The Secret Masters debut album, The Lost Dub Tapes, is a fresh and ital collaboration from two dedicated dub/reggae heads, Pieter Bourke (Soma, Lisa Gerrard, Snog, Eden) and Brian Westbrook (Centriphugal, DJ General Strike and Donnie Dub). With a crucial combination of sampled and live instruments, conscious lyrics and exquisite production values, a blueprint for future dubwise stylings has been laid down by these two sonic mystic men from the jungles of Melbourne, Australia.

What started out as experimenting with some Dubwise ideas in between other musical commitments, turned into an obsession to craft an album with the deepest basslines, the stickiest beats, and the wickedest dub fx, that draws influence from the classic period of 70’s Jamaican sounds yet has its sights set firmly on the now and beyond.

The sessions began, and a swag of killa riddims were laid down. But something was missing….”That’s when we decided to call up some singers and toasters we knew, just to take it to the next level…Secret Masters style. So we brought in MC Damajah, don of the mic in the Melbourne scene. Also beautiful soul singer Kylie Auldist, and Professor P, headman for UK roots crew, Freedom Masses. That’s when tings got real hot.”

The Lost Dub Tapes was recorded and mixed in Bourke’s 33RD Degree Studio, allowing Secret Masters time to experiment and refine the arrangements. “We’re definitely inspired by the “dub” ethos which was pioneered by Jamaican producers such as King Tubby and Lee Scratch Perry” says Bourke. “These guys turned the mixing desk and the studio into an instrument in its own right, which had never been done before. They instigated the whole “remix “phenomenon that is huge now.”

Whilst studio techniques played a large part in the recording of the album, it’s the songs themselves and the performances of the guest vocalists that ultimately shine through the dub haze. Currently, Secret Masters are rehearsing for live performances, and intend to keep the “dub” factor at the forefront. “We’re basically taking a mini studio on the road, giving us the flexibility to twist and mutate the songs, live on stage. We’ll also have Damajah and Kylie on the mic.”

Kik back and soak up the thick, smokey vibes and rumbling basslines and you could be anywhere in this big, beautiful Secret Masters world.




01 6:16 PRAYER CALL LISTEN TO THIS TRACK
02 4:30 COOL BWOY (Featuring Damajah) LISTEN TO THIS TRACK
03 6:17 HUMAN KIND (Featuring Kylie Auldist & Professor P) LISTEN TO THIS TRACK
04 5:54 FREEDOM CHANT (Featuring Damajah) LISTEN TO THIS TRACK
05 5:14 ONE PHONE CALL (Featuring Kylie Auldist) LISTEN TO THIS TRACK
06 4:50 WE JUST PRESS THE BUTTON
07 2:00 CLANDESTINE OPERATION
08 4:58 POT LUCK
09 4:49 MUSICAL SCORCHA (Featuring Damajah)
10 4:18 ROOM TO BREATHE (Featuring Kylie Auldist)
11 5:30 UNITY (Featuring Kylie Auldist & Professor P)
12 5:20 ONE PHONE CALL REMIX (Featuring Kylie Auldist)
13 4:42 HIJACK THE PARTY LISTEN TO THIS TRACK

Arranged, Produced and Mixed by Secret Masters.
Recorded and Mixed at 33RD Degree, Melbourne.
Mastered by Joseph Carra at Crystal Mastering.
All songs published by Universal Music Publishing Australia / Copyright Control

Dedicated to Kathy and Wolfgang.



Pieter Bourke
Keyboards, Sampling, Sound & Beat Surgery, Percussion, Programming and Engineering.

Donnie Dub
Keyboards, Bass Guitar, Electric and Acoustic Guitar, Squeeze Box, Percussion, Vocals and Programming.

Kylie Auldist
Vocals on Human Kind, One Phone Call and Room To Breathe.

Damajah
Vocals on Cool Bwoy, Musical Skorcha and Freedom Chant.

Professor p
Vocals on Unity and Human Kind.

Dokta Congo
Vocals on Clandestine Operation.

Apu
Electric Guitar on Musical Skorcha.



THE LOST DUB TAPES – Secret Masters

I LOVE dub. Lets just say that it suits my lifestyle – the dreamy, delayed sounds, smokey fat bass and meandering vocals, the squelchiness of it all – its like a balm for the soul at the end of a long day. Dub from Melbourne town? Even better.

This is the real deal, a blazing collection of tracks that listens like a dope-fuelled journey through space on a tricycle – a combination of live and sampled instruments that is damned close to perfect. The production is spot-on, as it should be with such a labour intensive genre, but it is the addition of several live toasters that lifts this rub to the next level. Damajah, Professor P and Kylie Auldist all lend their vocal talents and this mix is richer for it. Cool Bwoy and Freedom Chant are clear stand-outs, the latter for its two-step beat, ominous laser stabs and ruffneck vocals. Put it on and fire it up, seen!?

Reviewed by Alex Roche. Originally appeared in Scene Magazine, Melbourne. November 2004.


THE LOST DUB TAPES – Secret Masters

While dub has been steadily percolating underground in club and community radio scenes in Australia for quite a while now, there have not been many homegrown dub releases that have invigorated the yard. Enter the Secret Masters.

Pieter Bourke and Brian Westbrook are the talent behind the name. Bourke is renowned as one of Australia’s greatest electronic and percussion collaborators. From the extraordinary soundtrack work with Lisa Gerrard to the films The Insider and Ali – both directed by Michael Mann – to touring with Dead Can Dance and innumerable works with David Thrussell in Snog and Soma, he brings a global touch to the sound. He met Westbrook , renowned dub maniac and bassist in his group Eden. Playing out and producing under the name of Donnie Dub and General Strike, Westbrook opened the seminal club Centriphugal in Melbourne and recorded under that name with Digital Primate and friends. They are a force to contend with.

The Lost Dub Tapes is a swirling mass of deep, dark bass, pounding beats and gorgeous vocals as supplied by Kylie Auldist and Damajah as MC.

Opening track Prayer Call sets the scene for the rest of the album. A traditional Moroccan call to prayer surfs a deep dub soup that suggests an otherworldliness to the sound. Cool Bwoy featuring the words of Damajah is an upbeat dancehall mashdown, followed by Human Kind, which has to be the sound for summer. Flat out dub beats are twisted and distorted with touches of darbukka and Morricone inspired guitar. The track is taken to new levels with the soulful vocals of Kylie Auldist. Other pearls include Musical Skorcha, We Just Press The Button and Unity, featuring Professor P.

The album name itself suggests an archaeological dig, delving beneath the surface for a hidden treasure. It is truly time for this particular treasure to be outernational and loud.


Reviewed by Kate Welsman. Originally appeared in Rhythms Magazine Australia. October 2004.


THE LOST DUB TAPES – Secret Masters

I heard a very promising preview of some tracks from this debut record a fair while ago. Being a big fan of the dub, dancehall and reggae sounds, it’s really gratifying to get the proper version and see for myself that the Secret Masters’ tapes are far from lost. The album represents a polished and coherent contribution to the world of dub music from this fine land.

This is a musical offering to check out if you’re a fan of dub, reggae, or even downbeat electronic sounds; for fans of artists such Atone, High Pass Filter and Massive Attack. I would also imagine that hip hop fans might find some joy in this album, given the affinities between dub and hip hop styles and the fact that many of the beats in this album have a hip hop influence. Secret Masters are Melbournians Pieter Bourke, a veteran of several projects including Soma and Snog, and Brian Westbrook of Centriphugal and Donnie Dub. Sticking within a fairly rootsy dub framework, the artists integrate strong production skills with a 1970s sensibility to give a fuller and more digitized sound to dub. The vocalists who appear on the record are uniformly good, and many moments on the record are far more up-tempo and lively than people often expect from dub.

The record kicks off with ‘Prayer Call’: a spacey and atmospheric dub that sits at a rather lively tempo, and showcases the quality of the digital production on this album. ‘Cool Bwoy’ will have you nodding along involuntarily; with its steppy, hip-hoppy rhythms and Melbourne’s own Damajah on toasting duties. ‘Human Kind’ sticks with the dub-hip hop theme, but much more chilled out this time. It is followed by ‘Freedom Chant’, which again displays Damajah’s considerable skills, teaming him with a bassy-rumble steppa track that fans of the resurging dancehall movement will enjoy. This is one of the more danceable moments on the album.

‘One Phone Call’ drops back to atmospheric dub, a tune that fans of traditional dub sounds like Lee Perry, and more recent artists such as Atone and Mossman will enjoy. The vocals provided by Kylie Auldist on this tune is nicely done, but just a little bit conventional given the rest of the album’s sound. Things take a different turn next, with the tracks ‘We Just Press the Button’ and ‘Clandestine Operation’, which emphasize a more trip-hop style reminiscent of the very early Wall of Sound label at its best. ‘Pot Luck’ has a live instrumentation sound to it, integrating horns and a dubby bass line, sounding a lot like fellow Melbournians High Pass Filter.

‘Musical Scorcha’ dubs the record down again and is one of the more fun tunes on the collection, incorporating classic dub sounds such as delays and spacey organ stabs. The other stand out tunes in this final section of the album are ‘Unity’, featuring Professor P who is a vocalist from the UK crew Freedom Masses, and ‘Hijack the Party’, which finishes the album off on a solid dancehall note.

Fans of dub, reggae, dancehall, down-tempo sounds and hip hop will find moments to enjoy on this quality debut from Secret Masters and would do well to look out for it. I’m off to check out http://www.secret-masters.com to see whether they’re touring!

Reviewed by Mr Biscuit for In The Mix. September 29th 2004.

THE LOST DUB TAPES – Secret Masters

Quite unexpectedly, one of the strongest dub artist-albums to surface in the Antipodes, comes from Melbourne collaborators Pieter Bourke (Soma/Snog) and Brian Westbrook (Donnie Dub). With help on the mic from MC Damajah, singer Kylie Auldist and Professor P (UK's Freedom Masses), the lad's lay down some of the thickest bass and heaviest production I've heard locally. Auldist's soulful vocals draw comparisons to the Wicked Beats brand at times, but this is more consistently heavy and dubby from start to finish, taking in modern downbeat styles, thru to the digital precision of ragga, classic dancehall inspirations and even a touch of d'n'b. Besides a couple of lapses, it's consistently strong, with authentic vocals and some impressive writing making it a standout. Highpoints include clear single Cool Bwoy and stoned horn instrumental Pot Luck.

Reviewed by Paris Pompor. Originally appeared in Drum Media, Sydney 1st October 2004.
 

THE LOST DUB TAPES – Secret Masters

There’s a hazy, summery sense of playfulness that pervades the Secret Masters’ The Lost Dub Tapes. Melbourne reggae/dub devotees Pieter Bourke ( Snog, Soma) and Brian Westbrook ( of Centriphugal fame) are building on a long and esteemed music-making history with this extremely dubby, yet disciplined effort. The Lost Dub Tapes is a rich combination of samples, live vocals, instruments and production that all holds together with a relaxed, almost poppy sensibility that makes it easy on the ear. The result is a consistent and upbeat record, with unafraid melody and shiny beats to shake that arse to.

3.5 / 5

Reviewed by AB. Originally appeared in UBM Magazine, Melbourne. November 2004.

THE LOST DUB TAPES – Secret Masters

Australian Dub? It would have to come from Melbourne, of course, where dub-heads Pieter Bourke and Brian Westbrook have come up with an album that actually sounds straight out of Jamaica. It has all the requirements for classic dub, which for the uninitiated is a relative of reggae, but with a relaxed pace, spacey beats and a lighter, hazier sound. Damajah’s vocals, which feature on three of the tracks, are perfect and make Cool Bwoy and the anthemic Freedom Chant stand out as radio friendly fare, almost bordering on catchy. Upping the credibility count is Professor P, from the UK’s Freedom Masses, on Human Kind, although his vocals are scarce. A couple of songs break out of straight dub: One Phone Call featuring Kylie Auldist, is almost a ballad, while Hijack The Party ventures into dub’s 1990’s offspring, drum ‘n’ bass. Although there’s no wild experimentation with the genre, the album is accessible and has a fresh, contemporary edge.

3.5 / 5

Reviewed by Kate Mackenzie. Originally appeared in Weekend Age, Melbourne. September 2004.