Manasseh Meets The Equaliser - Dub The Millennium

RIZ Records, Acid Jazz - LP

UK, 1993
UK Steppers / Electronic / Balearic

Diabolically nagging, gently sun-drenched collection of masterly produced UK steppers by pioneers of the genre, Dub The Millenium offers a non purist take on British dub - making it a logically ignored or overlooked record by purists. The mention of the millenium in the album's title is definitely not a con, as the exceptionally lush production draws the music really close to the sound of circa-2000 electronic milestone albums, like those of Moby or Gorillaz, possibly even more than the Mad Professor releases of that era, despite the massive influence the Ariwa producer very likely had on the two London musicians.

Produced like a deep house album, its lightest tunes (Circle of Stone, Spirit Dance) match the mood of Larry Heard's seminal minimalist album, Sceneries Not Songs, but the range of frequencies is obviously wider on Dub The Millenium, often hitting chest-massaging 60Hz sub bass. Undeniably technologically cutting-edge for the time of its release, Manasseh & The Equaliser's most balearic moments nonetheless remind us that it was released a few months after an unrivaled champion of the genre, Sade's stellar 1992 Love Deluxe (especially with a  soulful tune like Souljah), and right in-between Massive Attack's first two albums. But, when it escapes the shades such intimidating classics, with darker and more psychedelic songs like Absentee and Surface Tension, it gives the genre some of its most visceral steppers. Remarkably heavy sounding pressing.

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