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A number of Sofa Surfers’ dub cohorts were asked to chisel fragments from the Surfers’ original material and pipe them through the swampy channels of their mixing boards. The result is Constructions, a remix album comprised of both exclusive and previously released mixes that like the foundation of all Dub music, are stripped to their rhythmic frames, leaving melodies to hover faintly in the background. Some re-mixes, like Howie B’s version of "Container", as well as mixes by Spectre, are minimal and addictive. Others, like Eardrum’s "Guns ‘n’ Bombs ‘n’ Knives," make for intense cinematic chase scenes with blaring horns and intricate percussion.
Elements of each artist’s style peek through the remixes and remain, for the most, dense and sticky. With this Austrian down-tempo vibe, you may think Richard Dorfmeister was lounging around the studio couch. In fact, you’ll recognize his remix of "Sofa Rockers" from Kruder and Dorfmeister’s K&D Sessions and like that album, Constructions is similar in the way each track mixes easily into the next. The record is dense and heavy and you’ll need some power fans to blow through the hash smoke surrounding it. The filthy fuzz-bass on Tom Tyler’s mix of "Sweat" will rock your eyes from their sockets while the eerie and solemn opener "If It Were Not For You," re-worked by Ian Simmons, puts you in a lazy and bent mind-set. Constructions stick to the traditional Dub format: primarily instrumental with the exception of the occasional vocal snippet or sample. The one vocal track, "Life In Malmo," remixed by Mum, roams from the modern Dub, offering an early Primal Scream and Manchester sound for the collection. Not only did the Sofa Surfers select modern talent of artists like UKO and Enduro but also incorporated the vibration of veteran Mad Professor for "Beans and Rice Dub."
The Surfers have chosen artists with a broad array of styles and production techniques but between them have managed for each of their versions to mingle together flawlessly. Each of these styles can be subtle at times but are undoubtedly distinctive and work as a melting pot of sounds for the Sofa Surfers and each of the artists involved.
-Justin Hardison
Track Listing:
- If It Were Not For You- remixed by Ian Simmons
- The Low Rider/ The Long Rider- remixed by Sofa Surfers
- Sofa Rockers- remixed by Richard Dorfmeister
- Beans and Rice Dub- remixed by Mad Professor
- Tsetse Fly- remixed by Hi Tek Steppas/ The Demon Flowers Uptown
- Teig- remixed by Sofa Surfers
- Container/The Low Rider Meltdown- remixed by Enduro
- Life In Malmo- remixed by Mum
- Guns ‘N’ Bombs ‘N’ Knives- remixed by Eardrum
- Scissors, Paper, Stone- remixed by The Sons Of Silence
- Sweat- remixed by Tom Tyler
- Container- remixed by Howie B
- Walking Ghosts- remixed by UKO
- I Asked For Water/ I Asked For a Remix From Another Planet- remixed by Spectre
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Sofa Surfers
