RhoDeo 1311 Roots

Hello, now that we find ourselves at the end of this UK reggae/dub scene tour, we cross the pond over to the world of skunk, the powerful marihuana, cultivated by Dutch agricultural students, together with the liberal laws which lured so many foreigners to the dutch coffeeshops one of those decided to stay close to his inspirational source is todays artist who decided to set up shop (his studio) in the Netherlands.

Twilight Circus is the Dub and reggae project of multi-instrumentalist Ryan Moore, former bassist & drummer of the Legendary Pink Dots. He originally started off producing dub albums, before recording vocalists such as Big Youth, Michael Rose of Black Uhuru and Ranking Joe. However, here we concentrate on his early dub work .... N'joy

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Born and raised in Vancouver, BC, Moore began playing bass at the age of 13 after his first exposure to Bob Marley's classic Natty Dread; Moore's fascination with dub began in the early 1980's, inspired by the nexus of punk rock and dub which film maker Don Letts forged in London, along with the futuristic possibilities hinted at by cyberpunk author William Gibson in Neuromancer. Throughout the 80's he obsessively collected every dub LP he could find, which included Jamaican dub from legends like King Tubby, Prince Jammy, Lee Perry and Scientist as well as 2cnd generation figures operating from London like Adrian Sherwood, Mad Professor, and Jah Shaka.  This fascination with dub continued in the years to follow despite working as a studio musician with Nettwerk Records and collaborating with industrial acts like Skinny Puppy, Download and Single Gun Theory. Joining the Legendary Pink Dots in 1991, two years later Moore relocated to the Netherlands, forming Twilight Circus in 1995 and issuing In Dub Vol. 1 on his own M Records label.
From 1994 to the present Moore has made recordings for Twilight Circus in Vancouver, London, Kingston-Jamaica, and The Netherlands - where he has his own studio.

Since being the opening act for Skinny Puppy side project Download on their 1996 World tour and several tours billed with the Legendary Pink Dots, Twilight Circus has maintained a busy schedule playing all over the World on nearly every continent, including major festivals like Dour Festival, Summerjam, Fuji Rock Festival, One Love (UK), Sierra Nevada World Music Festival.

With Twilight Circus, Ryan Moore has worked with a wide range of respected figures from the dub, reggae and electronic genres including: Sly and Robbie, Dean Fraser, Luciano, Michael Rose (Black Uhuru ) Big Youth, Mikey General, Big Youth, Skully Simms, Vin Gordon (Bob Marley), Earl "Chinna" Smith (Bob Marley), Eddie 'Tan Tan' Thornton ( Aswad), Buttons Tenyue /Matics Horns (UB40), Ansel Collins, Style Scott (Dub Syndicate), Bobby Ellis ( Studio One), Admiral Tibet, Jah Stitch, Sugar Minott, Queen Ifrica, Lutan Fyah, Fred Locks, Gregory Isaacs, Mafia & Fluxy, Cevin Key ( Skinny Puppy), DJ Spooky, and The Mad Professor.

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On his debut as a solo artist, former Legendary Pink Dot Ryan Moore telegraphed his intentions clearly: having studied the art form since his teens, he was going to single-handedly recreate the sound and feel of classic 1970s dub reggae. Before he could do so, he had to master not only numerous instruments, but also the studio itself; dub is, above all, a producer's art, and the techniques involved in turning instrumental tracks into dub require a fair level of virtuosity. The sound he achieves on his first album is derivative, of course, but in a good way; on "Dub Frequency" he weaves a dark, minimalist groove above a vintage one-drop rhythm, while "Rocking Dub" marches along to an Augustus Pablo-influenced rockers beat. "Sir Dub" is a triumph of drum sound, on which Moore combines an enormous acoustic with judicious slapback echo to create a multilayered effect. But best of all are his basslines, most of which rival Bill Laswell's for pure melodic sweetness. His later albums would get more adventurous, but for fans of the old school, this one will be a delight. Bass and drum propelled low-slung dub deluxe, one of the sturdiest rocking albums to emerge from the neo-dub revival yet.

Twilight Circus Dub Sound System - In Dub Vol. 1 (flac  187mb)

01 Dub Frequency 3:45
02 Rocking Dub 3:40
03 Chirping Dub 3:10
04 Sir Dub 4:35
05 Big Dub 4:07
06 Dub Statikk 5:15
07 Cracking Dub 4:50
08 Speaking Dub 4:00
09 Valley Of The Dub 4:31

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Although Ryan Moore's outings are firmly rooted in the dub tradition of the great Jamaican dub kings, he manages to create a recognisable sound of his own. He uses no computers, all tracks are made with real instruments, and that is the reason why the album has a 'warm' feeling about it. The album is a pleasant mix of dub extravaganza and some more straightforward tunes. Although all songs are originals, Ryan Moore somtimes uses snatches of well known dub tracks, and the effect is highly enertaining.

According to Moore's spare liner notes, his drums were recorded during a two month period in Vancouver, while all overdubs were added during a second recording session in the Netherlands. Like the best dubwise records, these echoey drums provide rhythm enough to carry the whole project; on top, Moore's sythetic blips, gurgles and washes add color like sunbursts on the back of eyelids.

Twilight Circus Dub Sound System - Other Worlds Of Dub (flac  207mb)

01 Salma 4:35
02 Arabix 4:33
03 Hose 3:50
04 Carlton 3:35
05 Felafel 3:00
06 Woody 3:40
07 Maffe 4:20
08 Indian 4:25
09 Voice 2:35

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'Bin Shaker Dub' was released in 1997 and contains 10 tracks, written, arranged and produced by Ryan Moore, the Canadian dub wizzard, based in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. As always he uses no programming or computer sequencing, the album is entirely made with live instrumentation, just the way it was done in the 70s in Jamaica. Most tracks are trance-inducing dub windows to the music's soul. Ocassionally the music sounds scary, wrapped round in pulsating tempos with intergalactical dub effects. Extra points must be awarded for the inclusion of reggae legend Sly Dunbar on drums for a couple of tracks.

Twilight Circus Dub Sound System - Bin Shaker Dub (flac 243mb)

01 Thunder Mix 4:09
02 Highway 3:30
03 Killer 3:50
04 Lowell And Nine 5:02
05 Shaka 3:44
06 Perfect World 3:40
07 Binghi 4:15
08 Bong Loop 3:05
09 U.K. Steppers 5:22
10 Porno 3:50

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