A pet theory on Calvin Johnson is that he’s a fat guy trapped inside a thin guy’s body. An alternate and equally impressive one goes that he’s a thin guy imprisoned in a fat man’s body. I’ve seen it both ways, really, and I think Calvin swings across the spectrum, keeping boys and girls guessing from era to era, album to album, sighting to sighting. At the height of the middle-90’s, Calvin’s silly experiment in indie boogie, The Dub Narcotic Sound System, blew into Philly, and similarly blew minds by failing to live up to our anticipations. Between the filtered Dub art music of the Industrial Breakdown EP and the interloper funk and fuzzy future-pop of the Boot Party LP, the band that seemingly was intended to be a Teva-treading frat party near-joke actually transcended the limits of their make-believe genre and delivered seminal, roof-burning ecstasy for jaded East Coast cynics. Live and on platters, DNSS was the best of all worlds: the serious joke. The belly-size thing seemed pertinent because, what with songs about jewels and fudge and booty, and with a jolly heave of the ass to and fro’, Calvin managed to turn a desolate second-floor office space into a radiant and explosive dance hall. When a youngster took the mike from Calvin and challenged him to a dance contest, tensions rose. But to the rhythm of the hot August night, the bandleader talked the young hot head down, and opened up the floor to everybody. We need no competition to enjoy ourselves, said Calvin, rubbing his round midriff sagely, and the softness and generosity of his figure seemed to sooth tempers and warm hearts.
Now the Dub Narcotic Sound System is set to issue an as-yet-unnamed 3rd Long-Player, sometime this Autumn. The hope is for more surprises, more drama and more corniness. In the meantime this advance EP provides some teasers, four enjoyably diverse and wikid fun cuts of (ahem) Rap, melodica-driven Dubness, and coy Olympic experimentalism. While K Records has been a first-rate independent contender, with new talent added to the roster fairly consistently these last few years, it’s nice to know that Calvin’s house band is still in existence.
These four tracks deliver the diversity I’ve mentioned above. We have an unconventionally straight party anthem, a mess of dopey pointillist story telling, some deep melodica-driven dub, and a chunk of fragmented version damagalia. All of this is good goods. Perhaps in the near future the Dub Narcotic Sound System will peel off the thin- suit, lift the lid again and choke up something mysterious and laughable, something seriously fun.
1. Handclappin'
2. Petrolbzz Version
3. Sabley Goodness
4. Mega-Clash Version
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