Ras Teo Meets Lone Ark – Soul Rebel and Soul Rebel In Dub – Review
Ras Teo Meets Lone Ark Soul Rebel and Soul Rebel In Dub Review by Mr Topple for Pauzeradio.com.
Ras Teo and Roberto Sánchez have formed a wonderful musical and spiritual bond over the years – and are now back with a brand-new project that is arguably their best to date.
Soul Rebel and Soul Rebel In Dub, both released via A-Lone Productions, sees the pair join forces with the Lone Ark Riddim Force band to deliver ten tracks and ten dubs across two vinyl releases. It’s an expansive project that pulls no punches in terms of delivering superb quality music in droves.
A-Lone Ark Muzik told Pauzeradio:
“This special set is the second LP by the duo after releasing their first, Ten Thousand Lions, back in 2019. Since then, they have been collaborating with different labels, releasing a string of Roots Reggae records which had a great impact on the worldwide Sound System scene…
“Now, this new album represents a new stage for the duo; this time the ten riddims sang by Teo consists of the most rootikal and minor-key roots-rocksteady tracks produced by Roberto Sánchez for his albums with Alpheus, Keith and Tex, or Glen Ricks in the past. Most of the riddims were composed by Roberto, although there are four Phil Pratt riddims covered by Lone Ark Riddim Force.
“The magic came when Ras Teo started singing at the A-Lone Ark Muzik Studio over them with his unique, smooth, and deep style- giving those riddims a new depth and perspective”.
The full Soul Rebel album is a fine experiment in Roots-Reggae-Rocksteady – a potentially groundbreaking thing – while its accompanying Dub album is equally strong (notably with the majority of Teo’s vocals removed).
What stands out across the albums is that the engineering, mix, and mastering from Sánchez has done in such a way to create a vinyl sound to the project. The vocals are warm and rich, almost as live, while the instrumental accents are focused bringing each part of the palette forward when its needed.
Soul Rebel is a gloriously opulent opening to the projects. There are elements of Roots embedded – like Sánchez’s keys on a bubble rhythm and Josu Santamaría’s guitar running a skank. The pleasing Reggae backing vocals from Sánchez – heavily harmonised, often on call and response duties, and using a falsetto at time – are pleasing. Then, Rocksteady is present with the winding bass line which is mimicked by a guitar (on top of additional guitar lines, filled with bending, that lilt throughout). It’s the interspersing of these three genres which sum the album up – along with Teo’s slick and pleasing vocal. Lyrically, it’s a pleasing sermon on being a conscious, spiritual rebel in a world of proponents of Babylon’s toxic system.
Its Dub version is a fascinating reworking, where some of the rudimentary elements are kept in place – like much of the instrumentals – which allow you to hear far more detail than is normally possible. Gone are Teo’s vocals, though. However, there are then pleasing bits of additional engineering – like reverb that is off the beat.
You Squeeze continues these vibes. Another minor key is present, and the varying influences of the three genres are clear – for example, Santamaría’s pick guitar here doing a triple-time skank. However, here horns play a more influential role. Gorka “Junior G” Fernández’s trumpet, Jaime C. Montes’s tenor sax, and Aratz Diez’s trombone provide additional and pleasing interest across what at times are separate ensemble lines to Teo’s vocal, and at others provide delicate accompaniment to them. Once again, Teo is impressive – as he winds around complex melodies while being refrained on the rhythmic intricacy, while providing complex lyrics about the pressure of living under Babylon, and how those who are caught up in it do its bidding – ending up hurting themselves and others. It’s stark and stirring work.
The You Squeeze Dub take the Dub stakes higher – seeing the employment of reverb increase and some well-placed pitch distortion come in. There are good breaks, and the occasion use of the backing vocals works well.
Next, King Of Israel opens with some Nyabinghi-style percussive work before the track begins proper – as Iñigo Eléxpuru’s drums tread a one drop, while the bass takes more of a secondary role, here – seeing the track being heavily led by the keys which run a bubble rhythm which is embellished at the end of some bars, and Montes’s sax which effectively provides backing vocals at points. The chord changes are delicious, while the organ brings additional interest. Teo mixes up his vocal somewhat, working lower down his register with some well-placed horizontal embouchure – all wrapped around a Song of Praise to Jah.
Its Dub version is another very well executed affair – with the engineering giving an extremely stark sound, where unnerving reverb rattles around the outputs, while the organ line is messed with, and sonics swerve from left to right. Impressive, and inventive.
Dibby Man winds the pace, and the arrangement, back somewhat – to something smoother and starker-feeling. This is compounded by the drop-beat bass arrangement – but then offset with a frantically-skanking guitar and some deft pick work. The lazy horns glide around the arrangement with strong crescendo across each line, adding to the lilting feel. There’s just enough reverb across both Teo’s vocal and some of the instrumentation to again stretch the feel of the track out – which Sánchez’s backing vocals also, do, as here he works in a baritone range. It’s a well-arranged slowing down of the feel of Soul Rebel.
The Dibby Man Dub is perhaps somewhat nearer to the original than its predecessors, but with an interesting focus on the bass and guitar lines, making sure we hear the Rocksteady. The use of reverb here is pointed but less forthright than before, all making for something compelling – with Teo entering for the first time just after two-third of the way through.
Africa Is Rising concludes Side A, with a shrill turn on the electric organ opening proceedings. However, the track is once again slower and more stripped back than the rest of Side A – as horns sway, a bass runs around a drop-beat rhythm echoed by a guitar. There’s a pleasing second electric guitar line that works almost out of earshot, which that electric organ fades into the near background for the rest of the track. However, here this is Teo’s track – as he delivers an impassioned and heartfelt vocal – working in his tenor range which good attention to detail in terms of vibrato and his dynamics. Lyrically, it’s a strong love song to the Motherland beginning to break the shackles of centuries of colonialism to finally ‘rise up’. It’s a strong and fitting closing to Side A.
Its Dub is almost paying a Dub homage to Nyabinghi – as the arrangement is stripped back as that is, except here it’s the bass and not drums. The interjections of Teo’s vocals work well, while the sheer imagination across the sonics of the engineering is quite something to behold – especially the use of compression, decay, and the other room effect.
Side B then opens with Drifter. There’s a real sea change from the end of Side A – as the BPM steps up, the focus returns to the bass/guitar combo arrangement and a more forthright arrangement overall. There’s some nice horn work, here – as they strut across the track with some sharp musical interjections, while a keys line, secondary to the bubble rhythm, provides an infectious riff. The use of percussion cements the pacey feel, and Teo’s winding vocal, making good use of more staccato notes at points, complements all this well. He’s constructed an interesting narrative as well – looking at how those that are materially poor might be scoffed at by Babylon’s proponents – but actually, they’re the richest people of us all if they have faith in Jah and ‘need nothing from this earth’.
Drifter Dub keeps the pace of the original and some of the complex arrangement to open, before stripping it back to bass and percussion, before building it up again with the backing vocals and horns – before stripping it away again by losing the vocals and bringing in the keys… and so on. This tag-teaming of the instruments is central here and has been inventively arranged.
Farmer Dem is another sprightly yet minor-key based affair. Here, the horns pick up a staccato, rapidly pulsating rhythm that drives the track further forward than its BPM would have you think. There is a strong rhythm section in play, with a quick-fire bass line, strutting bubble rhythm keys, and skanking guitar. Meanwhile, additional percussion including a washboard bring interest. The briefest of breaks at the end of certain bars nods to Dub as well. Teo, here, contrasts this with a smoother, more poised vocal that elongates notes where the horns do not. The lyrical content is pleasing, paying homage to traditional Rastafari life and the toil that comes with it – or, alternatively, a Song of Praise to Jah, the ultimate farmer.
The Dub of this is strong, as unrhythmic reverb litters some of the instruments, while decay is laced across others, and compression on some more, while Teo comes in again two-third through – all to give the feel of ebbing and flowing sonics that refuse to sit still; much like the farmer in question.
Womb Man progresses the sound of Soul Rebel forward somewhat – almost bringing in some of the Jazz elements that influenced early Rocksteady. This can be heard in the use of notation across the horn section at points, and the complex chord progressions where the majority of the time the root is avoided. The Roots elements are strong, again – with some varied skanking and bubble rhythm arrangements. Some lilting guitars, which run Calypso -style chord at the ends of some bars, nod to Reggae – and the whole thing feels summery and fresh. Teo delivers his vocal with aplomb, while the narrative around the Motherland and its diaspora is compelling.
Womb Man Dub takes the ideas from previous tracks and utilises elements of them, while remaining truer to the original than what’s come before it. The occasional use of reverb, and stark but brief breaks, work well across what is a complex track – allowing the instrumentation to breath and also come back full throttle on the chorus.
Next, Away From is more genre-twisting while remaining true to Roots. It’s almost ethereal in its feel – as Mathias Liengme’s bubble organ plays a central role in developing a different sound altogether. The interesting use of notation in the previous track is expanded here further, with the inclusion of blue notes on several instruments to give even ore of a Jazz feel, while the starker arrangement, compounded by a slower BPM and Sánchez’s ominous glissandos across his backing vocal, make for something haunting. This is enhanced by the clever chord progressions, and Teo’s wailing, whining vocal. Here, he is at his strongest: highly expressive, with keen attention to detail to make sure his performance fits the musical backdrop. He’s also given us a rousing yet thoughtful narrative around spiritually elevating oneself (rather than geographically) ‘away from’ Babylon’s horror to Zion – or possibly, where we head when we depart this life. Either way, the whole thing is stirring.
Away From Dub is an exercise in how to take an already stripped-back and unsettling track and make it feel even more so. Many elements have been carried over – but it’s Teo’s vocal which is crucial here. It’s included far more than in previous Dubs, but the engineering is such that delicate reverb makes it feel even more ethereal than the original.
The project closes with Jancro. Here, we return to a pointed, purposeful sound but one that’s far starker and more stripped-back than before. The track feels minimalist compared to the rest of the album. Because, while the rudimental elements like bass, drums, keys, and horns are in play, their roles are fleeting. The main driver of the track is the bass and guitar across their repetitive riff, and the keys on the bubble rhythm. Drums are stripped right back; a guitar lightly skanks, horns dip in and out, and there’s a huge one drop after every two bars – compounding the starkness. Teo is stern but smooth – as he weaves around the minimal palette to deliver a vocal that is well-arranged to deliver the furious lyrics about those who are ‘jancros’ – the lowest of Babylon’s proponents, and how you are not fooling those of faith.
The final Dub, here of Jancro, is a brooding and eerie creation, where the use of engineering is subtle: dashes of reverb have been combined with the stripping back of the instrumentals, and the loss of Teo’s vocal to leave something ominous and thought-provoking.
Overall, Soul Rebel and Soul Rebel In Dub are quite remarkable pieces of work. It’s not unusual for Sánchez and Teo to be at the top of their games – as they always are. However, here they have created something quite different, and quite magical: combining styles and genres in a way that is rarely done. The end result is an infinitely listenable project that is sheer class – and will surely be one of the standout releases of 2025.
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Ras Teo Meets Lone Ark Soul Rebel and Soul Rebel In Dub Review by Mr Topple / Pauzeradio PR Services.
