DeepChord Presents Echospace – The Coldest Season

For their debut full-length, Deepchord enter THE COLDEST SEASON, which one would normally think is winter, but instead, it’s dub techno. And though “First Point of Aries” starts with long hiss sweeps, like wind across a tundra, the beats soon emerge to solidify the ground. The hiss carries into “Abraxas,” which allows some syncopation in its rhythm, as “Ocean of Emptiness” opens for an encompassing feel, swimming in ambience, before “Aequinoxium” returns to the beats, allowing “Celestialis” to brighten and “Sunset” to warm. “Elysian” returns to pure Basic Channel-esque dub techno, and “Winter in Seney” pushes the reverb deeper. Finally, “Empyrean” wears the Jamaican dub influence much more prominently on its sleeve, an apt way to close out the album. It’s a season that should definitely come around at least yearly.

For someone like me who's just starting to explore the depths of dub techno (of course I've been aware of it and other dub forms over the years, but I'd never experienced more than casual flirtations with the genre), this is an excellent entry point. I'd heard most of the early Echospace EPs by the time I heard this, so I knew what to expect, but it's amazing how the album transports you into its frozen sonic landscape. The static hiss that whirls around most tracks coats the lush, filtered chords, well-paced beats, and dub basslines like a gentle snowstorm, easing you through the 80-minute experience. This is definitely an album to experience as a whole, preferably on good-quality headphones, but it's also nice to put on your stereo as relaxing background music.

This release caught me completely off guard. I had read reviews saying how amazing it was, and I had experience with Modern Love before (Andy Stott) so I knew it was a quality label. I wasted no time ordering it and upon listening to it the first time I was completely taken over. What was 80 minutes of music seemed to go by in only 5! This is music my friends... Whether you're a fan of dub techno or not, this is something I believe everyone could enjoy. Bass, echoes, reverb and just an overall mood that really does feel like a cold season. Most of the tracks have a distant static noise in the background, this adds even more to the depth of music and you can almost feel the cold air while listening. I've never heard anything (save for DeepChord) quite like this before. Impossible to pick favorite tracks. This really is an album that needs to be listened to in one sitting. Treat yourself to this bad boy, you won't regret it.

Its been a long time since the height of the Basic Channel sound when Maurizio was producing was producing those timeless slices of dub-techno minimalism. As that sound evolved into modern dub Reggae it seemed for a while that this sub-genre was no more.

Of course, those with an ear to the underground would have known that the sound never went away. Rod Modell, under his Deepchord moniker has been producing minimal dub techno since the late nineties. Initially, he was often written off as a basic channel clone who added little to the sound and at times this may have been justified. Some the the earlier relases tended to lack a little identity and sound somewhat bland.

However, on this release along with Steve Hitchell, they have taken the sound and made it their own. The album begins with some highly minimal, static driven abstraction and becomes more and more complex as it goes on, making more use of cavernous bass, rhythmic beat constructions and effects that push this sound to its limits. Serious late night headphone business! An essential album...

The only question is where can they take the sound from here?

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