Bandulu Dub - Spiritual Evolution - Fresh Poulp Records – Aug 2009

Fresh Poulp is proud to present the third album from Portuguese dubmaster Bandulu Dub, good vibes and musical collab addict ! After his appearance in our compilation "Dub Tentacles vol.1", he strikes back with a full album, "Spiritual Evolution". Like in "Dub Tentacles", Bandulu Dub invites the listener to a trip across the planet, with collaborations from China, Norway, Japan, Germany, Cyprus, Montenegro… and of course France with his label mate Roots Ista Posse. Between Global Beats, Electro-Dub and Roots Dub, "Spiritual Evolution" will bring you lots of musical pleasures.

This is the official blurb from the artists label and to be honest, they are spot on. This is a musical journey around the world in Dub. Using traditional riddims from Roots ‘n’ Dub and merging ethnic influences from around the world.

From the opening track that is heavily African influenced, I knew straight away that I would enjoy this album and I was not wrong. The second track “Brilla El Sol” reminds me of Steve Hillage and carries an ambient feel that begins our journey. In fact if you like a modern feeling dub album then this should be right up your street. All tracks are well produced and sound top notch, this could be a foreign sounding ‘Dreadzone’ but without the commercial feeling House tracks.

“Planeta Terra” comes up next and follows the 2nd track with its Portuguese vocals but with a more 4/4 riddim. This is followed by a couple of similar tracks before we come to “Long Hair Man”, which is the first track to be in English but I have to say I’m not too keen on the vocals. “Mechanisms And Processes” comes up next and feels very experimental and electro with its break-beat style drums, still not too fully sure about this one. However, when “Changes” follows, the whole feel of the album is suddenly uplifted with what has to be a totally Irie track that would not be out of place on any sound system playlist. This is followed by another top quality track called “En La Piel”, much more up tempo with an almost Ska riddim.

“Roots Mi Tourist” is a heavy weight dub track with deep bass lines and heavy effects – superb. Then comes “Flag” which is a chanting African influenced track that somehow reminds me of early Soul II Soul, which is not a bad thing in my books. The final track on the album (excluding any bonus tracks) is the title track “Spiritual Evolution”, which is basically a chanting track with oriental sounds and beats, not fully sure about that one though..

To summaries, the album is well produced and some time has gone into it and I found if played on a Sunday afternoon while just chilling out, it is fantastic. As a mainstream album then I not fully sure, for this reason I can only score the album an average 3/5.

Reviewed by Dean Marcel

01. Bandulu Dub meets Zeki Ali and Isidora Lazarevic - Ayurveda 5:00

02. Bandulu Dub meets Australopthecus and Daia - Brilla El Sol 5:11

03. Bandulu Dub meets ALPHADUB Project and Dacal - Planeta Terra 3:21

04. Bandulu Dub meets BaNdula - Moringa 3:07

05. Bandulu Dub meets Jiang Liang - East Dub 3:21

06. Bandulu Dub meets Pop-I & Obed Brinkman and Junior Echo - Long Hair Man3:53

07. Bandulu Dub meets Takanishi Tomoyasu - Mechanisms and Processes 4:52

08. Bandulu Dub meets Hornsman Coyote - Changes 4:12

09. Bandulu Dub meets Russtafarian Sound System and Natural Son Corporation - En la Piel 5:10

10. Bandulu Dub meets Roots Ista Posse and Obed Brinkman - Roots Mi Tourist Dub 3:57

11. Bandulu Dub meets Jah Billah and Haji Mike - Flag 4:15

12. Bandulu Dub meets Trianguli Australis - Spiritual Evolution 4:29

13. Bandulu Dub meets Isaac Maya - Dub Comet (Bonus Track) 5:07

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