RELIGHT BIOG

A soft but breathtaking album… an elegant blending with Jamaïcan flavours… Haunting compositions, absolute fluidity and clearlight sound quality… their dub fades into electro-ambiant chamanism and becomes a magic sound installation…

From Le Monde to 20 Minutes, from Keyboards Magazine to Telerama, reviews of Dubphonic’s Smoke Signals (2003) were unanimously positive. First album of this French trio after a cult 12” for the Chicago based label Guidance Recordings, Smoke Signals – entirely instrumental - soon became a music supervisors favorite with tracks being picked up for series such as Six Feet Under and Dexter…
After a tour with Japanese band Audioactive and a handful of concerts, and while their remix of Tosca’s Orozco was being spun all around the world, and original tracks of Smoke Signals were appearing on numerous compilations. the band went back into the studio in 2004.
If inspiration met the rendez-vous, Stefane Goldman (guitars/electronics), Alexis Mauri aka Alexkid (programming & production) and Sylvain Mosca (programming & electronics), were not fully satisfied with the results and agreed that time would not be an issue, since they wanted the best for their second album. Four years in-and-out of the studio later, eleven new compositions were completed and finalised for Relight.
During the deliberatly slow creative process, four of these new pieces naturally evolved into songs with guest vocals by Cuban-American Liset Alea (previously heard on Alexkid’s second and third album), Euro-American Daniella D’Ambrosio (Nouvelle Vague, Aswefall), Brasilian Céu (whose new album Varagosa is about to be released in Europe) and English Mau (co-founder of Earthling and various other projects).
The band members have played most of the instruments and and written most of the repertoire themselves, for certain special moments they called in brilliant musicians such as Jean-Philippe Rykiel and Rodriguez Jr. on electric piano, Jérémie Poirier-Quinot on flute, Seep on synthesizer and Prince Zober on percussions. Their input and the various palette of the guest singers/writers enriches the band’s unique sound while keeping the cinematic essence of their music, more obvious than ever in tracks like « Nora Sun », « Last Resort Hotel » or the magnificent closing number « Outland ».

SMOKE SIGNALS BIOG

God did create the cat
So that man could caress the tiger
Victor Hugo

All means are good to fight the invisible foe And they are more and more numerous.

Parisian trio born in 1999, Dubphonic grew up in the magic forest of evergreen inspiration, but soon looked for a more urban location and set up in Chicago (America) for the recording of their first maxi single signed to Guidance Recordings. In those faraway times, the message was already clear: « War No More! »

Back in Europe, a quick stop in Vienna to give a hand to Richard Dorfmeister (file under Tosca), charismatic leader of the experimental dub faction G-Stone. From the archives of those days, the Orozco Dubphonic remix, originally released on "Suzuki In Dub" (G-Stone Recordings) made it on Smoke Signals. Often copied but never pasted, this remix encountered on so many compilations can be heard during a horny scene of the second season (9th episode) of the cult TV series Six Feet Under. Dubphonic’s music is sexually tantric.

While riding on the night train from Vienna to Hamburg, the band – now a mobile resistance group - remixed “Jah Jah Is A Guiding Star” (Jah Jah is a compass) from veteran Linval Thompson. Delivered on arrival (platform 3), the remix was immediately mastered for "Select Cuts From Blood & Fire Chapter 2" released by German label Echobeach.

Then comes a rather weird period for the trio during which Ben entered the Betty Ford Clinic to cure a severe echo addiction while Alexis disappeared to record Alexkid’s first solo album (“Bienvenida” – F-Communications) and Stefane, in love with a beautiful Ethiopian girl, got lost in exile in Djibouti.

But Dubphonic could not resist the call of the wild for too long and the trio reassembled to tour all around the world of France to support Japanese band Audioactiv and for some memorable solo performances.
All means are good to fight evil…
And that’s what keeps them going and that’s why Stefane Goldman (guitar, subassophone, programming), Sylvain "Ben" Mosca (guitar, 3-tones melodica, programming) and Alexis Mauri aka Alexkid (programming, old fashion reverbs, production) decided to finish "Smoke Signals" in a secluded recording studio in the city of lights.

A few months later, during an excursion into the Northern Parisian suburbs, Dubphonic found shelter from a storm in the office of Hammerbass, pioneer of the Dub Federation For All, symbol of peace and universal cultural exception. And this is how these outskirts activists in a safe haven signed the band, before any major could reach for their chequebook.

In their quest for transparency and respect of Mother Nature, Dubphonic sort out their domestic wastes at every creative step. Guaranteed free from GM ingredients, their music helps healing, brings back the beloved one, resolves money problems, gives self confidence, and also proves to be a perfect soundtrack for contemporary arts exhibitions.