I think the album title says it all! Beautiful tranquil dubby and ambient chill music. Don't miss this!

Organic Records based in the UK mostly releases psychedelic trance, but has also given us some chilled music lately. Now they are out with a dub album by one of the true pioneers in the trance/ambient scene, Jake Stephenson, here called Ganja Beats. He is known for running the Kinetix label, but also for making music as Shamanic Tribes On Acid, Alien Mutation, Dr. Psychedelic, Mantra, Crystal Moon (together with Ishq), Bass Meditation, Mind Control, Eyetek, Whitestar and offcourse Optica and Optic Eye. Jake tragically died earlier this year at the age of 42, right after he had completed this album. This album starts with a really heavy reggae dub track. Here we get smoking reggae vocal samples, totally slow, dubby beats and tons of bass. Not my favourite kind of dub, but might be something for the rastamen out there. Track 2 continues a deep, dubby vibe. Very slow and relaxing. Here we get some more light melodies too, which makes it to a really pleasant, quite atmospheric listening experience. Track 3 is much more floating. Nice atmospheric ambient with some dubby beats in the background. Great track, and one of my favourite tracks on this album. Track 4 continues a beautiful, floating, relaxed vibe. Bubbling underwater sounds and dreamy soundscapes. Nice melodic track with some down tempo beats. Track 5 goes more melancholic. This one is not as dubby as some of the other tracks here, but has a beautiful floating ambient vibe. It reminds me of some old quality ambient tracks. Track 6 has some eastern vibes, just as the track title says. Indian sitar sounds mixed with dubby bass and beats. Very slow and relaxed, but I find this kind of dub easily a bit boring. Track 7 goes back to the reggae dub style again. Totally smoked out reggae vocals, dubby beats and an organ melody. Not my cup of tea, but might be something when I’m totally exhausted. Track 8 continues the Jamaican vibes, but here we get a pretty nice melody. Reggae without vocals... Track 9 slows us even more down. Deep dub, with reggae voice samples and heavy bass. Track 10 is among my favourite tracks on this album. This one has some kind of break beat rhythms mixed with beautiful floating sounds. Track 11 starts with birds singing. This is among the most chilled tracks on this album. Pure summer vibes for the chill out area. Track 12 continues the slow vibes with one one of the most beautiful tracks I have heard by this artist. Flute sounds and beatiful floating soundscapes. The last track on this album is also a floating ambient track. Deep, beautiful track with the sound of running water, birds singing etc. Reminds me a lot of tracks by Ishq. This album came as a surprise to me. I really like some old releases by Jake, especially the chilled ones, so it’s nice to see that he came up with more of that. On this album you get mostly dub with reggae influences, but also some really beautiful, floating ambient tracks. Personally I prefer the ambient part, but I’m sure there are some rastamen out there who will appreciate the dubby side too.

Requiem for Jake... UK-based Organic Records are out with their 10th CD-release… After the Tsunami Benefit compilation and the brilliant Invasion From Hyperspace compilation, it’s time to chill out for a bit… Time for some peace and tranquillity… Ganja Beats is Jake Stephenson who sadly passed away recently at the age of 42 after suffering an epilepsy attack. Jake was a very dedicated and productive producer – among the most productive ever! He was the man behind the Kinetix Recordings label and his production aliases included Shamanic Tribes On Acid, 3rd Eye, Alien Mutation, Bass Meditation and countless others… He was also a member of the groups Optica, Optic Eye and Crystal Moon with Matt Hillier of Ishq… This album was completed short before he died… (R.I.P.) Well, I’m not sure what to think of this album… I know that dub, reggae and ambient are closely related, but to be honest I really don’t like the reggae tracks here… They seem to get somewhat in the way of the much better ambient/chill-out tracks… I know that this was Jake’s style, and I hope he doesn’t turn in his grave when I write this… But to conclude, I don’t really like half of this album… But the other half is extremely nice! What a complex! So you could say that beautiful ambient tracks make up for the less good tracks here… And I’ll even admit that the reggae tracks might even serve their purpose when under the influence… But for me right now, I’ll skip ‘em… I’m sorry to see Jake leave this Earth so early – I hope he’s at a better place right now hanging out with Bob Marley & Curt Cobain… He’s made some great stuff in the past, and at least half of this album is very sweet… Obviously I’ll recommend this to fans of both ambient/chill-out and dub – and if you’re also into reggae you will not want to miss this album… I’m putting this up on my shelf next to Kukan-Dub-Lagan’s Life Is Nice released on Candyflip in 2004… If you liked that, you’ll love this… Enjoy! Favourites: 3, 4, 5, 8, 10(!), 11, 12(!!), 13(!)