Lyons, France-based dub / electronic quintet High Tone first formed back in 1997, with the live band fusion of guitars, bass, drums, DJ and electronics in evidence on their ensuing 2000 debut album ‘Opus Incertum’ immediately placing them alongside similar contemporaries such as Zenzile and Le Peuple De L’Herbe. Three years on from 2007′s ‘Underground Wobble’, this fifth album from High Tone arrives as an expansive 2CD set, the first disc titled ‘Dub Axiome’ focusing on more dancefloor-oriented sounds, while the second ‘No Border’ disc concentrates on more cinematic atmospheres with space for acoustic instrumentation. Whatever the case, for a large part the 15 tracks gathered here see High Tone fashioning a particularly hard and brutal spin on the dub genre, and one that’s certainly not geared towards the faint of heart. Opener (and first single) ‘Spank’ sees the controls straight for white-knuckled fear from the very outset with its menacing fusion of eerie Middle Eastern instrumentation, ghostly dubbed-out female shrieks and thudding, venomous slo-motion dancehall rhythms, and gives the likes of Kevin Martin a serious run for their money whilst also representing perhaps the one overt nod to dubstep here.
‘Dirty Urban Beat’ meanwhile sees a thudding techno pulse locking into place around buzzing distorted synths and turntablist scratching in an offering that leans perhaps more towards Two Lone Swordsmen’s sparse dub-techno, before the Oddateee-fronted ‘Liqor’ sets bleeping, gamecore synths trailing over a crashing backdrop of dubbed-out hiphop beats, the growling sub-bass swells underpinning the verbal attack whilst also upping the growing sense of paranoia. While there’s certainly plenty of murderous darkness to be found on ‘Out Back’ (see ‘Uncontrollable Flesh’s nightmarish fusion of retro horror movie samples, clanking Techno Animal-esque industrial rhythms and tortured jazz horns), there’s also the odd gentler moment to balance things out nicely, with the delicate ‘Propal’ threading cinematic-sounding orchestration amidst fluttering percussion and twanging, Morricone-esque guitars, while ‘Rub-A-Dub Anthem’ takes things out into hard-edged lovers rock styles worthy of Adrian Sherwood in his prime. If you’ve got a taste for live dub given an industrial-edged twist along the lines of Scorn and The Bug, Out Back is highly recommended.
Chris Downton
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