Label: ZARŠ
Release year: 2018
Production: Miha Arnuš
Album length: 54.07
Genre: Dub / Art Rock
Dubzilla are an all-instrumental band and an absolute one-off in the vast underground of Slovenian alternative rock. The band, which clocked up its twelfth year of existence this year, is back on the scene four years after “Dub Naturalis” (2014) with its third full-length, “impressively” titled “Post Dub Impressions”. Dubzilla are in no rush. They create when they feel they can create. So the new record is, once again, an excellent album with a homegrown art ID card that belongs to the band and nobody else. Post-dub impressions, then. It doesn’t get more fitting than that. Dub remains the clear starting point on which Dubzilla build each composition, with post rock lurking alongside, as it always has. So, for now, I haven’t told you anything new, but of all three albums, the new one feels the most “trippy”, “stoned”, “unplugged” and whatnot, which means it will take the listener, if they let it, quickly and very effectively toward a new experience of soaking up musical magic through a cerebral disconnect. Being objective about this claim is impossible, since it depends on how much, and how, each individual opens up their head, but like I said. Blowing your mind beyond the rational is hugely welcome with the sounds of Dubzilla. It always has been, it obviously always will be, and this kind of music hits hardest when you switch your consciousness off, especially when you catch the band live.
The new album shows that the band is writing longer and longer compositions. The transitional “looping” between individual motifs happens with ever bigger time gaps, which means the “post” moment is cranked up even further this time. The band keeps building and refining its sensual ambient side, which, despite the use of samples and loops, still sustains, holds on to and nurtures the wonderfully pleasing organic sonic character of the whole soundscape. The natural, warm-sounding pastels in the sound production come through especially in the rhythmic foundation of the compositions, which is framed with a solid formwork of thick-toned bass lines. The band isn’t shy about using an “old-school” garrison of sounds and instruments, as the integration of a Wurlitzer shows once again, along with that famous Fender cross between an electric guitar and a bass guitar, the Bass VI, which The Beatles used back in the day to record, among others, Helter Skelter and Back In the USSR.
If on the previous album the band invited a violin, a harmonica and Klemen Klemen as guests, this time Dubzilla brought in wind players, which is a new way of dressing up the band’s original expression. The opener S.O.K.I. makes that clear right away, with the baritone sax stabs tickling the motivic core of the track, as do the other saxophone spices in Aerosol and the closing Pank Decarboxylation. The band uses the winds to lift the ambience, twist the mood, swing the vibe in a different direction, but never for excursions into jazz and improvisation. The saxophones just diligently color and contrast the given moods, strengthening and intensifying (deepening) them. The band keeps up an extraordinary musicality throughout. It builds the layers of the soundscape slowly and stacks them gradually into a rich puzzle of harmonious coexistence (of the building blocks of the sonic picture). Dubzilla enjoy themselves, and they don’t hide that heartfelt joy in their work on the new album either. They approach everything totally relaxed, with incredible feel, without hurry, without haste. As a result, the album speaks to the listener with a deeply captivating character, completely unpretentious, and thanks to the tight, cohesive beat and musical accessibility, it gets under your skin like an infection.
The album sounds as if it were a concert. Recorded in one piece, live. Even though the compositions are structured quite concisely, their development always carries a welcome note of spontaneity and unpredictability. The album keeps surprising you with completely unexpected turns of events. Rhythm and a grabby motif. Exceptional chemical interactions created between the members of the band. In that sense, Dubzilla are a band that is completely honed in its penetrating, self-authored expression. The excellent debut hinted at it, and their third studio album maintains and nurtures it, which is also a sign of the extraordinary inner harmony of the quintet.
Dubzilla are becoming grand masters of their art craft, of pure instrumental dub naturism. Their third album, “Post Dub Impressions”, is a chiseled, instantly recognizable musical dossier that deepens, nurtures and builds on everything they’ve done before. An excellent achievement that confirms that, with their clearly defined musical vision, Dubzilla are one of the most appealing, carefully guarded musical secrets in Slovenia right now.
by: Aleš Podbrežnik
rating: 9.0 / 10
Track list:
1. S.O.K.I. (10:10)
2. Gajbe (06:15)
3. Pull My Trigger (09:18)
4. Dub Of War (07:23)
5. Aerosol (12:24)
6. Pank Decarboxylation (07:50)
Lineup:
Tomaž Rifelj “Buc” – drums
Dejan Slak “Sleyk” – bass VI, keyboards, synthesizers, guitars, loops
Črt Zorko – bass guitar, bass synthesizer
Luka Švajger – guitar
Saša Serban Selyak – sampling
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Simon Rezelj – baritone saxophone on track no. 1
Borut Turk – bass clarinet on track no. 6
Denis Androić – flugelhorn on track no. 6
Borut Perše “Hefe” – lead guitar on track no. 6
Gregor Turk – trombone on track no. 7
