![]() I happened across Al Cisneros solo material purely by chance when doing some research online and was quite surprised to find he had released 2 x 7" singles and a 10" under his own name, if you have followed OM over the years then you may have came across the limited Sub Pop "Singles Club" 7" that OM released called "Gebel Barkal" this 7" was backed by a heavily effected variant on the A-side simply entitled "(Version)" Now you may or may not be familiar with the world of Dub Reggae so I will quickly explain that the Jamaican originators of Dub often released 7" singles where the A side was a backing track made by the producer with a vocal over it however many if not the majority of Dub Reggae singles come backed with a B-side "Version" it's here where the producer is allowed to shine by using the most ground shaking Bass, primitive echo and various reverb type effects for the "Dub" version it was through these B-side "Versions" that many producers such as Lee "Scratch" Perry and King Tubby came to the attention of the world. It should be no surprise then that with his love of bass heavy jams that Cisernos has a love of that other, though at completely the opposite end of the scale, bass driven music that is Dub. If you are unaware of OM they are a 2 piece band originally comprised of Cisneros and Sleep Drummer Chris Haikus (replaced in 2008 by Emil Amos) so effectively Om were Sleep minus Matt Pike who went on to start High On Fire, OM deal in a sound formed from Bass, Drums and vocals playing heavy rhythmical trance like mantras of epic length (Their first 2 albums contained a mere 5 songs in total!). and more recently with doom supergroup Shrinebuilder. If you came to this post and got the First update above please scroll down to UPDATE II to find the Additional material if not then read on.Īl Cisneros is best known for providing the supreme 4 string bottom end for some of the heaviest bands on the planet, as a founding member of stoner titans Sleep, since 2005 with his own band OM. ![]() Definitely make sure to give this a listen.If you have been to this post before then go to * UPDATE* at bottom of post if not then i encourage you to read on. If you've heard any of Α&Ω's dubs before or aren't certain how to feel on Om, then this one will be more likely to strike your fancy-it's not as demanding from a musical or time perspective. Of the two Α&Ω dubplates, this one is most likely to appeal to folks unfamiliar with the band. I am almost certain someone with a more carefully trained ear for dubbing could point me wrong on this, however. To my ear, untrained in the genre, they sound like the same ideas the former side just seems to take them a bit further. It infuses the electronic elements developed on the front side without actually extending or shortening the original track significantly. The B-Side contains the other reworking, titled "Addis Ababa", which is a much more straightforward adaption of Om's original piece. ![]() The only distaste I find in this version is in their heavy reliance on forced triplets-they seem completely antithetical to the very understated and pacific piece they're building off of. Also, without relying as much on the female vocals to carry the piece, it places a lot more focus on the underlying instrumentation, making it feel less like a soliloquy and more like a band piece proper. The 4/4 nature of the song becomes heavily drawn out (with a much larger 1-3 emphasis), making the piece feel less reverently languid and more intentional and purposeful. It's very soft and unassuming, even for Om, using its repetitive nature to slowly build up emotional tension in the listener over a time span of just five minutes, which, if you're unfamiliar with the band, is almost unheard of for them.Īlpha & Omega's first reworking, "Ababa Dub", shows an interesting take on the piece. The (comparatively) short opening track from Advaitic Songs, "Addis" is a very light piece that lays Arabic-influenced chant and instrumentation over Om's usual raison d'être. The first, the Addis Dubplate, is a reworking of Om's song "Addis". But they aren't stopping anytime soon-in addition to a planned single from frontman Al Cisneros to hit later this year, two of the band's tracks from their latest release have been handled by British reggae/dub act Alpha & Omega to be released as a series of dubplates. Everyone's favourite stoner rock band with a flair for the religious Om has been on a roll lately, releasing the incredible Advaitic Songs just last year.
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