Saturday, April 15, 2006
Dub Trio @ Mercury Lounge
Since I was snubbed by the Black Crowes I decided instead to attend Dub Trio's show on Saturday night. Dub music is instrumental reggae with a psychedelic twist. It's the perfect music to kick back and smoke a joint to.
The Brooklyn-based Dub Trio are led by guitarist D.P. Holmes, who's really quite the musical magician. He spent a good part of the show kneeling over and conjuring special effects out his electrical bag of tricks. He's part guitarist, mixmaster and alchemist. Mostly, Holmes plays in a familar dub style - that is, he strums chords that echo and reverb. Behind him, drummer Joe Tomino provides challenging polyrhythmic beats. He's a show unto himself. The third member, bassist Stu Brooks throbs away but he's kind of an afterthought, no matter how essential he is to the group.
Several times, Holmes broke into bracing metallic dirges, and even once evoked Hendrix, but mostly he shadow-danced with reggae confidence. The only vocals were prerecorded comments that worked as segues between songs, if you want to call them that.
Despite the early hour - the set started at 8:30 and ran 45 minutes - a decent crowd turned out. Not bad for Saturday night in New York.
Dub Trio just finished a tour with Gogol Bordello. Their next three shows in New York are:
April 21 @ Southpaw (Brooklyn)
April 27 @ Piano's
May 23 @ Piano's
I recommend seeing them and also purchasing their newest cd New Heavy, which features Mike Patton (Faith No More) on one track. For more on Dub Trio: CLICK HERE
The Brooklyn-based Dub Trio are led by guitarist D.P. Holmes, who's really quite the musical magician. He spent a good part of the show kneeling over and conjuring special effects out his electrical bag of tricks. He's part guitarist, mixmaster and alchemist. Mostly, Holmes plays in a familar dub style - that is, he strums chords that echo and reverb. Behind him, drummer Joe Tomino provides challenging polyrhythmic beats. He's a show unto himself. The third member, bassist Stu Brooks throbs away but he's kind of an afterthought, no matter how essential he is to the group.
Several times, Holmes broke into bracing metallic dirges, and even once evoked Hendrix, but mostly he shadow-danced with reggae confidence. The only vocals were prerecorded comments that worked as segues between songs, if you want to call them that.
Despite the early hour - the set started at 8:30 and ran 45 minutes - a decent crowd turned out. Not bad for Saturday night in New York.
Dub Trio just finished a tour with Gogol Bordello. Their next three shows in New York are:
April 21 @ Southpaw (Brooklyn)
April 27 @ Piano's
May 23 @ Piano's
I recommend seeing them and also purchasing their newest cd New Heavy, which features Mike Patton (Faith No More) on one track. For more on Dub Trio: CLICK HERE
Comments:
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While I whole heartedly agree with your summations of Holmes and Tomino, how can you say the bass player is just an afterthought? Didn't you just make an attempt to define what dub is to the reader? Without taking away from the talents of Holmes and Tomino, Brooks far surpasses the idea of an afterthought. Were you at the same show as we were? When watching Dub Trio I often get dizzy trying to figure out which one to watch. I hate it when people make reviews of shows and don't really think it thru. Anyone with a heartbeat standing in a room in the presence of Dub Trio is bowled over by the sheer power of the bass (which is attributed by Brooks himself, not solely by the sound person) and the driving melodic lines. DT is a completely symbiotic entity. I guess what's most important is that the band members know that (which they do) because obviously it goes way over other people's heads..."an afterthought"???...bass in never an afterthough...wake up
# posted by 
: 7:54 PM
: 7:54 PM
Sorry to piss you of with my comments about Dub Trio's bass player. I was trying to say that I was so impressed with the guitarist and drummer that I failed to concentrate on the bass player. My bad...
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