Dub Trio

Whether you consider Dub Trio's approach to be a King Tubby-influenced take on spazz-rock or a rock-laced assault on dub conventions, the essential fact remains that its disorienting attack is best appreciated live. Cool Out and Coexist was recorded over the course of two nights of Brooklyn concerts and is a relatively straightforward representation of the group's concerts. Ironically, there are no overdubs on the entire disc. What isn't so straightforward, however, are the myriad twists and turns that Dub Trio's music takes throughout these dozen songs. Deep, throbbing bass percolates under most of the tracks, but the tightly wound tempo changes that Dub Trio employs would certainly not be on the menu of most dub connoisseurs. Likewise, the mellifluous flow that undergirds these instrumental tracks would likely be dismissed as too direct for the math-rock fans turned on by DT's aggressive use of time signatures and explosive guitars. In other words, this is a chocolate-in-my-peanut-butter affair that brooks no sympathy for purists, but in the shadow of killer assaults like "One Man Tag Crew" and a storming version of the title track, genre purity takes a back seat to the construction of a devastating live show.