The idea for The Quasi Dub Development (QDD) came about after prolific German bassist and noise manipulator F.S. Blumm and Italian jazz trumpeter Luca Fadda played a concert together in a Sardinian church.
The project is rooted in their mutual appreciation of dub reggae and shared love of adventurous music making.
They hit upon the notion of using tuba and trumpet to add to the bass sound. This is not so radical as it might first seem since Dub has always been about flexibility, manipulation and studio trickery.
What QDD are doing is not really so contrary to the inherent experimental spirit of the genre. The use of unusual instrumentation is no more eccentric than Augustus Pablo's preference for the melodica (QDD's Cobalt Marmalade Pump could even pass for a Pablo tune).
They take Dub as a template from which to explore other possibilities incorporating Blumm's 'bricolage-sound', brass rhythms and lots of spacey/echoey effects.
For the album, Blumm and Fadda are joined by Alessandro Coronas on drums although the project is conceived with the possibility that the same material may end up being performed by differing line ups.
The experimental, synthetic touches are obvious from the first track (A Rudder Flu) which features squelchy watery effects.
The eccentric titles (e.g. Big Fluffy Tyres, Ink Lingerie Techniques, Horn Therapy) suggest that the musicians approached this project in a playful spirit rather than as some earnest reinvention of the genre.
The album title itself is a wry variation of Miles Davis' Elevator To The Gallows, a 1958 soundtrack to the Louis Malles movie.
Sometimes, as on Joystick Attack, it all gets a bit too busy while, in contrast , several tracks, such as Dormitory Nozzle and Knotty Moss, are quite abstract and drift along without any obvious direction in mind. Guts and Flowers is a little more purposeful with a hint of a ska 'riddim'.
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There are four bonus tracks on the digital version (the vinyl LP comes with a free download coupon) but best of all are the five remixes which have the fizz and energy which is in short supply on the main album.
These bear only a passing resemblance to the source tracks. Guido Mobius' Quadubment takes elements from all over, others radically rework specific tracks and add a greater momentum.
Loopspool's makeover of Guts And Flowers and Thomas Knak's Joystick Dub Attack give the tracks an atmospheric dubstep feel. The best is left till last with Kim Hiorthoy's fired up Elastic Plastic Remix.
All in all, the album shows that the dub spirit has many dimensions although their take on it lacks a decisive kick.
I'd rate the record as an interesting experiment but one which pales in comparison to the rawness and versatility of past Dub mix-masters like King Tubby and Lee 'Scratch Perry.
If you make a favourite cocktail but mess around with the ingredients, it's not necessarily going to taste better.
F.S,Blumm's website
Quasi Dub Development's website
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