WHAZHO — +-

Whazho is a German live dub / trip-hop duo who released one previous album in 2018.  Their new album, "+ -" has come in 2023, released on the same label as their debut, Gutfeeling Records.

Their sound involves breakbeats (most often played live but occasionally processed or looped), groovy filtered dub basslines, melodic punk-ish guitar and, at least in the case of the first track, skronking percussive saxophone lines.  At one moment it will be lethargic, hazy and stoned, then suddenly erupt in a double timed firestorm of drum & bass or thick rock riffage.  While it is chillout music in spirit, the pace is rapid, and the kinds of lengthy build ups that could take many minutes when performed by other bands happen here within 3-4 minute span.  Even with 13 songs, it's a fairly short album at 47 minutes.

The textured analog saturation of the production on this album captures the 'sampled from vinyl' sound of instrumental trip hop artists like Nightmares on Wax or DJ Shadow, which clearly heavily inspired this recording.  There are many other influences at play here as well, many of them far older.  "Modify the Song" sounds like it could have been the theme for a detective show from the 70's, with a disco flair to its unison trumpet lines.

The rather heavy picked basslines reveal influences from post punk and ska punk as well as dub, and the spacey, FX heavy nature of the music recalls the original krautrock era.  Tracks like "Punk A La Maison" harken to the sound of 90's emotional hardcore punk, with brooding clean tones, fuzzed out heavy tones and slightly overdriven plodding bass.  It's an interesting shift from the cannabis tinged relaxation of the earlier pieces, and it gives the music a lot more emotional depth than it would have had.  The guitar appears with a kind of melancholy energy at unexpected times, such as during the punchy uptempo drum & bass workout of "Samba Di Somwhere".  The distorted bass guitar imitates the detuned 'reese bass' heard in DNB, in a similar way to other live DNB acts like Nerve.

There's a lovely variety and concise listenability to the whole recording, which seems thoughtfully constructed to gracefully move through ideas in a logical manner, while encouraging relaxation.  This sort of pleasant balance is no easy feat, and this is one of the more ambitious and intelligent chillout recordings I've heard recently.  They dance between the worlds of electronic and instrumental lounge music with ease, recreating sounds typically heard from electronic instruments and looping techniques and fusing them with live elements it would be difficult to sequence.  A seamless blend of krautrock, live dub and punk rock.