. Cool and deadly here, upfull and joyous there...
There are many surprise parts throughout the entire album. Just when you space out a little too much, there is some flanger over the drums to wake you up again. The music can suddenly stop, you hear a phrase and a next DUB is there.
The album was produced in a time wherein the Mad Professor was about to jump into the production of DUB in a more digital style than he did before. Decades were about to come, in which Neil Fraser would (and will) take DUB to an ever deeper dimension. Some anticipating vibes can also be heard already on Psychedelic DUB...
Nice One!
Saturday, January 31, 2009
MAD PROFESSOR - SCHIZOPHRENIC DUB
DUBROOM ALBUM REVIEW
Originally released in 1986 as the 6th part of the crucial Dub Me Crazy series, Schizophrenic DUB contains 12 superb DUB mixes from the hands of Neil Fraser aka the Mad Professor.
A document from a time wherein the sound of Reggae Music was dramatically changing with the introduction of more and more digital technology.
Real drums and drum computer are both used in the production of the riddims on this album, part 6 of Dub Me Crazy. Analog and digital effects go very well together as well.
Short phrases between the tunes, sudden change of one riddim into the next, short clips from one tune used in another: when you think that this was all done in the mid 1980's, you can imagine some of the immense creativity of the Mad Professor.
It was also a time wherein digital technology was introduced in the Reggae studio's more and more, much to the chagrin of people who feared that all this "music-from-a-box" would take the place of creativity and inspiration.
A time wherein cokane was introduced to Jamaica and caused much more than just the music to dramatically change as Ronald Reagan's "War on Drugs" was practiced throughout the whole of South America.
In this time, the Mad Professor produced one crucial album after the other. Just like he's doing now, still, in January 2008. His DUB productions are unmatched until today, while his many releases with a whole army of vocalists complete an oeuvre which takes a predominant place in the (hi)story of Reggae Music as a whole.
Schizophrenic DUB is simply a must-have for the collector of the better UK DUB, the better DUB, the better Roots Reggae even!
Friday, January 30, 2009
MAD PROFESSOR INTERVIEWED IN ISRAEL (2007)
DUBROOM VIDEO REVIEW
WWW, January 2009 - He's not "just" releasing one crucial album after the other, the Mad Professor is also continually touring the world with some DUB show. In this video, we see him as he visits Tel Aviv and gives an interview to reggae.co.il
Where did Neil Fraser get his name "Mad Professor" from? He's explaining it in the start on the almost 5 minutes long video. It didn't come when he built his Ariwa studio...
His many travels as well as the fact he's worked with a list of artists that is just too long to mention, obviously keep teaching him a lot of things. He mentions some of them, specifically he talks about his time with Lee Perry, which dates back to the mid 1980's.
Unfortunately, there are some glitches in the sound as the microphone doesn't really seem to work as it should. However, everything is pretty well understandable and just too good to not at least watch one time, when you're into getting to know one of the best DUB Producers the music has ever known!
MAD PROFESSOR - DUB YOU CRAZY LIKE 2007
DUBROOM ALBUM REVIEW
Fourteen top DUB shots from the hands of the man who was there when UK DUB started a few decades ago, and who is still there, dwelling at the top of DUB producers world-wide.
It says a thing, especially on this album. Created in 2007, it seems to look back at the 1980's when Neil Fraser set up the Ariwa Studio's and the history that came after that.
We hear a variety of riddims and effects, some which definitely date back to the 1980's. The spring reverb, for example. Many of the riddims are of the very same style that Mad Professor made to come out of his studio during the last three decades, some with effects he used in the 1990's.
More of the enormous amount of work that came out of the Ariwa studio during these last decades can be tasted, when you consider the wide variety of different vocalists which drop in and out of the mix. All of them, and more, have been singing and chanting into the microphone throughout time.
A surprisingly refreshing, and in the same time kind of really spaced out: the unmatched quality of Mad Professor's work is shown once again and all we can do is say: crucial!
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