Always welcome is a new record from Ulrich Troyer, the Vienna all-rounder who last regaled us with NOK 2020 – his very idiosyncratic take on the glitch genre.
Today on Transit Tribe (4BIT-PRODUCTIONS 4BIT-P014) he’s revisiting the dub genre with which he’s been associated since 2012 if not earlier, mostly played by himself with his synths, samplers, drum machines and electronic bass, but he’s joined by a corncob of talented European improvisers and instrumentalists, which means that alongside the razor-sharp beats and crisp bass smashes, we have solo lines on trombone, zither, flute, clarinet, cello, vibraphone…in short adding dimensions of classical and free improv and a very European flavour to this West Indian genre. Where else will you get a track called ‘Brennerautobahn’, which splices a Ralf + Florian notion with the jaunty melodica playing of Taka Noda? Drummer Didi Kern adds percussion to almost every track, and even Susanna Gartmayer is here on ‘Europabrucke’. Fortunately Steve Barker, the famed radio presenter behind On The Wire, is on hand to contribute detailed sleeve notes to account for the contributions of all these genius players, adding useful context and depth to what he has – with maximum accuracy – termed “future dub”.
I also enjoy Ulrich Troyer’s jolly colour drawings that adorn cover and booklet, even if they tend to make the music here seem more “wacky” than it actually is. That said, he’s no Adrian Sherwood, nor Mark Stewart + Maffia; Troyer stresses the positive vibes and sunshine of dub, not the paranoid shadows or grim societal messages, and the whole album is massively entertaining start to finish. (23/09/2024)