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Boom One Sound System - Japanese Translations In Dub
Boom One Sound System - Japanese Translations In Dub
East meets West on this charismatic debut.
Sampler
Boom One Sound System (BOSS) is a group of American songwriters, beat creators and entertainers, who formed in 2009 and use current events as a catalyst to help them fuse the elements of dub, hip-hop and electronica to create unique beats with heavy bass lines and synthesizing rhythms that merge with influences of world music.
This collective have performed across the USA, Canada and Japan and have now released their debut EP, on the Dutch label TerraLogica Records, titled 'Japanese Translations in DUB', four songs that were inspired by their last tour in Japan and the tsunami that happened there in early 2011.
The EP blends ancient Japanese melodies and poetry with classic 70’s bassy roots reggae and thick psychedelic dub production. Traditional Japanese music I have always regarded as music that has something of a sedate feel, but these cuts are paceier with a steppers feel that still manages to retain something of an inner tranquil vibe.
The first cut is Sa-kura, a track based around a traditional Japanese melody celebrating the cherry blossom, that with the use of deft instrumentation shows this blend of East meets West with aplomb. Basho Haiku breaks away from instrumental to include a heavily reverbed and echoed almost robotic vocal that is based on translations of the celebrated 15th century Japanese poet Matsuo Basho. The translated poems were carefully chosen for their subject matter which even after some 500 years still contains a relevance to what is happening today in our troubled times.
Third track Yagi Bushi is a traditional folk song re-visioned in a heavy, dubwise fashion while the closer Koto features the traditional Japanese instrument of the same name, a large zither-like instrument that on this showing is an instrument that deserves to see more use in this environment.
The cover art leans towards the classic dub album covers used by Scientist, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and others and helps to make this a very charismatic debut that is available to download now at iTunes, Juno, Amazon and other online music stores.
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