RhoDeo 1317 Roots

Hello, France like the UK has some colonial connection to the Caribbean, as a consequence they did develop a reggae / dubscene as well, though the availability of plenty of grass must have inspired. The coming weeks i'll be presenting some of it. Today a mixed bag a sampler with 50/50 uk/france acts on it , Dub Unites ! Plenty of trippy stuff going on with Brain Damage, the duo plays and belongs to an electro dub style of its own. In the same time dark and emotional. A style defines like emo-dub-ambient. .....N'joy

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Brain Damage is a French dub band from Saint-Étienne. The band is made up by Martin, sound engineering, and Raphael, bass.

Created in the year 1999 by two members of the dub collective and label Bangarang[citation needed], Brain Damage plays a very personal and particular dub music: dark, and emotional. The band defines it as emo-dub-ambient. After a first maxi CD -Bipolar Disorder- and a compilation -Combat dub- produced by its own label (Bangarang), Brain Damage realized 2 albums with the dub label from Paris, Hammerbass. Their debut Ep —Bipolar Disorder— issued in January 2000, has been acclaimed by the french musical magazines. After featurings on numerous compilations, their first album —Always greener on the other side— recorded partly at the famous Conscious sounds studio with the singer Tena Stelin (Bush Chemists, Jah Warrior, Iration Steppas), confirmed that Brain Damage had a unique way of dubbing music: emotional and powerful..

By the end of 2003 new encounters with London vocalist Learoy Green and the poet/dj Black Sifichi from New York lead to a new album: "Ashes to ashes/Dub to Dub ". After the two conceptual albums The Spoken Dub Manifesto (2006) (featuring plenty of guests on the cover) and the sound mixtures of Short Cuts (2008), Brain Damage return with dark streaks and melancholy vibrations to the ambient dub of 2010. These sounds belong to a different world, one imbued with a mystical whiff of medieval alchemy, far removed from the Anglo-Jamaican era of Ashes to Ashes Dub to Dub (2004).

Burning Before Sunset is clearly running against their past musical proposals. This Brain Damage album is structurally based on relaxed dub rhythms that stay with you from the first chord, only later to become a mix of brute samples releasing retained but powerful energy in regular beats. This mixture of aggressive and ecstatic sound layers gives the album a delicate aura. A fundamental contribution to the Brain Damage discography, the album demonstrates the band’s ambition to never repeat itself. In 2011 they released High Damage : High Tone meets Brain Damage a year later Brain Damage Dub Sessions "What you gonna do?"

Brain Damage are a live-act with bass and sub-bass sounds (subsonic frequencies), that’s had over 500 concerts in Europe since 1999. On stage, the duo runs against their ambient studio sound by releasing pure energy.

Discography

Always greener (02)
Ashes to ashes / Dub to dub (04)
Spoken dub manifesto vol.1 (06)
Short Cuts (08)
Short Cuts Live (09)
Burning before Sunset (10)
High Damage : High Tone meets Brain Damage (11)
Brain Damage Dub Sessions "What you gonna do?" (12)

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Brain Damage, the French crew been known for their really deep and spherical dubs,  "Always Greener On The Other Side" was already some very exciting stuff and "Ashes To Ashes - Dub To Dub" picks up on where the forerunner ended. This time Leroy Green and Black Sifichi have been chosen as guest vocalists and that wasn't the worst choice as the opener "The Unity Of The Circle" proves, a brillant tune with very, very deep soundscapes and B. S. on the mic. But that's not the only mentionable track. All tracks are. Whether "Let Me Be", "My Father" and "One Dollar" with L. G. on the mic or "The Balance Of The Cube", again with B. S., all killers, no fillers.

Brain Damage - Ashes To Ashes - Dub to Dub (flac  321mb)

01 The Unity Of The Circle 5:04
02 Let Me Be 5:13
03 My Father 5:31
04 One Dollar 4:18
05 The Balance Of The Cube 6:05
06 Circle Dub 4:46
07 Dollar Dub 3:47
08 Cube Dub 4:39
09 Let Me Be Dub 4:23
10 My Father Dub 3:55

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After successive outputs of two concept albums, "Spoken Dub Manifesto" and its prestigious guests in 2006 and that was fabulous sound patchwork "Short cuts" in 2008, Brain Damage plethora comes early this year with "Burning Before Sunset ", his fifth album. This marks the return of Etienne towards ambient dub, full of dark and melancholy emotions. A science of sound close to alchemy. For all that, this album - far from the Anglo Jamaican dub time "Ashes to Ashes to Dub Dub" - is once more up against everything Brain Damage has been proposed in the past. If all the shares may appear to the neophyte built on similar schemes, almost robotic assemblies, it is clear that the challenge of Martin and Raphael is once again raised and the fans always find some reminiscences of first time.

Sound, mainly based on a nonchalant dub rhythm that we recognize from the first kick, first becomes a raw material and indivisible whole, borrowing a dull, throbbing energy. The juxtaposition of the water, turn ecstatic or war, gives the album an atmosphere of lead, which hardly loosen its grip until the last second. Proof of this is the indissoluble "Ignore", where synths, water and other squeaking noises mingle and merge to form a hypnotic loop, growing and steadfast, or "Only lost in the sound" real descent in pale depths and mystics. As far as each reveals an unalterable emotional power (the wonderful "Plain White Butterly"), telling strange stories inissent by joining in this blessed place to which only the music is able to drive: the guts and heart. Guests side, the poet Sifichi Black stands out as unique and immutable speaker, forming rightly ultimate protagonist of the group. True to its unrivaled art of reciting the texts of his charismatic voice, it fits perfectly with the emotional world of "Burning Before Sunset", indulging here and there fragments of text enigmatic beauty rarely seen. So this fifth album is undoubtedly a fundamental part in the discography of Brain Damage, demonstrating once again the fierce determination of the duo never be repeated.

Brain Damage (Feat.Black Sifichi) - Burning Before Sunset (flac  274mb)

01 There Is A Wind 4:44
02 Ignore 5:21
03 Only Lost In The Sound 5:02
04 Smoke In Our Minds 3:39
05 Bull's Ass 5:08
06 Don't Ask Me Why 4:17
07 Possibility Of Love 4:31
08 Plain White Butterfly 1:18
09 The Tower To Eternity 4:57
10 My Legs, My Arms, My Mind & My Brain 4:31
11 Invisible Click 1:22
12 Hope Of Utopia 2:06

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To French organisation Uncivilized World, the company behind CD & DVD compilation package Dub Stories, dub is more than an essential component in the reggae compound; it is 'the most influential music of the second half of the 20th century'. You certainly can't fault the passion behind this release. The compilers of Dub Stories love everything that is typical of contemporary dub: the tracks are hard, mechanical, ambient, and heavily steppers. This should come as no surprise given that Uncivilized World also releases techno artists like Jeff Mills. Most of the big names are here - Lee Perry in full nonsense mode, Bush Chemists, Zion Train, Iration Steppers and Manasseh, although it would have been nice to see something from the Jah Warrior stable included. You'll also find some of the top exponents from the continent; Cultural Warriors from Switzerland, as well as Zenzile, High Tone, Brain Damage and the Improvisators from France.

Various - Dub Stories (flac 441mb)

01 Lee Scratch Perry & The White Belly Rats - Voodoo 6:19
02 Disciples - Imperial Stepper 3:48
03 Zion Train - Hailing Up The Selector 5:27
04 Bush Chemists - Foot Step Dub 3:57
05 Manasseh & Natty P - Skenga 12"Mix 3:58
06 Cultural Warriors - Righteousness 4:44
07 Improvisators Dub - Be Yourself 4:24
08 Weeding Dub - Long Way 4:45
09 King Shiloh & Peter Broggs - Love In A Higher Region 4:58
10 Iration Steppas - Warrior 4:38
11 Zenzile - Up Is A Long Way To Go 3:49
12 High Tone - Sushit 4:48
13 Brain Damage & Mohammed El Amraoui - Fenetres 5:17

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