Deadbeat's debut for ~scape, WILD LIFE DOCUMENTARIES, actually deals little with wildlife at all -- at least in terms of wild beasts. What it deals with in great amounts is dub, and plenty of it. The reverb comes on heavy, and blended with some IDM sounds (long tones, glitchy background noises), it works quite well. "Organ in the Attic Sings the Blues" sounds like reggae for a slowly-moving robot, while "Cause for Hope" is perfect for head-nodding. The reggae on this album is particularly pronounced, which at times can be a drawback. At times, Deadbeat leans too much on the rhythm, which can leave the other musical aspects empty. But the quiet voices and phased keyboards on "To Berlin with Love" or the quick edits and lovely tones on "When First You Gave Me Shivers..." help alleviate the slower parts. "Kezia" closes the album with reverberating warmth. A mellow album for mellow moods.

Classic dub influences meet with ~scape-ish reverb and efx to form a surprisingly experienced sound. It's relaxed and unhurried, with attention to mood and detail. There's also hints of reggae to be found within. Consistently good from start to finish.

SCOTT MONTHEIT, aka DEADBEAT, has been an inner circle part of Montreals (Canada) very lively and inspiring new electronic music scene since the beginning. His first records were put out by HAUTEC and REVOLVER from 1998. He has longstanding artistic and friendly relations to AKUFEN, JEFF MILLIGAN and the MUTEK festival.
His scape debut album 'wild like documentaries' delves deep into the heritage of Dub: the entire idiomatic richesse, the aural trade marks, the delays, the white noise, the tape echo, all the compressions and manipulations the history of dub has produced have found their place in his work, were used, re-interpreted, re-invented and transferred into the here and now. Technical finesse is never pushed to the forefront, though, because DEADBEAT relies much more on the traditional roots elements of classic dub, their timeless soul and very own nostalgia. On 'Wild Life Documentaries' sound experimentation joins the courage for direct, emotional statements. Daedbeat blends everything into a dub epic, a suite of nevertheless autonomous tracks, carried by a relaxed, organic warmth, the soul inherent in all true dub music.