DeathPosture Posted November 13, 2004 Share Posted November 13, 2004 Kukan Dub Lagan – Life Is Nice Artist: Kukan Dub Lagan (Israel) Title: Life Is Nice Format: CD (digipack) Label: Candyflip Records (Greece) Cat. #: CFCD 13 Distribution: Arabesque Date: November 2004 Track listing: 01. 06’36” Life Is Nice 02. 06’26” Saiko Dub 03. 07’17” Pink The Floyd 04. 07’25” Roots of Vibration 05. 06’36” Gandhi’s Kick 06. 06’08” Defence Yourself Jha 07. 06’32” Shay-Yes-I 08. 07’24” No Mon Control!!! 09. 06’52” Shinzon Romulan 10. 07’06” The Sounds of the Sword 11. 08’02” The Bells of Burma M3U playlist: http://beta.juno.co.uk/playlists/m3u/160127-01.m3u (all tracks) Review: Chaotic space dub! Kukan Dub Lagan is 28 year old Itay Berger from Israel, and this is his debut album released by Greek label Candyflip Records. This is not your ordinary bunch of psy-trance/psy-chill… No, this is something different… This is psy-dub! Let me take you thru the tracks… #01: “How long have you been writing electronica? Ten years! They call it a decade, call it a decade…” This title-track immediately teleports the listener deep into the dub-jungle where all worries are put aside and life is nice… It’s lazy afternoon dub with digital birds, rippling percussion, flute, children’s choir, floating melodies and a very uplifting atmosphere all together… Yeah, life is nice! #02: As the title suggests, this track digs deeper into the more saikodelic side of dub… Heavier and more hectic – as heavy and hectic as leftfield dub can be… Sounds like Itay is playing around with an old school organ and some severely cut-up beats here, though he somehow manages to maintain a joyous vibe throughout the track… #03: Very nice intro on the PF-tribute track here… Organic, eerie and slowly building towards something big… UFO-samples alongside a deeeeeep, dubby bassline… This is very, very soothing music… Very well-produced… Reminds me of Shulman and Asura at times… Brilliant track! #04: Ahh… Another über-cool intro with heavily cut-up voice-samples echoing into oblivion arpeggio-style… Single note synth-action accompanied by lazy percussion, a deep steady bass, guitar and all kinds of percussion, glass-bottle tapping, etc… This track really encapsulated the Kukan Dub Legan sound – and what an impressive sound that is… #05: The Mahatma Dub Session vol. 1: Advanced Fusion. Heavily reverbed synths lines with ska-elements, reggae vibe, deep groovy bassline and the trusted drop of dub as the common denominator… This is musical tapas! Feast your ears on this! #06: And this is very it gets really weird… I think Itay raided the waste bin of a Kingston studio cutting room… But hey, I guess we’re just not used to a raggamuffin MC all of a sudden dropping lyrics in the middle of a psy-dub album… Interesting track, but not really my fav’e blunt on this album… #07: Echoing naïve, one-key synthlines makes out the very long, slightly annoying intro… It gets better when yet another phat bassline and voice-effects are added later on… It gets even better when a faster kick is introduced and the track turns out pretty ok… Not outstanding, but nice nevertheless! #08: Woow – that is one deep bass! Yikes! Steady, controlled pace and very focussed… More FX are added, among them another reggae-emcee and some filtered steeldrum action… Again more Kukan analogue synths opposite little twirling melodies to balance out the deep bassline… A winning combination and guaranteed to leave a big cracking smile on most faces! #09: The intro uses a sample similar to the Independence Day quote in IM’s ‘Release Me’ … Quite scary actually… Anywho – this is among the most psychedelic tracks on the album… And I really like the gloomy atmosphere put forward by Itay here… Stellar track! #10: Another dub-tune focussed on the slightly darker side of things… It’s a clash of organic and synthetic sounds… I like the long character-building pads and the haunting mood this track delivers… Tasty! #11: And I’ll be damned if Itay doesn’t go all Vanessa Williams on us and saves the best for last… Again a glum atmosphere has totally soaked this track – but when it’s done this good no-one is complaining… This is full-scale dubby ambient which just scratches you right were it itches! Life is nice! As stated above, this is not your ordinary bunch of psy-trance… Very far from it actually! But don’t let that discourage you – it’s a very nice album indeed and a great way to expand your musical horizons. It has enough experimentation to appeal to the leftfield crowd – and enough psychedelia to satisfy the twisted downbeat crowd. In other words: this is for open-minded fans of leftfield ambient and cross-over psy-chill dub – and everything in between! Another fine Candyflip release by a visionary label which has the balls to steer of the beaten psy-path! Recommended! Favourites: 1, 3, 4, 5, 8(!), 9(!), 10, 11(!) DeathPosture External links: Candyflip Records: http://www.candyflip-records.com Psyshop: http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/cfr/cfr1cd013.html (Audio samples available!) Saiko Sounds: http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display...ase.asp?id=4354 Chaos Unlimited: http://www.chaosunlimited.co.uk/cgi-bin/pr....asp?LR=CFRCD13 Juno Records: http://www.juno.co.uk/IP/IF160127-01.htm Trance Shop: http://www.trance-shop.com/de/catalog/prod...roducts_id=4267 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sawfly Posted November 27, 2004 Share Posted November 27, 2004 Nice album, except the sounds that construct this album aren't just something I listen to a long time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snapinho Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 Nice album, except the sounds that construct this album aren't just something I listen to a long time 203573[/snapback] Very true. And that has something to do with what DP also noted: there's a lot of one-key synths used, some percussions start sounding the same all too soon and some of the melodies sound like they were made by a 15 year old. And most flutes sound like they come directly out of the same synth that was used for all other sounds. That being said, I do like the album, although it's indeed a little bit too accessible. And with that I mean a little too superficial. man it looks like I can only say negative things about chill albums lately, but I do admit that it's a very positive sounding piece of music. Very much not timeless though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supergroover Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 dont listen to them.. lovely album that doesnt bore me at all. Even after lots of spins. lovely funky fresh and friendly sound. Most chillout has a little bit of a depressing feeling. but this one hasnt! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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