Seeed Album: “New Dubby Conquerors”

Nothing sounds like a SEEED album, and if you love reggae, plant a SEEED CD in your collection. I admit to buying this at first, because I wanted to hear what German reggae sounds like. But I wasnt ready for this. This isnt lounge reggae, soft and smooth like Germany's GENTLEMAN. SEEED are playing psychedelic reggae, with VERY flipped out sounds. They combine elements of roots reggae, dancehall, ska, and reggaeton, with lyrics mostly in english, tho some are in German too. NEW DUBBY CONQUERORS starts out with a very trippy dancehall song, DANCEHALL CABALLEROS, sung in german and english. Then, RIDDIM No1, with a combination of reggaeton, and hip hop scratching. PAPA NOAH has rasta spirituality in the lyrics, with a cool riddim made for dancing. By the time you get to the fourth cut, WALK UPRIGHT, you are dropped into a slow, slippery ROOTS REGGAE riddim. Yes, its one of THOSE albums, where you listen to EVERY cut! IRAE/JA WOHL! DICKES is another old school dancehall song, sung in german. Then, comes the killer. PSYCHEDELIC KINGDOM is one of those songs you could crawl up inside, and build a whole world out of it. This song has everything--a singer who sounds like David Hines from Steel Pulse, horn charts from the 3rd moon of Uranus, and a "Spliff Therapist" ready to heal your ill. Then, its time for SENSIMILLA (the song, of course.) My other favorite song. It's mostly the first few songs, that have the dancehall-reggaeton vibe...the rest of the album is roots reggae. There's even the NEW WAVE call back, with TIDE IS HIGH by Blondie, getting a smash up treatment.

Only four songs are in German, the rest are in English. Unlike other SEEED CDs, NEW DUBBY CONQUERORS doesnt have an english edition. One of the best things about this album, is the sterling production quality. Its simply world class. Not only the dense sonic thickness to the soundscape, but the way the bass drum parts simply PUMP your speakers, without sounding boom-y. There's alot of fun to the album, with bizarre little bits of talking in Jamacian patchois, between some cuts. OH, and throw in a buried cut after the last number, and you have an album you'll play repeatedly. AUFGEZEICHNET! SIE SIND DER HAMMER KUMPEL! On the bad side, after you play this album, ALL your other reggae albums will sound flat, dull, and empty. Its an album that changes your EARS, and your MIND. ANZUENDEN SIE EINEN GROSSER!