Sunset Tsunami – Dub Till Dawn (Loop Recordings) (13th Floor Album Review)
Sunset Tsunami are rolling into the new year with the release of their debut long player Dub Till Dawn.
The blended Kiwi-UK duo have 5 previous streaming single releases that feature an old-school style two-track format of downbeat, dub and hip-hop-influenced music including some remixes and guest appearances: most of them feature on this 10-track collection.
Marcus ‘Sideways’ Fletcher, originally from London, and Chuck ‘Buckwheat’ Davidson, from south Auckland, are the names behind Sunset Tsunami and the pair are keen to sustain an air of mystery and mythology about their past lives.
Sideways sounds like a modern-day Dickensian character growing up among petty criminals and daydreamers, learning on the street and developing a skillset in the rundown wastelands of London’s docklands rave scene.
Buckwheat equally plays up to a legend: stealing an amp from the Sex Pistols, drinking backstage with the Beastie Boys, winning a bass in a skate-off against a sound engineer, then playing in bands in the company of drug-addled bikers.
It all makes for a colourful and entertaining biography, but does that translate into music that will grip the audience and take them on a journey of excitement, thrill and daring-do, or is it all just hype?
Well, the genre of music might get them off on the wrong foot.
Dub, reggae and roots are popular in New Zealand: the story is we’re only second to Jamaica by head of population in the listening stakes. And as many of us will already know, downbeat is not meant to get the heart racing, unless you’ve taken the wrong medicine.
The album leads off with the title track, previously put out as their debut offering last August complete with the MO2 remix that closes this record. It’s a lovely laid-back dub reggae number in the style of the Thievery Corporation, complete with airy vocals and a Tricky (from Massive Attack) style rap that swings in about half way through. The MO2 remix adds a bit of tempo with a drum ‘n bass beat and suitable fat, squishy bass lines to match. One is a late night chilled-out intro, the other a foot-twitching sunrise dance track.
Trigger Warning features the mellow voice of modern-day dub legend Israel Starr, a man so steeped in New Zealand’s reggae culture it positively oozes from his pores. It’s quite a coup to have Starr sing on your debut LP, and helps to prop-up the legend of Sunset Tsunami. Can you hear it shouting out loud? This is a trigger warning from the top of the hill, Starr sings, putting us all on notice – the Tsunami is coming.
Wildfire lights up with some more electronic dub, a danceable tempo and some more of the airy voice – Free your mind, talk to me – countered with that hip-hop message – See I’m in the house getting love from the hood, my music is the moment and you know it’s all good.
The music moves like a wave through the tracks, up-tempo, light and sparkly one moment, heavier, slower and darker the next. There’s plenty to like in the mixes, the added noises, the synthesised brass and, of course that grooving, rhythmic beat.
References to the pioneers and forerunners tumble through these tunes. From Lee Scratch Perry to Nightmares On Wax, Sunset Tsunami pays them all homage and due respect.
They also recognise their Kiwi contemporaries with a remix of Corella’s Skeletons giving it a rev-up to create more of a booty-shaking feel and some added twisty dub effects.
My favourite, though, is the crazy Pass The Rizla with its hoppy ska beat, Mighty Diamonds/Musical Youth reference and sparse melodic elements. I could happily dance along to the extended remix on that one – make it 15 minutes instead of just under 3 next time.
Dub Till Dawn may not be breaking new ground, but what Sunset Tsunami do with their material stands up very well. Sometimes doing exactly what it says on the box is a good thing.
Alex Robertson
Dub Till Dawn is out now via Loop Recordings
