Music - Part 345 - Capital Letters

Capital Letters – Wolf EP (Sugar Shack Records)

Vinyl/DL

24 November 2014

British reggae legends return with a brand new EP.  

With the re-release of the 80s Reality album and a newly remixed EP in Smoking My Ganga, Capital Letters have had quite a year.  Now the reggae giants have put together a new album for release in 2015 with Wolf being a pre-cursor of what is to come.

David Hill and Nick Manasseh again join forces to remix the track and present four versions of differing style for your delectation.  Sounding like an original roots track from the 70s, Wolf is brilliant in its simplicity as it regales a story of hypocrisy focusing on Rastas and Christians in true vintage style.

The main version is the Rootikal Re-Mixdown where we’re presented with a highly polished tune, if not fairly standard, with a great feel and instantly memorable.  A catchy verse and chorus provide a track that is difficult not to enjoy.

As with a lot of reggae, for me the song comes alive when they’re given the dub treatment.  The Rootikal Dubplate Mix brings the vocals to the front with a sparse instrumentation pushed slightly back. There’s a killer bass line fighting to break free and subtle dubs scattered around make the track very pleasant.

The third and fourth mixes take the track even further down the dub line firstly with the Rootikal Dubwise where vocals are all but removed aside from the occasional dubbed appearance.  The bass again plays a major part as guitar and keyboard reverbs zip in and out. 

Surely the finest version of Wolf comes with the closing Rootikal Deep Riddim Dub where voices disappear completely bar a small closing inclusion, and the instrumentation is allowed to show its prowess.  In an almost vintage dub style, the version is empty and spacious with each instrument individually given its chance to shine.  Long dubs are perfectly placed and sound fantastic in headphones.

Roll on 2015.


8/10


Links
Sugar Shack Records
Capital Letters on Facebook
Smoking My Ganga review

Published on Louder Than War 22/11/14 - here

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