David Kagan, aka The Dub Dentist, has been threatening to release this album for many years, I remember having a conversation with him some years ago now to that effect. He was DJ’ing at the same party as myself, playing dance friendly tunes to a thankful crowd at an inner city venue, but what struck me was his love for dub, always showing some influence in the music he chose to play. Yes, he is a dentist too, a damn good one I’m told, but it is the dub that shows through here as a common thread on this double cd.
A result of extensive traveling, sound sourcing, eastern influences and sampling has created a blend of bass driven electro-funk, squarely aimed at the dancefloor, but peppered with an undercurrent of dub, after all, David is a self confessed devout reggae nutter. The first disc has more of the dance friendly tunes, reminding me of bands like Banco de Gaia and the more dub-dance side of early Fila Brazillia, two of the stand out tracks being remixes of others. The Dub Dentists versions of The Versionaires and King Tide are quite epic, but all the time centred around the outstanding vocal talents of both acts. The second disc comes across as more experimental, with more downtempo cuts to break the mood. Some of the more “electro stomper’ tracks aren’ exactly to my taste, but there is so much music in here worthy of investigation, especially if you like your dub squarely aimed at the dancefloor, its not like pulling teeth at all, quite the opposite.
Wayne Stronell
