REVIEW: NUCLEUS ROOTS - Heart Of Dub (Hammarbass Records)

In the early days of 1995 Nucleus Roots was a ten piece reggae outfit who later got narrowed down to five. Two musicians and three vocalists. The main idea behind Nucleus Roots was to create a platform for the many talented singers residing in Manchester where Nucleus Roots has its headquarters. From using a all live set up at first Nucleus Roots found their love for the more digital approach when they had to narrow down their line up due to limited stage space at a show in their hometown Manchester (UK) in 1998. The musical backbone of Nucleus Roots are P Lush and P Teck who build, arrange and produce the rhythms that carry the voices of Nucleus Roots main vocalists Moses, Simon Dan and Country Culture. The use of both analog and digital equipment and the fact that both Lush and Teck are skilled musicians gives Nucleus Roots an original and refreshing musical vibe.

soundclip - Nucleus Roots feat. Don Hartley - Meditation Dub

"Heart Of Dub" is their fifth album so far and is more of less the dub version of their last output "Heart Of The Matter" which itself is a great album. From a dubheads point of view it's great to hear these songs, which at times even out rank the vocal versions, taking it to a complete new level after gotten a proper treatment at the mixing board. The vocals actually do real justice to the rhythms by standing down and letting the drum and the bass take lead when not the skanks, melodies and what's left of the vocals intertwine. The small details which the ear can leave out, like guitar and synth trickery, now also comes into the open and shows its full potential. The singers must also be given credit as their vocals and especially harmonies do wonders on these rhythms provided given them a aura of mysticism and pure sound system upliftment. Those who felt the rush of receiving x-amount of bass through your body when the selector flips the vinyl to run its dubpiece know what I mean. This is music for sound system play who after public demand now found its way unto CD and I give thanks for that.

soundclip - Nucleus Roots feat. Simon Dan - Lie Dem A Dub

Some of the tracks are dubs to unreleased vocals like "People Rise Dub", where they've worked with the talented and under recorded Ras Daniel Ray, and "Mankind Dub", which features Ossie Gad of the Naturalites (remember "Picture On The Wall"?) on vocals. Having heard these tracks only gives me good expectations of what's to come in the future. For me this is one of the best contemporary dub albums to have emerged in 2006 so if I were you I'd get myself a copy.

/Jakob Levi - 29/9-06

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