This review covers the Reggae track Togetha Brother Soundsystem – Progress Dub [Bllodclaat Radio Version].
It’s unclear when this track was released. However, metadata obtained by Freezenet suggests that this may have been released in 2005. Regardless, it is available online for free via the artists official website.
The track starts off with some general synth effects including chime like synths and some higher sine wave sliding notes. It very quickly presents a few voice samples as well. One repeating sound is what I believe is either a train whistle, a steam ship whistle, or an old factory whistle. What specific source the whistle comes from doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things because they all would have the same intended effect.
Shortly after, some lighter chords and a guitar-like instrument comes in. The track features some additional drops and build-ups to vary the overall sound to give a pretty well realized audio journey.
For me, the interesting thing is that this track reminds me of something I’ve heard out of the video game Earthbound. The track doesn’t actually take a specific track and make it its own, but for me, I can really get that pleasant style from some of the synth effects. If you haven’t played that game, no worries because you can easily get other interpretations.
My experience with Reggae is that the topics often talk about the easy laid back life, the beach, possibly talking about politics, and a few other more common themes. That’s not to say that this is exactly what Reggae is, but this has been my admittedly limited experience with the genre. This track, however, breaks away from more common themes that I would expect. This track transports me to some sort of industrial revolution where you can almost feel the coal pollution touching your clothes. It’s not really a common theme I hear in any genre to be honest, so it is actually quite an interesting thing to hear.
What I especially like about the vibes about this is that this version doesn’t really attach any politics or pre-determined interpretation. Instead, it largely just transports you to another era and lets you “see” it for yourself. The exception here is that the lyrics briefly mentions hard work. The thing is, it could mean a few different things. It could be talking about the movements to form unions. It could talk about the issues of slavery. In fact, it could be in reference to poverty or living conditions at the time. That small amount of lyrics can be applied in a number of ways. It’s quite neutral, yet honest, in this variation.
Generally speaking, this is a pretty solid track. If you are wanting to try something different, this track gives you just the feeling of another era in time. The small amount of lyrics works nicely and gives plenty of room for interpretation. The sound effects thrown in helps paint this industrial revolution era soundscape to great effect. Still, the laid back track also provides something nice to chill out to. An overall very solid track if you ask me.
Score
7.5/10
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Google+.
