Volfoniq: Ernest

angeldustrecords on 11/25/11 at 03:44PM

It’s no secret that Volfoniq holds a special place in my heart, because his collaboration with Organic on Volforganic Dub was the first track I played on the first ever Dub Zone way back in May 2007.

The new album features collaborations with Volfoniq’s listeners and with the best of the best in the online reggae community. The opening track is “Autobahn Garten”, featuring Tribuman, which starts with Volfoniq’s trademark accordion, with a nice rootsy groove and classy horns, which is augmented by a lovely wobbly bassline. Tribuman, Control Tower and Benjamin Leska collaborate later on the fabulously jazzy/rootsy “Magnesium”, and Benjamin Leska returns on the penultimate track “Memori”, & Control Tower returns later with “L’amour Est Enfant Dub”, both of which are delicious accordion-led grooves.

“Taiwan Massala” is a collaboration with Kou Chou Ching and Jambassa, mixing up bhangra-style tablas with raps from the Taiwanese masters. “Libre Comme Dub” is a love affair with the LCL label featuring Mildtape and Ebsa, with some more wobbly basslines.

The track called “Balkan Banghra” was always guaranteed to get my attention, and it’s the only track on the album accredited only to Volfoniq. It delivers exactly what the title says, augmented only by another great wobby bassline, and it’s magnificent!

Perhaps the most exotic “collaboration” on the album is on “Hypnos”, which features Jean-Paul Sartre (yes the long-dead French Philosopher), which has a great driving beat.

All in all, it’s been a long wait since the last full-length Volfoniq album. In fact he says on his website that it’s taken 7 years to gather together all the fragments to make this musical diary. It’s definately been worth the wait. This album already makes it into my top 10 albums form 2011, and I strongly encourage you to download it.