25/07/2019: “Mango Drive” by Rhythm & Sound

The often nebulous label of dub techno can generally be taken to mean “things that are similar to Rhythm & Sound”.

The Basic Channel duo, famous for inventing dub techno in Berlin during the 1990s, refined and intensified it under the Rhythm & Sound moniker.

The original version of this is “Mango Walk”, a 1979 dub tune by The Chosen Brothers. It’s worth a listen in its own right, but also because it makes it easier to see the relationship between dub, dub techno, and techno. When you see what’s been done to it, you can appreciate what Rhythm & Sound were trying to do.

Essentially, they were trying to strip back the melody to its bare bones, leaving a truly gargantuan bass pulse overlaid with the odd flicker of echoey dub goodness, drifting like smoke across the minimal yet warm soundscape.

Although the run time approaches 9 minutes in the full version, you can get the effect well enough with the 7 minute one…

“Mango Drive” was first released in 1998 on the famous Wackie’s label.

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