Renegade Soundwave - In Dub flac mp3 download

One of the albums that sealed my lifelong addiction to electronica when I first bought it in 1991. The whole album is solid but it's "Deadly" (with the angelic choir and "Star Wars" orchestral samples over a dubby breakbeat and bassline) that was really the standout track to my ears. Not sure how this would sound to a 17 year old today but for 30 years old it's still aged pretty well.

How do you make a phenomenal, groundbreaking electronic album better? Issue it with a second disc of fantastic, on point remixes. Thanks, Japan!

What an album! Renegade Soundwave is criminally overlooked by the public nowadays, with their predictable beats, clever samples, and single-minded focus on "urban grit" being quite out of fashion. That's too bad, as this record - a collection of nearly entirely instrumental tracks (dubs) - is delightfully creative and good fun. "Thunder"'s harmonica (!!!) and rolling bass indicate both the roots and the direction of the record, reaching back to the roots of dub yet showing it to be firmly a dancefloor ethos in practice. It is simply impossible not to tap a foot, nod a head, or move a booty to. "Bacteria" weaves a group of disparate ethnic samples into a much more deep and minimalist track, and "Deadly" goes further with a little timestretching and a massive Serge Gainsbourg sample pushing it right along. "Holgertron", in my opinion, shows more than a little bit of influence on Mouse on Mars. A personal highlight is "Black Eye Boy", a rewrite (without vocals) of "Blue Eyed Boy"; the humorous call and response of the original is replaced by menace, as the track's bass and jaunty sample propel it into a song filled with angry attitude. The fadeout in the middle leave no doubt, however, that the song is not solely intended for a dancefloor. It is ironic that a group so well-known for posing as more than they were made such a personal album. It eschews easy pop, and really pointed the way - encouraged, in fact - to a new synthesis of electronic music that wasn't merely made for pop charts or dance clubs. This album, to me, is one of the must haves of ALL early 90's music, quite simply.