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On The Politics Of Dub Bass

Dr. Das

By Anil Prasad | June, 2007

For Dr. Das, dub bass is a serious vehicle for social commentary. With its origins in early-’70s Jamaica—a country then rife with political and societal instability—dub bass, according to Das, to this day represents “the sound of people trying to bring down Babylon.” The British musician put his philosophy into practice during 13 years with Asian Dub Foundation, a unique collective that combines dub bass, electronica, punk guitar, rap vocals, and Indian classical elements. The act’s supercharged wall of sound is infused with messages aimed at combating racism, fascism, and globalization. Das left the group in 2006 to pursue a solo career that kicked off with the release of his new CD, Emergency Basslines. The intense, all-instrumental disc is full of deep, dark, and highly melodic dub bass, Indian and Arabic percussion loops, breakbeats, and crunchy feedback and distortion. It’s designed to reflect a world in a state of flux, with a sonic perspective that’s both militant and optimistic.


Describe the politics you feel are inherent in dub bass.
It relates to the general attitude in music that bassists are just there to hold down the rhythm, whereas vocalists and guitarists are the ones responsible for serious expression. Dub music represents an inversion of clichéd perspectives about bass. With dub, the bass line is the hook of the song and the guitar is often there backing it up. The bass line offers a low-frequency melody that carries the key emotional content. Your job is the same as it is for any other instrument—ensuring how you feel about the world is reflected back into your playing. The challenge is you’ve got to do all of that using as few notes as possible.

Contrast your compositional approach on Emergency Basslines to your work with Asian Dub Foundation.
On the new CD, I’m expressing emotional sentiments purely using bass, noise, and percussion—the three main components I’ve had running through my work for the last 20 years. This album strips away the other blatantly melodic components I had in Asian Dub Foundation, including vocals, keyboards, and guitars. I’m trying to challenge people to focus on the melody of the bass—and even the melody of noise—so they can hear, understand, and acknowledge both of them as distinct and unique pieces of musical thinking.

How have you evolved as a bassist?
I’ve become more disciplined about getting to the essence of the bass line. I’m a lot leaner. My goal now is to be able to play one bass line all the way through a piece of music and not feel the urge to go somewhere else. The reason people go elsewhere is they’re not happy about where they are. Playing one bass line all the way through is actually very hard. To make it work, it truly has to be the best bass line you can think of for that piece of music. When I’m writing, I’ll start with a percussion loop that inspires me and jam along with my MiniDisc recorder running. I might go through millions of ideas looking for those three essential notes that make up a great dub bass line. There are several criteria the bass line has to meet for me: Does it break your heart? Will it make your body move? Is it militant? Can you make love to it? In a way, it’s a search for the one bass line that exists at the center of the universe.

just the facts

Can Be Heard On
Dr. Das, Emergency Basslines [VU Recordings, 2006];
Visionary Underground, Keep the Grime On [VU Recordings, 2005];
Asian Dub Foundation, Enemy of the Enemy [Virgin, 2003]

CURRENTLY SPINNING
Rebel Familia, Rebel Familia [Positive Production, 2003]
“This Japanese bassist and programmer duo offers up the heaviest dub bass lines imaginable, with wicked, distorted drums that make your speakers sound trashed.”
Black Uhuru, Tear It Up [Mango, 1992]
“I love live reggae albums, and this is my favorite. It’s raw, militant music with Sly & Robbie on drums and bass rocking hard, playing with energy and precision, and demonstrating how much you can improvise within reggae.”

GEAR
Bass: Status Graphite S2-Classic with Status HotWire half-wound strings
Rig: Ampeg B2R head, Ampeg B-410HLF 4x10 cabinet
“I used to be happy only with strings that I had played for years because it took that long to totally rub off all the top end from them. I was pleased to find strings that give me an instant dub sound as soon as I put them on.”

 

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