Daniel Lanois' Black Dub

Infusing music with soul is no easy task. And we're not talking some stock R&B thing, this is soul in the archetypal sense – the invisible, overarching embodiment of things beyond the world we can see and taste. Soul in music is what makes it more than ditties meant to shift units and pass the time. Soul in music is what makes it breathe and leap into our hearts and minds, and yes, bodies, to live anew in our own strange ways. It's there in the intentions of the players in a way that transcends language. And there is abundant soul, in this wonderful, fully fleshed sense, inside Black Dub, the boffo new project from celebrated "studio rat" Daniel Lanois. In Black Dub, whose raw, thickly conjured self-titled debut arrived on November 2, Lanois is joined by highly regarded studio bassist Daryl Johnson, drummer extraordinaire Brian Blade (Wayne Shorter, Joshua Redman, Joni Mitchell) and vocalist-songwriter Trixie Whitley, the daughter of the late, utterly great Chris Whitley. The combination is as crazy talented as one might imagine but also a good deal earthier and readily appealing than such high tone combos often turn out to be. The burn of the blues, the raised hand exultation o... more...