Chicago Massive (Jump Up, 2006)

*GUEST REVIEW*
Nothing too drastic, just niceness from a Midwestern band who play dub-rich music with a fair number of sonic similarities to that of reggae's golden age. They also jazz or funk things up here and there, skanking at the core always. A key player is Anthony Abbinanti -- drummer, keyboardist, reed player, percussionist, producer and dubmaster. Actually, the core foursome are all multi-instrumentalists, though there's a battalion of additional players and vocalists on hand. There are two discs here, one with vocals and the other all instrumentals and dub. Somewhat tellingly, disc 1 is the instrumentals and it turns out the better of the two largely because the Drastics are such adept players. They're dang fine when they back up singers too, and the vocal disc does have a lot going for it, including such esteemed guests as Dr. Ring Ding and King Django. But a few of the vocals come across as bland (because of the high bar set by the majority good ones, I suppose). So although it's the dub side of this band I'd endorse more highly, I'd endorse this double album most heartily.

- Tom Orr