In Dub by Beatundercontrol

Beatundercontrol In Dub is the third seismic milestone in Swedish bass evangelist Ulf 'Rockis' Ivarsson's continuing mission into the ever-throbbing rebel heart of dub in its purest form; a contemporary, bass-driven monster-trawl into one of the most influential musical forms of all time, as originally propagated by the likes of King Tubby, Lee Perry, Jack Ruby and Scientist.
There hasn't been an album like this for years; Ulf obviously feels every monolithic note and depth charge ridim drop, showing where the art of disassembling then firing up rhythm-based music with soul and audacious studio trickery comes from. He also injects his own highly personalised twist; most noticeably in the ribcage- demolishing basslines which dominate and often steer each track through aural minefields of splintering drum crashes and disembodied melodica.
It's like Ulf has been building up to this album all his life. He burst into the world as a late 70s punk, taking the movement's real manifesto of change and exploration
to heart as he embarked on his relentless voyage of musical discovery, while paying his dues to pay the rent through early 80s bands such as The Quiet, Eivon Boogie' Band, backing up Swedish guitar hero Clas Yngstrom in his group Sky High, Thomas Dileva and countless sessions, (Ulf have also produced albums for Thåström, one of the most iconic swedish rocksingers and the english folkrock singer Thea Gilmore) all the time nurturing a growing desire to unleash an inner version which sounded nothing like these lucrative polar opposites. After a stint with world music techno marauders Hedningama, Ulf took the plunge in the early 90s and started Beatundercontrol, hurling conventional song structures out of the window as he explored his growing obsession with dub, noise and experimental music which knew no boundaries, emerging with widely-acclaimed debut album The Introduction in 2003.
Then came 2008's Cosmic Repackage, a startling aural menagerie of space-jazz brass themes and solo flights, subterranean pulses and dark-hued strings darting between coruscating European avant textures and back alley jazz to late 60s hypno-drone alchemists the Third Ear Band. Dub's alien scattershot skank was in there too, albeit lashed with howling winds and dissonance.
For his latest step, Ulf has homed in on the latter with single-minded earthquake ferocity, constantly reminding the listener that, despite the huge sonic footprints and extra-terrestrial aural explorations made in the last 30 years [most recently in the name of dubstep], this is where it all began. His bass is colossal throughout, sometimes recalling the instrument's senses-shattering impact during Bob Marley's 1976 Hammersmith Odeon gig when 'Family Man' Barrett's huge pulses carried every song with sphincter-rattling ferocity. 'Neutron Dub' sets the scene with stunning dub dynamics directed by Ulf's low-end navigation, ploughing through the album's trademark ghostly melodica, scattershot Martian flurries and gauzy reverb mosaics, complete with devasting midway percussive booms. 'Electroshocker Dub' hoists the Studio One beats and extra-terrestrial frequencies before embarking on one of the album's most effective stretches by dropping the drums towards the end to home in on the bass guitar's Blue Whale scrotum heave. 'Gaffaman' introduces what sounds like a sports commentary beamed from a distant planet and further unearthly atmospherics, before the formidable eight minutes of 'Resurrection Dub' brings in stately melodica themes then melon- whisking sirens [given a drop of their own to wreak untold carnage on a big system].
The set also boasts four auspicious guest remixers, adding their own personal
touches and perfectly plugging into Ulf's undiluted dub manifesto. First, the mighty

Bill Laswell, for over 30 years one of music's most unpredictably brilliant mavericks after first making a name with underground New York mutant disco outings with
his Material project, which later mushroomed into a floating collective while the producer stacked up one of the most amazingly diverse catalogues in music. Originally a bass-man by trade, the lower frequencies have always held a special place in Bill's heart [not for nothing is bass titan Jah Wobble a frequent collaborator, plus another noticeable influence on Ulf]. Here, Bill takes 'Secrets Of Faschination' for what he calls 'a mix translation', using clipped, thunderous groove power and the melodica's main
melody to produce a heaving slab of pure speaker-busting class.
Old Malicious Damage mucker Youth, formerly of Killing Joke and countless wildly- diverse but often groove-related productions, boasts a dub-wise infatuation and pedigree stretching back to the 70s, turning Heavy Man into the expected rolling bass behemoth but with effective touches like the 4:4 beats often favoured by the great Sly Dunbar for extra propulsion and floating dream sequences. Somehow
he's also managed to make the bass sound even heavier, donning steel-plated turbo-pants to drill down to further subterranean levels with awesome resonance. More Malicious Damage label-mates then turn up in the shape of Analogue Minefield's Gizzy D, Snapper J and Kitty B, still riding the positive vibrations off
their third album, Visions In Sonic Sense. With their impeccable roots credentials
on fire, they rise to the mix by setting the trombone and melodica dogfights of 'Resurrection Dub' against ruler-on-table snares, clucking guitar, haunting brass and atmospheric swells. The album closes with its heaviest mix of all, courtesy Mick Harris, aka ambient dub-drum 'n' bass innovator Scorn, who turns 'Bait Ban' into a bass-gouged, hypnotic juggernaut lashed with snarling, swirling ructions.
Old school dub heads will wallow in this album, pinching themselves that such a record could be produced in 2010. Meanwhile, younger generations have a killer opportunity to experience one of the most jawdroppingly fearless musical styles of all time, in all its mind-melting, intestine-pummelling glory, translated brilliantly to the present.

-Kris Needs

Ulf Ivarsson.
Bassplayer, Producer and composer.
This is Ulf`s Bandcamp's page.
Experimental, Dub, Ambient and Avantgarde music.

Enjoy.

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