Artist: Puscifer (Lustmord)
Release date: October 2008 (DigiDL)
Genre: Triphop/Post-industrial
Intro and Obligatory Anecdote
Sitting around, listening to Tool with a friend of mine, I raised the question: "Maynard... Lucky druggie or talented musician?"
My friend opened a letter from Napalm Records detailing that he wasn't what they were looking for and sighed, looking at me with sorrow-filled eyes and replied, "A little of both, I'd imagine."
Don't get me wrong, I love Tool and Maynard including all of his wacky side-projects (A Perfect Circle and Puscifer are two that I especially enjoy). Over the years, I've come to find I very intensely dislike "techno remixes" or "electronica remixes" because they tend to strip the song of it's original meaning and just make it something to dance to. To me, this is akin to someone throwing a bucket of paint on the Mona Lisa and saying it's "new and improved".
Getting to the point as awkwardly as possible; I found myself listening to an old release of Puscifer's called D is for Dubby which promised me "Dub mixes" of the tracks from V is for Vagina (a CD I love to groove to). Sadly, ripping it to iTunes only brought me the horror and terrifying experience that was listening to this joke of an album.
Style of the 'Mix
Let me be honest and I'll admit that I had no clue what a "dub mix" was. However, a quick Wiki search gave me this definition:
So, a sub-genre of Reggae. Couldn't be that bad, right?.... Right?
Wrong. What came of the bastard child of the post-industrial/triphop awesomeness and reggae was an awkwardly done lump of crap that I suffered through listening. The short version of my rant I regaled while pacing up and down my hallway is that it does what just about every "remix" I've heard in recent years has done: strips the music of it's original meaning and tries to force it into something else, which (in this case) it truly doesn't work. D is for Dubby accomplishes only to make my beloved trip-hop songs into a mush which is barely recognizable and wholeheartedly butchers what I loved about the original songs!
Ah, details, yes. Being that it's a dub mix, and the idea is to emphasize bass and drum while stripping the song of the vocals mostly. What this accomplishes in the Puscifer songs is taking out almost the entirety of the treble, leaving you with a messy bass that seems disorganized and awkward without the treble to balance it out, and a drum that seems just as confused. The vocals that do remain in the song, come as snippets and odd sound-bytes that weren't originally in the song. Essentially it leaves you with what sounds like a noob's version of D&B Techno that went terribly, terribly wrong.
Can it be Saved?
Honestly, I don't know if this mix was really worth working through, and it sounds half-assed to begin with. But, perhaps I'm being too harsh because it's simply following what the genre dictates rather than what my personal musical preferences are. Keep in mind, I'm a metal-head, so reggae in general tends to rub me the wrong way.
But, I do believe that the D is for Dubby mixes do have the ability to be "saved" for me. A quick guide to how I think it could be improved:
First step would be to remove the crappy vocal bytes and other random sound clips that feel about as in-place as a porcupine in a ball-pit.
Second step I'd hope for would be to add a little more treble to the mix so it doesn't get an over-saturated bass. Emphasis is one thing, but you're emphasizing songs that already have VERY heavy bass already in them, thus it sounds akin to someone mashing around on the left side of a keyboard.
Third, stop doing the crappy techno callsign and call out the band's name or the genre name to substitute for vocals. I have yet to hear an instance of this working in a good way, and really it ends up sounding like you're an arrogant jackass or that you're trying to make sure the listener knows that they are listening to x kind of music. Furthermore, don't stop the song midway to announce that it's now the second part of the song. Then it sounds like you're not sure of what you're doing and you're trying to make sure the listener can truly follow along, which comes across as a bit insulting. If anyone at all can find me a song where they call out their name mid-song to substitute for vocals and it sounds not horribly awkward, I'll give you a cookie.
Fourth, for one specific track (Momma Dubbed Pt1&2) USE THE FEMALE VOCALS INSTEAD OF MAYNARD! This was the one track above all I actually almost enjoyed, because during a few lines of the song they substituted a female voice for Maynard's, which (for a song called "Momma Sed" which is about a mother talking to her child) was beautiful and very fitting.
Wrap-up
I suppose if I really had to chose a place for D is for Dubby I'd call it a niche album. Perhaps it's one of those things that sounds better when you're on something, or it's an acquired taste in music that I simply don't share. However, to me, this is the album most deserving of "Starwars Christmas Special" status in that it should be either re-done with more consideration of what will sound less awkward and keeping the bass-to-treble ratio a little more even, or simply swept under the carpet as "a learning experience".
For now, I return to my V is for Vagina and I'll sing along merrily to "Indigo Children" and "Momma Sed", and hope that this all just becomes a bad memory that I never have to recall.
~Sui
Like this review? Hate this review? Leave me a comment and rant/rave about whatever. I'd love to hear how you think I could do better or what to continue doing! Just, please, BE SPECIFIC.
