London's Bush Chemists are practioners of dub, but it ain't yourgranddaddy's dub. Imagine if Lee Perry had been into the UK housescene, dropping E instead of puffing ganj and gyrating to pulsing highnotes rather than grooving to throbbing basslines. Where Perry and likeluminaries were noodlers—fooling around with tracks in the studio,throwing in a horn, fading out a guitar at random—the Chemists' musicfeels like they're trying to be scientists, using structured originalcompositions rather than dubbing out existing tracks.Roir
They hit heavy and deep as any classic dub creation, but there'ssomething missing, an intangible hard to name but so prevalent that themusic at times strains to carry the dub label. Not always, however: "SpeakerRocker" is the closest to the old school style, with a deep continuousbassline punctuated by a stacatto drum riff. Right on its heels,"East of Jaro," opens up with a laughably tinny horn sequence thatsounds as if it were lifted from a third-rate world record, andcontinues with dance-worthy (not dancehall, mind) drum machinesamples.
Because of dub's freewheeling beginnings, it's hard to draw theline as to what dub should or shouldn't be. By default the originalpractioners used organic sounds to craft their wares—a flighty guitarriff, an elusive bass thump, or the uniquely jarring crashingreverberation you get when you kick or drop an amp. Coupled with thesonic trappings of the equipment used, the resulting sound is warm andfuzzy, especially when heard on original vinyl. So when Raw Raw Dub doesn'tuse any of these—instead opting for computerized drum sequences,drum-machine snares and hi hats and even high-tech keyboard noises,sounding clean and somewhat sterile—the label "dub"doesn't fit as well. In fact, I get the impression the Bush Chemistsdidn't start out as dub practioners. It's as if they took a wrong turnand got stuck in dub on the way to the club scene.
But this aloneisn't enough to sink the record. Great dub sneaks up on you, pulling abassline from under you and dropping it back in your ear when you leastexpect it. The Chemists don't hit this peak too often—predicatble aswell as mechanical at times—butjust often enough to channel dub's zeitgeist. Even withthe newfangled sound snippets, the Chemists get on some deep, heavygrooves, and the new elements add an unexpected element to theexperience. Aside from minor crimes like the Tijuana Brass-hornsection, Raw Raw Dub nails it, and establishes the Bush Chemists as competent practitioners of an ever-fading art.
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