Gus Till - Dub Shadows

[abasio]

 

Artist: Gus Till

Title: Dub Shadows

Label: Cyan Music (Sub Label of Psy-Harmonics)

Released: 2004

Style: Psychedelic Ambient Dub

 

Tracklist

 

1 Photogenic

2 Something Dub

3 Re-entry

4 Inamorata

5 Life of Flesh

6 Chain of Daiquiri

7 Never Give a Sucker an Even Break

8 Monkey in the Black Sky

9 North by Northwest 6 (Midnite Sake Dub)

10 Atahualpa

 

I must admit that I love Gus Till, he has made some of the best trance released in the Golden era of amazing trance and has produced a string of great downtempo releases too. He is such a versatile artist & picking up a Gus Till release virtually guarantees it’s quality, psychedelic goodness & its ability to last through the ages. So a retrospective of Gus Till’s downtempo tracks. Being called Dub Shadows you may think that this album is very dubby and you’d be right on the money with that assumption. This is the kind of psychedelic dub that is not psydub. There is no clichéd psydub ethnic crap in this; it is just pure dubby goodness with a twisted psychedelic edge. Right from the start there are solid beats, thick basslines & mind twisting background psychedelica.

 

Photogenic starts of more conventional dub that psy but Something Dub brings in a lot of trippy noises to slice through your brain. Re-entry really brings down the tempo into a more ambient dub sound and focuses more on atmospheric background drones to set a trippy mood of submersion. Inamorata featuring Paul Jackson is a little more normal, not so dubby but not so psychedelic either but a nice balance of neither. Life of Flesh featuring George Barker and with Matt Coldrick on guitar is a trippy piece of electro dub with a real acoustic feel. Matt’s guitar work sounds really nice and summery but the rest of the track adds a “bongo out of my mind on the beach while party people surround and consume me” kind of feel, it is a brilliant track even by Gus Till’s standards. The short Chain Of Daiquiri has a more tribal beat but an insane melodic synth that just seems to drip down the side of my mind. I am instantly put in mind of a tribal ritual invoking spirits from beyond the veil of reality. Shame it’s so short. Never Give A Sucker An Even Break is not exactly a standout but it is a very nice psychedelic dub track in the same vein as the start of the album with a tight bassline and trippy background noises.

 

Monkey In The Black Sky deserves its own paragraph I think! This id definitely one of the best tracks Gus Till has put out and seeing as Gus Till is one of the best producers I’ve heard you can tell that I am going to be saying great things about this track. I fell in love with this after I first heard it on Flying Rhino’s 3CD Time – re:evolution II. From the insanely trippy voices at the start to the extraordinarily trippy vocals that seem to cascade in a trans-dimensional bleeding through the walls kind of way this track is just psychedelic to its core. The voices sound trippy but when they make sense their content is the sort of content that will send am addled brain over the edge of incomprehension & lush joy. The synths and melody make this feel like a trippy oldschool track slowed right down beyond anything artists used to put on the end of their albums. The bassline is so slow but drives the track with a diligence that belays the rest of the sounds. This track is easily worth buying the entire album just to own. Just when you think it’s over it completely changes with the tolling of a town square bell and all the sounds that have been prevalent over the last 8 minutes to shift 90 degrees into such a bizarre but great ending. Fantastic!

 

The last two tracks, North By Northwest 6 (Midnite Sake Dub) featuring Raja Ram and Atahuala are both great tracks with a lot of dub & psy elements. North By Northwest 6 manages to graft out an almost orchestral feeling with some big instruments while Atahuala finishes off the album with some fine tribal ambient dub with a trippy atmosphere and a feeling that it is raining outside. Neither track reaches the dizzy heights of Monkey In The Black Sky but they are a fine end to a great album.

 

A must for all dub fans, ambient fans, Gus Till fans, psy fans and to be honest I reckon most electronic downtempo fans, even those that just see it as 8am after party music would really like this album. It is worth getting just for Monkey In The Black Sky but the rest of the tracks make this a must buy in my book. I’m glad I did!