Words by Justin Turford
This might at first glance appear to be a dub record but it is actually a LOT of things. The space-dub outfit Champagne Dub’s album ‘Rainbow’ is a strange old mood that encompasses elements of kraut, psyche, sludge, post-punky, avant-garde, jazz adjacent improvisations as well as recognisable dub wizardry. Filtered, fried and f**ked, the colours of this freeform rainbow seem smudged and scratched into each other. It’s a wild, sometimes uncomfortable ride.
Bandleader and drummer Maxwell Hallett (aka Betamax) has plenty of psychedelic freakout history as a key member of astro-jazzers The Comet is Coming (alongside Shabaka and Hallett’s longtime Soccer96 compadre, Danalogue), Coma World with Pete Bennie, and a project he did recently for Byrd Out with his Dad Clive Bell, himself a veteran of the London avant-garde scene and who appears here twice on the album.
For this project he has assembled a band capable of delivering the “positive creativity” that his freeform approach to dub requires.
“I need everyone fully going for it, not wondering if this was the take or the one before. We are here to create raw metamorphic rock-rituals. What does that sound like? We need to go on an exploration of complete positive creativity. It needs to be genuine. It’s a chemistry experiment, I want to see the result of what happens when you mix a bit of this person, with a bit of that person”.
Bassist/composer Ruth Goller is the go-to for that explorative earth frequency, her work with Alabaster DePlume and Melt Yourself Down, and especially her solo work, revealing a creative and fearless musician rightfully in high demand. Sound artist and inventor Ed Briggs (DIY electronics, laser bagpipes - “an inflated rubber glove with tubes receiving light frequencies bouncing off a bit of tin foil and being converted into Jah Shaka-style laser FX”) adds layers of unidentified hallucinations whilst masked Peruvian performance artist and vocalist, Mr Noodles brings his fragmentary vocal and percussive chaos to the lab.
Inspired by the more out there dub experimentation of Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, as well as memories of seeing his Dad perform with Jah Wobble, this isn’t a clean ‘traditional’ dub sound. Hallett’s drumming has always contained an unchoked looseness, rock solid but restless and unpredictable, and the final sound of ‘Rainbow’ is awash with mercurial, unsettled vibrations.
Ironically, the opener ‘Sink’ is probably the track with some of the most recognisable dub traits. Slithering hi hats, filtered snare hits, ‘bagpipe’ sirens and a deep, grinding bassline that wobbles from start to finish. It also sounds like a blend of Damo-era Can and any number of underground 90s festival bands raised on a diet of Hawkwind, African Head Charge and mushrooms. Mega.
‘Wet Drip’ is definitely more wonky, and catchier! A bumping, angular groove with addictive cowbells, synth and regular bass switching at surprising moments while Mr Noodles’ hooky refrain of “Wet Drip” gives the tune a weird sing-a-long tilt. The filtered keys sound like classic digi-dub but the finished thing is anything but.
The tasty sounding ‘Full Moon Placenta’ is oddly beautiful. Like a vinyl copy of Peter Gabriels ‘Passion’ was played at the wrong speed as some kethead at the afterparty kept putting their finger on the record while it was spinning. Lovely emotive chords, broken hand percussion and a delicious bassline just about keep it sane.
The punk-funk-dub growler that is ‘Scrubbing’ oozes Bristol 1980s mayhem. Dynamite drums and percussion, and a bassline that feels like a mugging drive the dirty old bus through the police barriers. Startling childlike vocals, Jellybean Benitez synth stabs and some utterly mad noises create mayhem inna the dance. Brilliant.
Assuming this is a nod towards Total Refreshment Centre (one of London’s spiritual homes for improvisational music), ‘Refreshment Guy’ has a suitably unhinged jamming ambience about it. A clattering romp with more brilliantly complex percussion, a killer bass from Goller and levels of interstellar sci-fi keyboards that get filtered to oblivion.
The apocalyptic strut of ‘Chanco Vaca’ starts with Dad Clive Bell on melodica though not how Augustus Pablo played it. Drones, whirs and dreamy chords lull the senses until the main groove slaps its way in. An unbelievable bassline underpins Mr Noodles at peak rant, the mix from Dilip ‘Demus’ Harris is disorientated and rabid, the song a perfect example (I suspect) of what Hallett wanted from this project: the sound of distinct and strong personalities thriving in the chaos.
‘Cumulosnimbus’ stretches itself out in a jazz-electronica-poetry-dub vein. An infectious repeated melody line that flows from start to end, live scattershot hip hop drums (rimshots galore), and the clearest vocals on the album from Mr Noodles - “when the fog is there you stare / and the crowd said... despair, don’t stare…" dissolve into a heavy spaced-out locked groove that I imagine could roll on for hours.
The title track ‘Rainbow’ hides its positive name well. Menacing and industrial, this is dub as chainsaw. Metallic drums and distortion bass thunder along, vocals float away to tinnitus as bleeps, bloops, lasers and grim determination fight for position. Like Massive Attack vs Sleep, this rainbow is the result of heavy weather.
‘Champagne Dub’ doesn’t appear to contain much champagne. Think diesel. On fire. 9/10