Let The Echoes Do The Talking: Pitch Black Drop Dub Music From Another Dimension At Zanzibar
Listen to an exclusive Pitch Black live track here:
The root of all reggae music has always lied in the dub within because when you strip down the track to its simple drum and bass rhythms, it’s here (with a healthy dose of echo chamber effects), that you really lose yourself in the music. When I discovered dub culture by way of electronic music, it opened up my mind musically to a whole new realm of sound possibilities. I became so enamored that I even created my own compilation series entitled“Reggae From Mars” as a a way to pay homage and showcase these crazy sounds from the dub genre. But it wasn’t until I heard the echoes laid down from the New Zealand duo known as Pitch Black that I found out what this sound was all about.
Incorporating elements of house music, drum and bass, and breakbeats alongside some of the heaviest echoes and dub basslines you’re likely to hear, the Pitch Black sound would indeed come from Mars if the island of New Zealand hadn’t already laid claim them first. In addition, it houses some of the finest names in future reggae, such as Fat Freddy’s Drop, Blue King Brown and Easy Star Records' own The Black Seeds.
“I think it’s the space maybe,” band member, Michael Hodgson laughed when we met up in Venice before the show. “You know, it’s an Island nation as well, it’s got a black indigenous culture that loves reggae.”
Wherever there’s reggae, there’s dub!
Alongside his production partner, Paddy Free, the Pitch Black live experience is a 90-minute, mind-melding, futuristic dub freak-out, synched up to a surreal visual show that will make you feel as if you were dancing in space. Having never had the chance to experience the band live before, I was excited to discover that in an LA exclusive, the boys would be breaking out a brand new track on this night, which Paddy was in the process of finishing up while Michael and I spoke.
“We went into a studio between the two times we’ve been here this year and set up on the dancefloor (in Auckland, NZ) for a week,” Michael explained. “We developed three new tracks and tweaked up the normal set we’ve been playing recently, so we played those and then we just opened the doors and let people come in and groove out to the new sounds. We had a couple of days off here in LA, so we’ve been working in a similar style studio and taking the best of those three track developments and getting them into the set for tonight.”
Even with a newly revamped tracklist full of bits and pieces of the band’s now decade-long back catalog, there was an additional element in the air on this particular night for Michael and Paddy.
“It’s fun actually, going back to some of those tracks from two or three years ago and just making them a bit raunchier, sort of tidying them up a bit and re-imagining them,” Michael mused. “But when you play a track for the first time live, you either get the best mix you’ll ever get with it or you get some sort of hybrid, so I’m looking forward to this new journey.”
The trek that waited for us at Zanzibar was nothing short of sensational. With the club decked out in devilish attire for the ensuing holiday, the atmosphere was a little spooky and when the initial repeating effects hit and the first thumping bassline dropped, there was no turning back.
The band proceeded to mash-up and re-imagine some of their most memorable cuts, such as the standout single, “Rude Mechanicals,” personal favorite, “Melt,” (which was the initial song that got me into the group), and a fantastic re-working of “Freefall,” from which their new song emerged.
Featuring plenty of bass and breaks amidst a sea of swirling echoes, this new beast got the dancefloor moving in a major way. For us, Zanzibar and the city of Santa Monica beyond, we were now all on an aural odyssey and under the enchantment of some of the best “Reggae from Mars” our ears have ever heard.
The audience has a massive influence in the way the set goes down.
Michael added, “Because everything is in bits and pieces, we build the songs in real time, the arrangements don’t exist before the start, so we put them together in different ways and if the crowd’s there then we’re there.”
We were all with them on this night as Michael and Paddy were bouncing around on stage and getting lost in their own echoes just as much as we were. I could sense the show was going as they had hoped, but I could also see that they were gathering new ideas in the process.
“Whenever we drop a song out of a set, we still grab the best bits of it,” Michael explained. “We’ve got this one hybrid song, that’s just a complete masher, it’s pretty twisted at times - people will come up and go, ‘Fuck, what the hell was that?’ But if you know the music well, you’ll pick up loads of new references and all sorts of stuff. It’s a good way to keep some of the sounds we like alive, through the bits and samples.”
I asked about the possibility of naming this new track after their LA experience, perhaps following the lead of Sven Van Hees to name a track after us.
“‘Sinning in LA?” Michael laughed. “You never know, but yeah, we’ve got our tracks that have been inspired by where we are. At this moment, the new track is called, “Slinky.”
Um, “Slinky”?
“When we make tracks, we quite often have very odd names,” Michael said. “Then we get them done and then we’ve got to rename them. It takes a long time for that original name to disappear and the new name to appear. I don’t think it will stay “Slinky” but that’s what it’s currently being.”
We couldn’t have that and at a point in the conversation I mentioned that the Pitch Black sound contains minimal vocals and that they tend to “let the echoes do the talking.”
“That’s it! That’s the title,” Michael laughed. “I’m going to text myself right now, so I don’t forget.”
Coming up with sinful song titles and getting down to dub music is all in a day’s work for our crew.
With Michael and Paddy in the the beginning stages of a two-week, cross-country tour, I asked Michael if Pitch Black have any “guilty pleasures” when touring.
“We’re doing six gigs in six countries in seven days next week and it’s just the two of us,” he explained. “We don’t have roadies, so to be honest, the guilty pleasure is getting enough sleep!”
While the process may be arduous at times, it’s also incredibly creative and rewarding and something that Michael and Paddy couldn’t be more pleased to do.
There’s a whole bunch of people that really like music and then there’s a whole bunch of people that just listen to music and if you’re lucky you get the people who really like it.
We believe we’re in the first camp (and you too, probably). For those of you that are new to the Pitch Black experience, we’ve got an exclusive treat for you. This live recording from their recent tour showcased the sound of the band at their very best.
And for those of you already in the know, this is the perfect memento to remember that show, courtesy of your good friends here at Sinning In LA.
Whether you’re from Mars, New Zealand, or Studio City, you’re sure to find something here to keep your winter nights warm.
“Ground Control to Smash LeFunk....”
Photos By: Chase Maximus
