Sly & Robbie Meet Nils Petter Molvær – “Nordub” (2018)

Sly & Robbie Meet Nils Petter Molvær
“Nordub”
Dub/Electronic/Jazz/Fusion
(Okeh, 2018)

Real limits of dub music are still not known, but those who are tirelessly moving the boundaries are Sly & Robbie.

Want to talk about loyalty? Want to talk about love for music? Want to talk about the persistence? Let’s start with Sly & Robbie then, live rhythm machines and legends of Jamaican music. Active since the 1970s, they have been tirelessly working on albums of a variety of genres, but always with the rhythms they started with and never gave up from. And what rhythms that are? Greasy and mantric reggae rhythms that move and massage all internal organs.

How did they find themselves in far and cold Norway, I’m not really sure, but they have found the way to a perfect match, a true musician for collaboration, that’s more than obvious.  Nils Petter Molvaer, Norwegian jazz trumpet, composer and producer, is considered to be a pioneer of the genre called future jazz, a genre that combines jazz and electronic music. The common point of these musicians is their aspiration to experiments and the desire to overcome the fear of the unknown and the exploration of the new and inaccessible boundaries of music. What remains as a motivation, however, is that these experiments are conducted within the boundaries of already popular and famous genres, just like dub and jazz.

…Sly & Robbie, who once again denied all those who think that dub and reggae genres limit creativity.

Their cooperation has been taking place since 2015, when a recording of one of their first concerts from the jazz festival in Poland appeared on YouTube. The fans of these musicians were immediately attracted by the concert and got just a glimpse on the new musical possibilities that this collaboration could bring. A few years later and here we are, the album “Nordub” have seen the light of the day, or better say the night, because apart from dealing with the unexplored and dark terrain, it is also colored by the dark, Norwegian atmosphere. At the same time, the warmth of the Jamaican touch can be felt, from which a perfectly pleasant and unexpected fusion is obtained. If anyone is aware of the possibilities that dub music offers, then it’s Sly & Robbie, who once again denied all those who think that dub and reggae genres limit creativity.

Track list:

01. If I Gave You My Love
02. How Long
03. White Scarf In The Mist
04. Strange Bright Crowd
05. Norwegian Sword Fish
06. Was In The Blues
07. European Express
08. Dream Drifter
09. Rock-Stone Noah Bingie
10. Politically KKKorrrekkkttt