A spotlight on two great albums that were released recently: On The dUbble, by dUb n dUbr (a collaboration between Kees de Groot and Martin Hensel), and The Next Station, the latest compilation released by the music project Cities and Memory
dUb n dUbr – On The dUbble
Here’s how Kees the Groot and Martin Hensel describe their collaborative work:
“This album is the result of a two-year collaboration between Kees de Groot and Martin Hensel that grew out of their mutual interest in repetition in music and techniques employed in dUbstep production. While each artist has a distinct personal style in their own musical endeavors—Hensel’s tradition is from 90s techno club scenes and de Groot pulls from 60s and 70s jazz fusion and prog rock traditions—there is something uniquely new in how they blended their affinities.”
A rather splendid album that will certainly appeal to dubstep and dub fans, On the Dubble is an immersive experience: by combining sampled sounds and field recordings, Kees and Martin made an inspiring dub album in which each track is distinctly unique, and their irresistible grooves will surely let your imagination run wild.
A very pleasurable and intriguing listen. Available on Bandcamp.
Cities and Memory – The Next Station
Cities and Memory is an inspiring sound project run by Stuart Fowkes which aims to remix and reimagine the world through field recordings. C&M runs regular music projects and invites sound artists to record and submit their sounds: its latest project, “The Next Station”, was about creating a sound map of the London Underground.
“Working alongside The London Sound Survey, we collected field recordings from 55 stations across the London Underground network over the course of three months, adding in sounds from our respective archives. We then invited sound artists, sound designers and musicians from around the world to reimagine, remix and rework those sounds during July, with almost 100 reimagined pieces presented here.”
Although of the almost 100 submissions only 14 tracks were selected for this compilation, The Next Station is incredibly diverse and unpredictable: its music forms an absolutely brilliant record that will have you mesmerized. Available on Bandcamp.