Sensible Soccers are a Portuguese trio, whose music could be loosely described as rock. Sometimes it’s spiky and punky, at others its “post-“, borrowing from classical minimalism and jazz. Often it leans toward the sounds you might hear scoring a contemporary White Isle sunset. Here, however, they’ve been remixed by the mighty Mad Professor, whose mixing desk virtuosity has bent the band into all sorts of different shapes. 

“Dub de Saia Travada” effectively dissects the players, separating their instruments – high-pitched woodwind-like synth, swooning strings, organ and clipped ripples of rhythm guitar – over a slow, chilled, chugging beat. Adding, of course, characteristic doses of delayed, percussive rattle. 

“Berlaitada Dub” is initially taken right back to just an electric pulse. From here The Prof begins, bit by bit, rebuilding. Echoing cymbals, bringing in a house-y B-line and kick, plus a weird whistling hook and what could be an accordion. Timbales are tonked, sirens go off and lasers fired. Everything is vigorously shaken. The track gradually evolving into something for the dance floor that’s busy and barmy, referencing The Prof’s pioneering post-punk work, and displaying a definite, disco-not-disco, “Balearic Beat” bent. 

The final number, “Dub Discreto”, is a 9-minute ambient experiment. A strange, beatless Sci-Fi expanse of looped, synthetic ringing, almost human choir-like harmonies and big, booming bass emissions. Shifting through bubbling sequences and fanfares of warped, alien reeds, the results are way more psychedelic / kosmische than anything we’ve come to expect from the South London-based dubwise maestro. 

Mad Professor’s dubs of Sensible Soccers can be ordered directly from 8mm Records. However, I have Tom Dubwise to thank for my copy.