DREADLOCK TALES & MIKKO HEIKINPOIKA
Sonic Artifact (Dubmission)
Finland’s Kimmo Tyni aka Dreadlock Tales takes one minor chord, a few melodic ideas and a full arsenal of deep dub production techniques, and casts them in 5 different ways across a seamless 35 minute journey. The result is Sonic Artifact, an exotic dub masterpiece from London-based Dubmission Records, drenched in Eastern drones and rich with spaced-out textures that are drawn as much from psychedelic rock as ambient dance music. Reaching a midtempo peak at about the 10 minute mark, the music drops back into dub beats before finally shifting into panoramic beatless bliss. The extended growling guitar phases that swim around the mix during the final section echo Harold Budd’s art rock classic “Dark Star”, except here the overall effect is uplifting rather than doomy. Sonic Artifact is about as cosmic as dubwise electronica can get, and that’s saying something.
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