ALL MUSIC GUIDE
Bass Jihad
Many different things. Electronica can be harsh,
confrontational, abrasive, and in your face; that's
true of techno, which often feels like electronica's
answer to death metal, free jazz, metalcore, or
gangsta rap. But electronica can also be lush, sleek,
ethereal, and dreamy; plenty of chillout and downtempo
recordings fit that description. Or it can be
something as hypnotic as producer Dub Gabriel's work.
Bass Jihad is an ironic title for this 2005 release,
because Gabriel's material doesn't sound anything like
a "jihad," which means "holy war" in Arabic. One could
easily make a case that techno is an "electronic
jihad," but Bass Jihad is far from techno. An ambient
disc with a strong world music influence, Bass Jihad
is all about hypnotizing the listener and putting
him/her in a trancelike state. But Gabriel doesn't
hypnotize in a totally predictable way; this isn't one
of those electronica albums where you have pretty much
heard it all after the first few minutes. Gabriel is
fairly unpredictable, incorporating a variety of world
music; you never know if he's going to incorporate
Arabic, Indian, Asian, or African elements, which is
part of the fun. Gabriel maintains a trance-inducing
ambience from start to finish -- there is a certain
continuity throughout the 68-minute CD -- but for
Gabriel, creating and maintaining a certain type of
atmosphere doesn't mean that every track sounds the
same. None of the material on this album has a
standard verse/chorus/verse/chorus format, and despite
the use of some background vocals, Bass Jihad is
essentially an instrumental album. It is also a
successful demonstration of how electronica and world
music can work together with enjoyable, intriguing
results.
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