KUSH ARORA – THE DREAD BASS CHRONICLES (KAP 004)
Kush Arora’s seventh record, The Dread Bass Chronicles finds this San Francisco electronic dub/futuristic dancehall badman expanding on the sound he unleashed with his last full length release, From Brooklyn to SF (KAP003). Arora has enlisted the talents of vocalists and MCs such as the Warrior Queen, Juakali, MC Zulu, Bongo Chilli, N4SA, and Wiseproof as a focus for his imaginative and “culturally styled” electronic dance music productions. Spanning across a range of tempo and vibe, Dread Bass Chronicles is a distillation of Arora’s diverse influences, ranging from Punjabi instrumentals to dark dubstep and grime to futuristic dancehall.
Across all eleven tracks of the release, Kush Arora maintains an extremely high standard of production which has been tailored to compliment each vocalist/MC. Warrior Queen is featured on the playful album opener Making Money. This bubbly riddim features Warrior Queen’s lyrics against a lush instrumental background and strong club beat. It is not often that Warrior Queen’s voice is presented so clearly and cleanly. Arora has wisely chosen this production route, as it will set this track apart from many other Warrior Queen-featured releases of late, in which producers have opted for a more edgy and distorted timbre.
Lose Control, featuring Chicago’s MC Zulu, is a compelling sublow, dread bass track that hits hard on a sound system. Zulu’s powerful delivery and excellent cadence drives this dancehall-tinged cut. His voice is also heard on Poison Pill and 11th Hour Escape. The latter is a frantic riddim featuring Zulu’s vocals and a touch of wobble bass that culminates in serious compelling darkness. Kush’s processing technique on the vocals on this track is breathtakingly intense.
Juakali and Bongo Chilli also make strong appearances on the album, with Bongo Chilli’s work on The Truth being particularly strong. Arora has created a great context for Bongo Chilli’s deep toned voice and strong delivery. People A Dead and Newcomers feature Bay Area badman N4SA on two of Kush’s more purely dancehall tracks, both edgy and driving.
Kush Arora’s Dread Bass Chronicles puts on display a great array of dubwize dance floor music. As a producer Arora has reached across cultural lines to create a thoughtful fusion of Indo-reggae influences blended with an underground electronic dance aesthetic. The production values are very high and the vocal performances all deliver on an emotional and musical level. Big Up Kush Arora!
