Kutiman / Don’t Hold Onto The Clouds / Khaliphonic Versions

To call Kutiman a Youtube collagist doesn’t really do Israeli artist Ophir Kutiel justice, but it was this technique / gimmick that got him noticed. Four albums in, Portland, Oregon-based dub prophets Khaliphonic have now radically re-fashioned his funk of a thousand “found sound” fragments. The partnership of Ezra “E3” Ereckson and Tracy Harrison calling on contributors to their Khaliphonic label, and its sibling, ZamZam Sounds, to have their bass-fixated way with four tracks from Kutiman`s Don’t Hold Onto The Clouds. Khaliphonic and ZamZam`s body of work is effectively one continuous exploration of dub and its mutations. Placing Ereckson and Harrison’s operation firmly side-by-side with likeminded imprints such as Bokeh Versions and Young Echo, collectives like Dubksam and Seekersinternational.

Alter Echo aka Josh Derry adorns Unknown with tin can rattle and phased organ grind. Squeezing a slow belly dance from sine wave sirens. Rendering the tune a heavily stoned stagger, rather than a skank. Ji Kenzo, who has close ties to Neil Joliffe`s Tempa label, turns Behind The Noise into a Nyahbingi ritual. Naked, save echo drops and twisted tones. Fellow Portlander, and Boomarm Nation founder, Jesse Munro Johnson, in his Gulls alias, stutters everything on Mineral. Piano, guitar and beats. Throwing chants and a breakdown of Earthquake Studios-esque thud into the slo-mo steppers. New Zealander Gene Warriner dons the Headland guise and blows Lucid Dream up into big, filtered, 4 / 4 techno. Its details clicking and tutting, tumbling like water rushing over rapids. Giving me a chance to cite Bandulu`s Phase Inversion again.

Like Vesa Matti`s recently reviewed List Of Lizards all of these remixes are reductionist , dread, relatives of Deep Nalstrom and Nummer. Exploded views. Microscope mediations. Psychedelic, spinning, ambient dubscapes. Aural landscapes that fuse Rasta drum circles with Jon Hassell`s Fourth World, King Tubby`s Hi-Fi, and William Gibson`s Sci-Fi.