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Twilight Circus Dub Sound System


    " Dub Voyage " Music Reviews

    TWILIGHT CIRCUS DUB
    SOUND STYSTEM
    Dub Voyage
    (M/Tripsichord)

    Depuis 95, Ryan Moore, multi-instrumentalist chez les Legendary Pink Dots, profite de son temps libre pour s'occuper dans son studio à produire des instrumentaux dub du meilleur cru. Dub Voyage est sonseptième album à ce jour et, même s'il faut reconnaître que rien ne ressemble plus à un album de Twilight Circus que le précédent, on note quad même une maîtrise plus grande des techniques, de la composition et des explorations sonores sensiblement différentes, depuis le premier In Dub Vol. 1.
    Progressivement reconnu et promu par les "college radios" ou des gens comme Dj Spooky, Mix Master Morris ou Leftfield, surtout depuis 1999 et l'excellent Horsie, Ryan Moore livre un dub paisible, aérien, pour ne pas dire carément spatial ou ovniesque, aux basses et aux reverbs très prononcées comme il se doit, aux mélodies de plus en plus accrocheuses. II aime à se laisser porter par la "vibe" née des improvisations studio, rien n'est préétabli lorsqu'il travaille et triture ses machines, sa "space echo" ou son Theremin. Son "dub roots" est résolument futuriste, le personnage fort sympathique, et il ceuvre pour le bien-être de l'humanité. Que demander de plus?
    Jean-Henri Maisonneuve, Magic!



    (Spanish Language Review of DUB VOYAGE)

    Cosas que no para de ofrecer el amigo RYAN MOORE desde Holanda. Hemos de reconocer que cada vez nos sorprende, y a mejor. "DUB VOYAGE" ( M RECORDS ) es el séptimo disco de su proyecto en clave de dub: TWILIGHT CIRCUS DUB SOUND SYSTEM. Y, aunque este disco es menos críptico que obras anteriores, hemos ganado 11 hermosos temas, directos, que entran a la primera, que no nos cansamos de oír, y que reafirman a MOORE como un gran talento dentro del "nuevo dub" que bebe directamente de los patrones originales jamaicanos. Esplendidamente grabado, mezclado y presentado, MOORE realiza un impresionante ejercicio de estilo, fruto de un hombre al que le gusta cuidar los detalles hasta su punto justo. Un gran disco, sin duda.

    Isabel Garcia Pallarol
    ENOFF WEB ZINE
    http://www.enoff.com/enoffcarp/ox/ox.htm



    Twilight Circus Dub Sound System
    Dub Voyage
    (M Records)

    Well, so it's 9:13 am and I am sitting here cursing the living blue daylights out of the Roger's Low-Speed aka Non-Existent Internet "Service" as usual, that Wave which is more like a feeble piss in a pond, @Home as in that's where all the techies are tearing out my remaining body hair and the only thing instilling me with any sense of sanity and perhaps even tranquility are the raindrop dub beats of Ryan Moore's new masterpiece of visionary aural copulation, Dub Voyage. This is once again a true dub experience, dub-jam. You know they don't really go for dub in SF? Well, it sure suits Vancouver, with rain on May 31st, lovely non-working anything, and the only next move available to the avid cheese is to sit back, spliff, scan porn you know, the usual. This album is less acoustically guitar-oriented than Horsie, concentrating instead on bass-guitar jams & echoing dub chords, minimally constructed into a consistent groove that is beautiful, uplifting & sad.

    Ok, so now it's June & this cd has not left my player. It's like an addictive solace. Let's get into details. The first track opens without prelude into a deep, bass-driven jam. Then Dub Voyage begins, the album's title track, opening with peeling trinkely bell sounds & a piano lead into a full-on, slow armrest noisy feedback funk. From here on, the tempo picks up into danceable grooves with tracks like Heavy (which isn't), only dropping back down into the slow dub mode for the ultra-low spleen-rumbler Depth Charge. Here ends what is labelled as "One" on the CD, presumably from the vinyl LP. Now "Two." Things pick up again, but always alternating back & forth from fast and slow jams. K2000 stands out as an exceptional track, with some efx-laden percussion, non-standard dub bassline & more complex drumming with added distortion for that extra mindfuck everyone was really waiting for. The CD ends with Massive, which is appropriately that: a massive bassline set out against spacing piano-echoes & stuttering percussion. Well, if you like dub, you'll dig this, and if you sit at home when it rains or on Wreck Beach in the sun just feeling that goody-good feeling then you will *also* dig this.

    -Tobias - Discorder Mag



    Dub Voyage

    Twilight Circus is the dub-centric recording project of multi-instrumentalist/producer Ryan Moore, a ubiquitous Nettwerk Records studio contributor and longstanding member of the Legendary Pink Dots. Dub Voyage, the Amsterdam resident's seventh platter under the moniker, hovers in purist Jamaican dub territory - impossibly thick, woofer-threatening bass lines slathered in all manner of slippery echo and compression effects, punctuated by lilting fragments of organ, melodica, and skittering percussion. As the album progresses, Moore injects more space and grime into the mix, stretching and contorting tracks such as "K2000" and "Silver" into thoroughly modern-textured dubscapes. Throughout, Moore's reverence for the form ensures a refreshingly warm, live feel, even when the echo box settings are pushed to alien extremes.

    Colin Helms
    CMJ



    Twilight Circus Dub Sound System "Dub Voyage"
    M Records CD 190 2000

    The first time I saw Ryan Moore perform live as Twilight Circus I knew I would end up collecting everything from him for the rest of his career.  Four years and five albums down the road "Dub Voyage" brings us to the seventh Twilight Circus full length.  Here Moore, also bass player and drummer for the Legendary Pink Dots, is entirely solo holed up at his home studio in the Netherlands as well as The Miller Block in Canada with the bare essentials:  bass guitars, drums, synths and a mixing desk.  There aren't any big surprises here really, which is fine, just 11 more solid tracks of some of the finest dub being committed to tape in years.  The sound is of the usual deep analogue bass and drum groove accentuated with organ, synth and melodica melodies all bathed in a kaleidoscope of swirling effects.  Moore plays everything himself so the feel is very full, real and "live".  The title track makes great use of bell tones and a squelchy synth line.  "Wareika" is an obvious tribute to the late great Augustus Pablo, founding father of dub.  "Fast" is aptly named for it's upbeat tempo partly powered by handheld percussion.  Moore has apparently acquired a K2000 synth judging by the track of that name and it's a standout due to it's extra crunchy rhythm.  The bass line to "Slicer" is smooth as silk.  "Massive" features beautifully subtle interplay between snare fills and echo chambered melody.  "Dub Voyage", like all of Twilight Circus' music, simultaneously pays homage to the classic dub of the '70s while moving forward into the next millennium.  If you're a fan of dub - real dub - you never get sick of it and always want more.  That's me and that's Twilight Circus.  Kick back and relax as these sounds take you on a cruise through all the Caribbean islands in the comfort of your own private headspace ...

    Mark Weddle
    http://www2.southwind.net/~markw/cdreviews



    Twlight Circus Dub Sound System ­ Dub Voyage
    ­ M Records P.O. Box 469 6500 Al Nijmegeg, The Netherlands

    Other than extraordinary efforts from Sly and Robbie/Howie B, and other electronic producers incorporating the dub sound into their work, it seemed to me like there hasnıt been a whole lot of original dub to listen to, especially with more of a roots feel to itŠuntil I heard Twilight Circus.

    Twilight Circus Dub Sound System is Ryan Moore, bassist for both the Legendary Pink Dots, although their sound has very little to do with the dub heard here. Mooreıs take on dub is extraordinarily spacey, bass heavy, and atmospheric - yet he avoids electronic tools normally used in creating neo-dub, opting instead for real drums, and basslines. The tracks heard here retains itıs roots in the original sound that King Tubby, Lee 'Scratch', Augustus Pablo and Mad Professor helped pioneer ­ but progresses it on to another level. Incredible dub for a future generation - go to great lengths to pick this one up! "

    ink19 - aaron schultz



    Ryan Moore, the super Canadian/Dutch dubber, scuba flips another low frequency bass rumble into your area. Out of the echo clique making modern dub (Rockers, Hi-Fi, Tricky, Cris, Smith & Mighty, Burnt Friedman) he tends to grab the roots.  Peer into future comic strips antics: Mad Professor and his Sidekick Ryan "Cape Delay" Moore fight evil in the epic "Raiders of the Black Ark" Dub Voyage has more contrast than your fuzzy black & white Zenith. He gets dark and dirty with tense flanged drums anchored under floating echoed melodies.   It is the spaces between that can rock a nation.

    Frosty XLR8R #43



    TWILIGHT CIRCUS DUB SOUND SYSTEM
    Dub Voyage

    Ryan Moore's Twilight Circus Dub Sound System looks back to an era before the insistant rockers, then digitised rhythms came forth.  Moore has a knack for capturing early roots sensibilities: pillowy bass, little melodic hooks and shuffled syncopation.  On top of the fundamental rhythm, Moore always adds the right kind of sweetness---echo-y bells, melodica or sparse, but warm lead guitar.  His ability to blend new technology with his own in-the-pocket playing creates a classic, but not retro sound.  It is the same story with his bass lines; they hint at, but never imitate the founding fathers of dub.  Individual tracks such as the title cut and "Wareika," his tribute to the late Augustus Pablo, are majestic, headphone-crushing rhythms. (M)

    -David Dacks
    EXCLAIM! July 2000



    Twilight Circus Dub Sound System - Dub Voyage
    Label: M Records
    Format: CD,LP

    Richard Fontenoy
    FREQ Music E-Zine - http://www.freq.org.uk
    Rough Guide to Rock - http://www.roughguides.co.uk/music/rock/

    The indefatigable Ryan Moore keeps up the Dub pressure with this, his seventh album release as Twilight Circus, purveyor of fine Seventies-styled Dubs to the kids... and beyond. One of the first impressions of Dub Voyage, as is only to be expected, is the bass.

    Tons of the stuff, and warm, gloopy booms of it; while the LP starts off gently enough, by the conclusion matters have got almost down to the the low-Hertz territories mapped out so boomshakingly by Adrian Sherwood's experimental production on The Missing Brazilian's fearsomely wobbly Warzone back in 1984 - and re-released not before time a couple of years back on the On-U Sound Master Recordings series. Bathyscapes rather than landscapes.

    Anyhow, back to Twilight Circus; and Moore's production has rarely sounded this crisp - and this is from a geezer who could probably make a biscuit snap cleanly in half a a thousand metres with his echo chambers. The Seventies classics are the obvious influence, with "Wareika" paying homage to the late Augustus Pablo via a melodica paean and some formidable bass acreage, but there's something indefinably contemporary about the TC sound which takes the template and makes it Moore's own. Squishy analogue synth lines whip like power cables in a desert storm or gurgle into the undertow, bleeps and whistling abound, electric pianos skank the melody before another wave of boom and beat crashes on the shorefront... such appropriate images on the sleeve, the shaking palm trees, the turbulent pounding of the sea.

    It's around "Blaster" that the heaviness of the bass and the shooting sparks of delay really begin to head offworld, taking themselves and the listener into revolving abstractions, topped off with head-opening frequencies at apposite junctures. The blissful combinations of sweet fragments of melodies are made all the more special for their counterpoint to the drum & bass grooves, as "K2000" proves as it delves deeper and wider into low end on one hand, further out into space with the phased hi-hats and synth slippage on the other. Far-freaking-out just about sums up Dub Voyage, and it's no ill description that the last track (with a rather neat line in delayed/decayed snare drums fills) is called "Massive", after all. For that added extra hint of thunder only a needle in the groove and a set of stupendous speakers can give, the vinyl edition also offers DJs and home listeners alike even greater opportunity to fall back onto an almost physical bass presence.

    -Linus Tossio- (have to keep the personas changing ;-)
    www.freq.org.uk



    DUB VOYAGE
    Twilight Circus Dub Sound System
    (M)

    snippets of review...
    by Alexis Georgopolis

    DUB VOYAGE continues ... Ryan Moore's exploration of new roots dub...the album's warm analog tones make it a delight to listen to.
    The opener, "Acetate" is a subaquatic escapade...
    The ghost of recently passed Augustus Pablo visits "Wareika," as a melodica refrain surfaces....
    The closer, "Massive," drops the heavy riddims, with a sublime bass hook anchoring the overdriven drums....
    ...Moore crafts transcendent tracks loaded with substance as well as style....a fresh heavyweight sound.

    excerpted from SonicNet Music News of the World, the daily music service--
    http://www.sonicnet.com

    note: to check out the entire review go to the sonicnet site:
    http://www.sonicnet.com/artists/ai_album.jhtml?id=1021675&ai_id=910667



    Twilight Circus Dub Sound System
    Dub Voyage
    M Records/FAB

    Canada's representative in the new dub underground is expatriate Ryan Moore. He worked a lot in the Vancouver scene in various bands including the Animal Slaves, and as Nettwerk Records' in-house bassist. At a session with Kevin Crompton's Tear Garden he met the Legendary Pink Dots and subsequently moved to The Netherlands to join them. At the same time he finalized work on the debut of his true musical love ­ the one-man dub reggae band, Twilight Circus. Now on his seventh album he's working with the confidence of worldwide acclaim for his roots-oriented productions that are authentically old-school in both sound and recording techniques. Moore works live in the studio without computers or samplers. His instrumental lines are laid down instinctively after so many years of soaking up the vibes from albums by King Tubby and Augustus Pablo. During the mixing he'll dub his playing, adding the trademark spacey echoes to piano chords, organ melodies and the occasional melodica. From the sound alone you'd swear this is a 70's Jamaican production and not some lone groover in Amsterdam expressing his love for the original drum and bass of dub.

    Chris Twomey



    the wire
    dub - steve barker
    dub voyage

    "having arrived back from the early 80's via whatever time-travel device he may be using, ryan moore has now come to a spooky understanding about what was happening in jamaica in the studio with scientis, jammy, and the roots radics. drums, bass and the overall mix all feel warm and live. the tracks entitled 'k2000' and 'slicer', along with a few more contemporary effects, bring us to the present day, and a conviction that moore needs to come forward and confess how he's achieving what one hesitates to call 'authenticity'. fresh dub!"