Everyone knows dubstep, but it’s not the only fusion of dance music with the spacious Jamaican production style known as dub.
In the 1990s, a small group of German producers pioneered dub techno, a far more experimental and ambient genre of techno than most prevalent at the time. Dub techno tracks can stretch well over 10 minutes, and though you can certainly dance to the genre, it doesn’t have the catharsis of most house and techno. This isn’t party music, but I’ve always found it works best on a long nature walk or in a smoky room late at night.
Here are some of the essential documents of dub techno:
Andy Stott — Luxury Problems
Britain’s Andy Stott is dub techno’s main indie star thanks to his vocal-heavy productions, relatively short tracks and keen aesthetic sense. Though his recent work leans more towards trap, Luxury Problems is a contemporary classic in the dub techno canon.
Basic Channel — BCD/BCD2
The brainchild of German reggae fan Moritz Von Oswald, who also makes great improvisational music with his Trio, Basic Channel is usually credited with kicking off the dub techno movement. BCD, their only official album, is ambient and soothing; BCD2 is dark, sprawling and abrasive.
Deepchord Presents Echospace — The Coldest Season
A late addition to the canon, The Coldest Season isn’t the most original dub techno release, borrowing shamelessly from Basic Channel. But it’s an exemplary release in the canon, pairing sheets of ambient sound with dancefloor-ready grooves over 80 icy minutes that somehow feel a lot shorter.
Loscil — First Narrows
Vancouver’s Loscil uses aquatic dub textures to simulate the wet and rainy environment of his hometown. The first in a series of albums based on locales in his hometown, First Narrows — named after the bridge of the same name — evokes sea spray, ebbing tides and water dripping off the hulls of docked ships.
Monolake — Hongkong
Give this one to your masseuse. This is dub techno at its most melodic and soothing, and though its first track “Cyan” takes a while to build, it’s worth it when those massive, billowing chords take over the song.
Porter Ricks — Biokinetics
On their sole album, Germans Porter Ricks show off their mastery of sound design, imbuing their creations with an organic wetness that makes each track sound as if it’s been marinated in primordial goo.
Uusitalo — Vapaa Muurari Live
Finnish polymath and Moritz Von Oswald Trio member Vladislav Delay flirted briefly with dub techno on his first and best album as Uusitalo. Though its track list is offset by long, meandering ambient pieces, there’s some compulsively danceable stuff here — try not to shake your ass to “Dutch Wallpaper.”
Playlist: Enter the beguiling world of dub techno
May 25, 2015
In the 1990s, a small group of German producers pioneered dub techno, a far more experimental and ambient genre of techno than most prevalent at the time. (Photo courtesy of Modern Love Records)
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