Cloud Management is a project featuring Thomas Korf, Sebastian Kokus and Ulf Schütte from Love-Songs with collaborations from a variety of other artists including Aaron Coyes, Leipzig-based Canadian producer No UFO’s, dub explorers Seekers International, and Kenyan multi-disciplinary artist Coco Em. The resulting album, V.A., is a sparse but glorious journey into dub.
It all started in December 2022 with a concert in Hamburg when Cloud Management teamed up with Aaron Coyes for a post-gig jam session. This laid the foundation for a track which, when they took it into the studio to record, was soon joined by a second track. What was intended as a two-track 7” release led to other contributors being invited to create their own versions of the tracks. The album includes three versions of ‘PST’, two of ‘Electric CD’ alongside the tracks ‘Update’, ‘Halbtransparentes’ and ‘0rtchen Pitch’.
V.A. glories in dub mesmerism as it draws you in to an alternative dimension of metronomic grooves bombarded with sonic splashes laced with reverb and echo. The original version of ‘PST’ has vocals bouncing off the walls over an undulating bassline which lollops along under a myriad of sounds that swoop and attack the mix while a ghostly two-note motif drifts in and out. The other two mixes each tease out something new: on ‘PST Version’ the bass is lighter and more playful while the electronic percussion shoots out icicles and exploding crystal, whereas ‘PST Version 2’ (which closes the album) bleeps, clatters and tweaks like a 16-bit game put through a woodchipper.
‘Halbtransparentes’ is transcendental dub, floating beatifically on an electronic cloud and bossa nova-like beat. ‘Electric CD’ is a jungle at night, pulsing and breathing against a darkness that holds a thousand eyes, whereas ‘Electric CD Version’ doubles the tempo into a dash through subterranean caves lit by flaming torches. The standout track for me is ‘0rtchen Pitch’ which has the feel of a haunted dancehall with the same urban dub style as On-U Sound artists plus the judder of terse vocals reminiscent of The The’s Matt Johnson.
Cloud Management and their collaborators have done a great job creating meditative tracks that crackle and fizz around a solid dub core. In some ways writing about dub is, as the phrase goes, like dancing about architecture. Dub is to be experienced; either at a club level, where it can rearrange your internal organs, or when you are on your own letting it carry you away in its Zen pulse.
Cloud Management socials: Instagram | Bandcamp
Review by Paul F Cook
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