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Female Dub Techno Artists

It is not a secret that electronic music scene is dominated by men, and when we’re talking about niche styles like dub techno, even more so. Although there is no reason for it to be that way. However, in the last decade or two, the amount of female artists has greatly increased, and now we have some big names, filling venues, presenting some exciting electronic music, inspiring other female artists, proving that there is space in this field for women too. Now, if you look at a YouTube channel of Telekom Electronic Beats you will find a more and more women DJ’s and producers being featured.

What ispired me to write this post, was a video from the Dub Monitor YouTube channel named “The History of Dub Techno (in 17 minutes)“. In it the author mentiones that females are very under-represented in this niche style. And that made wonder how many female artists I can find. At the time I could hardly name one. I decided that will be an interesting topic to research, and maybe prove Dub Monitor wrong about this.

What helped me tremendously while doing research for this article is the SoundCloud account of the L’Appel du 8 Mars project. It is a French organization dedicated to promote women and non-binary artists in electronic music through an annual event organized on the International Women’s Day. Founded in 2017, it aimed to provide critical reflection on the visibility given to female talents on stage. Their first event was launched in Paris in 2018, where they gathered a line up of 14 female artists, 8 industry leaders and started with round tables, where guests could discuss matters regarding the representation of female artists and the challenges they face in their careers. By promoting female inclusion in the electronic music scene, L’Appel du 8 Mars hoped to bring more equality among genders in this industry. They have done a preliminary study on how female artists are represented in the scene which you may check out here, if you’re interested in the subject matter. However, I believe, from what I was able to find, they haven’t done any events since 2019.

So here I go.

The first female dub techno artist I came across was Slow Dimension. She is also known as Lou Berlinger, and she’s from France. Lou also runs her own record label called Nevermind Records, which so far has only one release in the catalog.

When I contacted Lou, she asked if I found about her via female.pressure. Forgive me for my ignorance, but I had no idea what that is, but Lou was kind to explain. female.pressure is a database of female and non-binary electronic music artists, founded by an electronic music artist Electric Indigo. I was happy to come across such a resource, however the search engine of the database isn’t good enough, I couldn’t narrow down the search results to what I need exactly and therefore was not able to find more female dub techno artists. Nevertheless, you have to appreciate the existence of such project, and I’m sure it is useful to some extent. But now, let’s just go ahead and listen to some music by Slow Dimension!

Slow Dimension · Orion (without Mastering)

Next on my list is Federika. I must say she is not purely a dub techno producer, but the aesthetics of her music will be appreciated by most dub tech heads in my opinion. They’re chill, minimalist, deep and they feature chords. That’s a recipe we all love. I admit though, that some of her stuff will not fit into the definition of dub techno.

Federika is from Spain and she runs her own label called Kapikua Records. Unfortunately I was’t able to dig up much more information about her. But I think her music will say more than any of my ramblings could.

Now let’s talk about Dana Ruh. Again, this producer from Berlin is not purely a dub techno artist, but a lot of her tracks will be appreciated by you. She also runs her own label called Brouqade, with her colleagues Ann M Cazal and Anthea Marie. And I believe Cave Recordings is her imprint as well, as all the links on discogs.com lead to her SoundCloud page, and the catalog holds releases only by her. Also recently Dana announced on her facebook that she’s launching a BQDTRX imprint. A lot going on.

Danah Ruh has been active in the scene for quite some time, and there’s a lot to explore if you’re interested in her work. I don’t have much more to say, and I don’t want to just be copying from her biography which you can read on your own. So I’ll just share some of her music.

RDV music · Dana Ruh “4 Leaf Clover”

Dana Ruh · CR004 – Time Out Of Mind – Dana Ruh

Now it’s time to talk about Lauren Lo Sung from Liverpool, UK. Not only she is a producer, but also runs her own label and event series LOLiFE, and also runs another label named e1even records with her colleague Sian Bennet. It’s an interesting trend I notice among these women, besides DJ’ing and producing a lot of them tend to run somekind of brand or a project as well, which I think is admirable.

She has a lot of releases in her discography on many different labels. Again, maybe some will argue that she is not purely a dub techno producer. But I think a lot of her tracks would fit a dub tech set perfectly well. Check out some of her stuff and you’ll see.

Lauren Lo Sung · Lauren Lo Sung – Lucid Dream (Original Mix)

Lauren Lo Sung · B2. Lauren Lo Sung – Lara’s Dub (Original Mix)

Lauren Lo Sung · A1. Lauren Lo Sung – Running (Original Mix)

Next! It is Luna Ludmila from Netherlands. She started DJ’ing when she was around 18, but as her bio says, she likes to spend a lot of time in the studio, producing her own music. Luna aslo says she’s a hardware enthusiast. And that is perfectly shown in her studio jam video on YouTube.

To me her stuff sounds lush. Luna’s sound fits my taste buds very well. Follow her, as I feel this is only the beginning for her. I for sure will.

Some of her music below.

Next on my list is Nadja Lind from Germany. And once again, she is running her own label called Lucidflow, that is active since 2009. She started it together with Helmut Ebritsch. They’ve worked with artists like Trentemoller, Marko Fürstenberg, Fluxion etc. They also make music together under the name of Klartraum, where you will find some cool dub tech grooves as well. But for this article I will only focus on Nadja.

She’s been producing music since 2004, and has produced so much that I don’t even know where to begin. She also focuses on making healing music, made for meditation, relaxation and things of that sort, and it seems to me that health, awareness and spirituality is a big part of her world. I invite you to listen to some of her stuff below. Her older releases seem to be less oriented towards dubby sounds though.

And finally, there’s Alteria Percepsyne. However, she has discontinued this alias and know makes music under the name of Glossata, where she now focuses on ambient sound, with occasional minimalist techno beats.

Emily Griffiths (her real name) has distanced herself from the dub techno sound since she began producing as Glossata, and has not released any new stuff recently with neither of her aliases, which I really hope will change. As she’s no doubt one of the most talented artists mentioned on this post. She’s from UK, and has released music on the great Silent Season imprint. However, that’s all I was able to find about her. Emily seems to be a secretive artist, not really seeking for attention, but letting her works speak for her. I respect that type of an attitude for an artist. Anyway, enjoy her music.

I also want to mention Duchess of Dub. As a producer she’s still on a beginner level, but she has recorded many DJ mixes, which is always appreciated by the fans of the style.

And that’ll be it. If I have missed something, I sincerely apologize, please let me know about it in the comments. Cheers!

Written by Evaldas Azbukauskas

Dub Techno in Ukraine

As it’s deep Autumn now, trees have lost their leaves, days are dark, grey and foggy, I feel compelled to continue my series of articles about Dub Techno scene in various countries of the world, because there is no better soundtrack than this music for this type of weather. So far I have overviewed Lithuania and Belarus. Check out those if you haven’t done so. But this time my focus is Ukraine.

In these series I’m trying to look at artists and labels that are still active and are likely to release new stuff. Unfortunately it’s a difficult task when it comes to Ukraine. The most significant label Energostatic Records is not operating any more, and the founder of it, Maryan Kitsenko, who’s probably also the most significant dub techno producer in the country, is not producing music any more as well. Sad, but on the other hand he left quite a legacy, and it is definitely worth your attention. However there are some guys who are active, that you can follow and support in the future and motivate them to keep going.

I think it makes sense to begin this overview from the already mentioned Energostatic Records. Founded in 2010 by Maryan Kitsenko from Kiev. I personally would give a gold medal to Maryan for releasing a Lithuanian producer Stellardrone, who later became a beloved space-ambient producer all over the world. But speaking of other artists who have releases on this label I would mention Textural Being, Echo Delta, Vėjopatis, Thomas Carmody and there’s many more. Seriously, just go to their bandcamp that is still online and you will have loads of good stuff to explore for days – https://energostatic.bandcamp.com/music.

I talked to Maryan him self, and asked what he could mention as the most significant releases of the label, and of course he mentioned Stellardrone right away, but also he mentioned Textural Being and his album “En Ce Moment“. He said: “It set the benchmark for the coming years when searching for new artists and material.” However, Textural Being is not from Ukraine, so I won’t discuss this artist further at this moment. Maryan also went further to say: “We had great pleasure to release music by many great artists: DeepWoods, DT-90, Mark Ward, Le Code, to name a few. I tried to build a community of artists, so a special shout-out to Kalgan aka 110ml, Jaymuhsin aka Aurastore, and Enformig“.

Among releases by many different artists from all over the world you will find a decent amount of productions by Maryan him self. He has also released a bunch of stuff under a few different monikers. They include Atmeo and Marc Atmost. I’m going to share some releases by him below.

Another Ukrainian artist who has also released stuff on Energostatic is Enformig. His music is not just dub techno, he has also produced some more energetic underground techno. Unfortunately this man has passed away recently. He was battling cancer for five years. But he will stay in our memories for a long time, as he released some great stuff before leaving this world.

Maryan Kitsenko has shared some fond memories of working with this artist: “…all those amazing times of collaboration, late night messaging and sharing the joy of music and creativity. When Enformig passed away, I guess the last bits of hope and reason to keep the label had dried up. The label was already not working at the time, but that solidified everything.”

Let’s move on. Finally I’ll take a look at something that’s still in operation. I want to begin with another label from Ukraine called mystictrax.

Mystictrax is apparently a sub-label of a vinyl label Noneside, which is not a dub-techno label, but atmospheric, minimalist and lo-fi enough for a dub-techno fan to appreciate. These guys seem to be very underground and secretive. As you can see in their logo, they claim to be from Chernobyl, they operate in a closed scientific laboratory, and they release music since 2619 (are they from the future?). Take that with a sense of humor of course. Their first release was put out in 2019, as you could’ve guessed. Having said all that, I have to also mention that only two or three of their releases can really be categorized as dub techno so far, but it was such an interesting discovery for me that I decided they’re worth a mention in this article. They have a release by a Ukrainian dub techno artist Zub.

Let’s talk a little bit about him now. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a lot of info on him online except that he’s from Lviv. It seems like Ukrainian artists don’t have a big social media presence, but maybe they are using social networks that are more popular in the east, like vkontakte or telegram. Anyway he has released a single called “Thistle” on a Belarussian label Spclnch run by Thomas Carmody, a three track EP called “Guests” on a Lithuanian imprint Greyscale run by Grad_u, also a couple of EP’s on an Italian label Gos Music Studio. And finally, there’s a bit longer EP on the already mentioned Ukrainian label mystictrax. I personally think that he’s doing a great job, so check out some of his stuff below.

Further I’d like to take a look at Unberg. Very little info about him online, but he’s from Ukraine, and he makes some great music. He has released an EP on Apnea label and I strongly recommend checking out his bandcamp page: https://unberg.bandcamp.com/

Next on my list is Methodub. It’s George Vasiliadi from Odessa. Not much information about him onine as well. Seems like he doesn’t release on bandcamp, but you may enjoy his music on SoundCloud, Spotify, Beatport and many other platforms.

Methodub · Breath

There’s also a producer known as Subforms, from Dnipro. It was a duo at first, by musicians Yevgeny Konovalov and Dmitry Oleynik, later a solo project by Yevgeny. You can’t really put him in a box of dub-techno, there’s a variety of styles in his productions. But Subforms music always tends to be deep, ambient and minimalist. Sadly, he hasn’t released anything new in the last 5 years, as far as I know. But his discography is quite rich.

Unfortunately I cannot provide you with a link where you could find all of his stuff in one place, except maybe his Spotify profile. Also only a few releases are on bandcamp. If you’re interested you may have to do your own research with the help of Discogs maybe, and also there’s some stuff on his SoundCloud. He has also released an album on Cold Tear Records back in 2011, called “Fragments“. Which to me is our label’s classic, and in my personal opinion, maybe his best work.

And that’s pretty much it for artists and labels from Ukraine that I wanted to talk about. But even though these series are dedicated to artists and labels only, I think it would be a mistake not to mention M-Eject, who has released some dub techno music, but his primary occupation, if I’m not mistaken, is DJ’ing.

Some of his mixes have accumulated over 100k or nearly 100k views on YouTube, and that’s why I think he did a great service for the dub techno music. I’ll share one of his mixes below, and will say, see you later! I’m already excited to pick a different country and start researching!

Written by Evaldas Azbukauskas

Optical Frameworks – The Sound Explorer

One day I was telling someone, about an interesting artist on our label. It was about a guy from Czech Republic under the name of Optical Frameworks. His real name is Martin Dlabaja, born in 1991. He has released 5 releases on Cold Tear Records. It’s difficult to put him into a box of a specific genre, but it’s influenced by dub techno, it’s ambient and drone with a lot of field recordings. He has used reel-to-reel tape recorders, microphones for recording under water, and is also an amazing photographer and visual artist. While I was telling all about that, I realised that he’s probably one of the most interesting artists that we have worked with. Sometimes I even ask myself, is this guy a genius? Therefore, I decided that he deserves a blog post that takes an overwiev of what he has done over the years of working with Cold Tear Records label.

His first release on our label was back in 2011. It was an album called “Surrounded Fog” that we released both in digital and CD formats. Martin did not send me any descriptions or explanations of what he did in this album, all I have on it is this: “composed & recorded during winter on old tesla b115 reel-to-reel”. It’s an immersive experience to listen to it. You may find it on our bandcamp below.

All of the album is oriented towards ambient and compositions with field recordings, and only two tracks have a beat and resemble what we may call dub techno. By the way, as you could’ve guessed already, the cover artwork was made entirely by him self. He also has made a series of videos for some of the tracks. You can check out one of them below, and find more on our YouTube channel.

The same year he released his next album on our label called “Aether Blueprints”. And he asked me to release it under the artist name of Optical Framework. He wanted it to be singular this time, not plural. I didn’t even ask why. I was just happy to have him on board, and I was willing to let him do whatever he wanted, because I believe in his exceptional intellect and talent. For this album he had a proper description. Which we will get into, but first I want to let you listen to the album, which you will find below. Also, the cover artwork is his own work, as always.

In the album description he goes into explaining what it is all about:

The original idea was to capture the essence of interesting places with as little use of synthesis and regular waveforms as possible. Instead, every instrument and sound was to be born of field recordings made during a year of travelling. Source material included soundscapes of rainstorms from the beautiful forests of Beskydy; storms over the towns, yards and burnt lands of the island of Brac; the industrial areas of Zlin and late night soundscapes from Brno City. In addition to these soundscapes, further source material emanated from the experimentation of sound produced by static electricity, electromagnetic fields and underwater recordings with homemade Hydrophones.

The final inspiration came from a fascination of psychoacoustics and sound produced beyond the regularly accepted limits of human perception. Sound that can be detected by spectrum analysis but not actually percieved by the ear. The resulting studies, and attempts to catch this hidden sound and it’s effects on that which is perceptible, centered on field recordings of rainstorms.

Each and every track herein began with, and exists within it’s own individual uncut recording. That recording alone fed the processes of building depth and sound, ultimately portraying a reinterpretation of the stories and emotions originally captured.

I believe you can capture more than just sound.

This album is for those who appreciate music which allows the listener space to think as opposed to one which overloads the senses. Also, for those people sharing my profound love of physics.

There are also a few videos to go with the album. One of them below.

It’s interesting to pick his brain reading the album notes. I like that he strived to use only natural sounds for the creation of these compositions. He also mentiones his use of homemade Hydrohpones. I believe that is a microphone for recording under water that he made for himself. Hard to really say anything else about it. Just immerse yourself into this world of sound and see how it changes you.

His next album on Cold Tear Records was released in 2013, named “Little Piece of Perseverance”. Surprisingly the cover artwork is not Martin’s photography this time. It’s an original painting by Viktor Suchomel, who’s apparently also a tatoo artist. I guess you could say it’s a collaboration between two of these artists.

“Little Piece of Perseverance” is an album made in winter/spring 2011-2012, made completely out of field recordings that I collected during this period. Each track represents a set of places visited mostly at night. You can hear tracks made of sounds of snowy, nighty trainstations, people waiting and chatting about daily problems, melting snow, wind and other sounds describing moods of this slow period of awaking in my life.

To me Martin is an exceptionally sensitive person, who has an ability to focus deeply on the subtleties of the sound. And obviously, to him it’s not just a hobby, not just a way to actualize one self in the world. But also a spiritual path.

“Little Piece of Perseverance” features more tracks with beats, but Martin still keeps his music very deep and meditative.

Martin’s creative space, with a reel-to-reel tape recorder, and the Roland RE-201 Space Echo machine

His next work for Cold Tear Records was in 2014. It was an EP called “Vibrant”. This time he stays silent, and let’s his music do the talking. Unfortunate in one hand, as we’re always curious to know more about what’s happening behind the scenes, but on the other hand I like the idea of all the required information being encoded in the music it self. With this work he goes back to using his own photography for the cover artwork.

And then his last work for Cold Tear Records was released the same year. It was a full length album this time, called “Vertigo”. It also features a photo gallery, of pictures made by Martin from his time in Slovenia. You get it if you buy the album from our bandcamp. You can also see a slideshow of that photography in the video below, with one of the tracks from the album in the background.

This album seems to be more inspired by the dub techno sound. But as I and you know, dub techno and ambient / drone is an excellent combination, that creates a remarkable depth in sound.

It is also important to mention that Martin Dlabaja is not just a sound artist. He works with all types of mediums, that include video, installations and technology. If you like his works you must visit his youtube channel, where he has published a bunch of his audio-visual art. Seems like lately he has been interested in computer graphics. Find that on his channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/MartinDlabaja/videos

And for all around info on what Martin Dlabaja is up to visit his website: http://optical-frameworks.com/

There’s one last thing I want to share about Optical Frameworks. I remember that at one point I was interested in using reel-to-reel tape recorders my self. Because in the dub techno history it’s an important element to how the lo-fi dub techno sound developed. Nowadays I just mimick the background hiss of the tape, but back in the day, bands like Basic Channel / Rhythm and Sound had tape decks as an important part of their studios. Perhaps such amount of tape hiss wasn’t welcome at that time, hard to say, you’d have to ask Moritz von Oswald if such lo-fi sound was intended, but now it is a part of the whole aesthetic of dub techno style. Anyway, so I asked Martin about some technical aspects of using the machines, and he made this video where he shows how he generates all those sublime sounds. It’s a fun thing to watch, see it below.

Since “Vertigo” we haven’t released anything new from him. Although my hope is still alive, that we will get a message from Martin once more, asking if we’d be interested in releasing his stuff again. But whatever the future holds, I will always remember his creations as classics of our label.

Written by Evaldas Azbukauskas

Dub Techno in Belarus

It seems to me, that dub techno is a style that will never be truly popular, and nor it has to. Because it’s very specific and appeals to a specific kind of taste, which can be acquired through studying the history of this style and electronic dance music in general. To someone who’s not a fan of it, it may sound all the same, but dub techno fans have the ability to appreciate very small details and subtle differences. There is a chord with delay and reverb in every track, but every artist cooks it in a slightly different way. Therefore, even in the genre so defined we can have recognizable styles of one or another artist.

Some of you may be thinking, is there any dub techno in Belarus? Well, I’m here to tell you, yes there is. Not an overwhelming amount of artists or labels though.

To begin talking about dub techno in Belarus you have to start from YINYANG label, which is now defunct. Their first release appeared in 2017. So these guys were no doubt pioneers of the genre in their country. I believe it was the first dub techno label. YINYANG was started by artists known as Thomas Carmody, Khlev and their good friend Pavlik Artiushin. They have released a lot of stuff under this label, including artists like Heavenchord, Tender H, Altone and more. However at one point in history, the whole team realized that they have a bit different visions of what they want to achieve, and so they split apart. Khlev and Pavlik decided to get involved with music more suitable for dancefloors, and created the Backside Slice brand, and after that YINYANG was re-branded as Spclnch (spacelunch) by Thomas. Since then, he kept working on the label and it kept bringing new releases without slowing down at all. Since then he also released music by Liuos, Basicnoise, a vinyl record by Upwellings, Vøsne, Special Zip, Ohrwert and many more.

Spclnch logo. A label run by Thomas Carmody

What’s great about all these people in Belarus, I mentioned above, is that they are enthusiastic about making great electronic music events. I’ve been booked to play in their events twice my self and came back with great memories. It’s cool to watch how they are doing it all out of passion for this music. There is a very nice video recording of one of their events, which includes live sets by Alexander Bogdanov and Special Zip. The latter has also released two EP’s on our label, but more on that later. You may enjoy the video:

Let’s talk about specific artists. I’ll start with Thomas Carmody, because in my mind he is the main person now in Belarus when we’re talking about dub techno. I’ve already told what he does a bit, so I’m not going to repeat my self. But he also has a solid catalog of his own productions released via his own label, others, and I’m happy to say that on Cold Tear Records as well.

The next artist I’d like to mention is Special Zip. The interesting thing about this case, is that Special Zip released his first EP “Method” on Cold Tear Records in 2017, not on a Belarusian label. And at that time YINYANG / Spclnch weren’t even aware of this artist. I told about him to Thomas Carmody when I was playing in Minsk. So now he’s a part of Spclnch and also releases stuff on our label. I’m happy how music can sometimes connect people. Since then Special Zip also released an album called “Patterns”, which you can check out below.

One more artist who also cannot be ignored is Tender H. This producer is uncommonly prolific with his music. He’s been making multiple releases a year, since he released his debut EP “Dub Time” via Cold Tear Records. And it doesn’t look like he’s planning to stop. I’m intrigued to see what is ahead of Tender H.

Let’s also talk a bit about Alexander Bogdanov. I’ll be honest, I haven’t heard much about him until quite recently. But when I listen to his productions, I understand that he might be one to watch in the next few years. So far he has one EP on Spclnch called “Contact”, that features two tracks by him and two by Special Zip, and one EP on Hello Strange called “Arcanum“.

And last producer I will talk about is Khlev. Like I’ve mentioned earlier, he was involved in Belarus as a pioneer of the style together with Thomas Carmody when they started YINYANG label. He has released a lot of stuff on that label, now branded as Spclnch, which include his solo EP’s, as well as collaborations with other artists and a remixer. He now works as curator and event organizer at Backside Slice team.

I’m sure there are more people, putting together dub techno tracks in their spare time, in their cozy bedrooms, just for fun, without any big aspirations maybe. But that’s about it for dub techno from Belarus. You couldn’t say there’s a lot of it, but it found it’s place in this country as well.

Written by Evaldas Azbukauskas

Dub Techno scene in Lithuania

Dub Techno is a genre loved by some, and to others it’s just too much of the same. But it’s a certain kind of aesthetic that fans of the genre fetishize. However, I have to admit, because the style is so defined, a lot of mediocre artists and labels appear. Yet true fans of the genre can tell the difference between a good and interesting dub techno track and a bunch of chords with a lot of reverb and delay mashed together. It cannot be just that. It’s supposed to be a subtle art of being able to put all these sounds together in patterns that make your soul dance.

It is really a niche style and there aren’t that many labels and producers who put out this kind of music. However, you will find a few names who are doing a great job at that. So my goal is to look into that. I want to see, what every country in the world has to offer in dub tech. And I will start with my own homeland – Lithuania.

When speaking of dub techno scene in Lithuania, two names pop up immediately – Giriu Dvasios and Grad U.

Let’s start with Giriu Dvasios. Ok, I won’t talk about my self in third person. It is me. Sorry for shameless self promotion, but I am one of the better known dub tech artists in Lithuania. I began this project back in 2009 and after a successful promo campaign on MySpace (a social network that was big at the time), I quickly earned my status as one of the best. The same year at summer I played in most of the electronic music festivals in my country. My most notable album was “Ratu” released in 2015 via Cold Tear Records. It became a hit in Lithuania and was mentioned in blogs like A Strangely Isolated Place, Igloo Magazine and some others.

What this album struck a chord with people about (no pun intended), is a combination of dub music and a traditional Lithuanian polyphonic chanting called “sutartinės”. Something ancient and primal about it resonated not only with Lithuanians, but with people from all around the world as well.

Giriu Dvasios performing at a club Pelėda, in Vilnius

My track “Turėja Liepa” from the album “Ratu” has accumulated over 160k views on YouTube. Which is maybe only a fraction of what the big names can get, but to me it is amazing to see. My tracks have also been played in DJ sets by Deepchord a few times, which to me is quite flattering as well.

I should also mention, that I am a founder of Cold Tear Records digital label. I started it in 2010, and since then we have released artists like Heavenchord, Echo Delta, Vejopatis, Monodisc, joergmueller and many other one’s from all around the world.

To check out more of Giriu Dvasios music, visit the bandcamp page: https://giriudvasios.bandcamp.com/

And now let’s talk about Grad U. And there’s a lot to say about this guy! Not only he’s one of the best in Lithuania, he has also got some recognition internationally. Very soon he’ll be warming up the stage for Jeff Mills in Strasbourg. He also has released a record on Echocord and made a remix for STL’s vinyl release on the same label. These achievements are probably a dream of any up and coming dub techno producer.

Grad U playing a DJ set in Klaipėda, Lithuania

And that’s not the end of a story. I have a big respect for him, because I see him as someone who just gets shit done, no matter what. He is running two labels – Redscale and Greyscale. With Redscale Grad_U releases vinyl records with his own productions only. And Greyscale features digital, CD and Vinyl. He is a powerhouse. Grad U’s productions and live performances are focused on using analog hardware, but he is also a very experienced DJ.

To check out everything Grad U has been doing, visit his label’s bandcamp: https://scale-limited.bandcamp.com/

Another name worth mentioning is Vejopatis. He released his debut album called “Taškas” back in 2012 via Cold Tear Records. Since then he was consistently bringing new stuff. However, his sound has been moving further and further away from what you’d call dub techno, yet the dubby chords and some of the dub aesthetics are still there. His most successful album so far was “Versmės”, released in 2016 on Cold Tear Records.

Vėjopatis has performed his music live in many summer festivals here in Lithuania and other venues and parties during the rest of the year. I’d describe him as an exceptionally creative composer. He doesn’t just make dub tech tracks, he makes complex compositions, with arrangements that not only make your soul dance, he brings you to some sort of a fantasy land.

To hear more of his music visit his bandcamp: https://vejopatis.bandcamp.com/

Let’s keep moving. You cannot talk about dub techno in Lithuania without mentioning Sraunus. A super talented producer. His productions to me seem to lean more towards deep techno and ambient, yet the dub tech aesthetics are still there.

Seeing him occasionally performing live in various events around Lithuania is not a surprise.

He has released a couple of albums on Grad U’s label Greyscale, but it seems like he’s mostly focused on putting out his stuff via his own bandcamp page: https://sraunus.bandcamp.com/music

Another name worth mentioning here is Vytis. Born and raised in Lithuania, but currently based in Ireland. He debuted on Cold Tear Records in 2012, with a full length album “Mind Voyage“, but really stormed into the scene in 2013 when he released his album “Deepchord Avenue“.

At the time he won the love of many dub techno fans around the world with his endless creativity and productivity. However, after that he went away for personal reasons. But it seems he’s coming back though. In 2019 he released a new album on Cold Tear Records – “Silver Field Dubs“, and re-released his old album “Gliding“, which was previously presented under the now defunct DeepinDub imprint. There’s a new album coming up from him for the next year.

Recently, a new name appeared in the Lithuanian dub techno scene. It’s dubonautik. Currently based in UK. Great artist, very technology oriented. His live sets often feature a complicated hybrid of software and hardware.

Dubonautik hasn’t been releasing a lot of music, but he has recently put out a mini album on Greyscale called “Hightened State“.

And now let’s talk about Echo Delta. He might be the most secretive artist of all reviewed in this article. Yet what he was able to achieve is remarkable. He debuted in 2014 with an album called “Digital Lifeforms” on Cold Tear Records. Despite it being his first release ever, it became one of the most successful one’s on the label, and still is.

After that he released two more albums: “Blu Eon” and “Within“. Also a collaboration EP with Mikrokristal called “Summer Rain“. All of them, more or less very appreciated by the fans of his sound, which you could describe as atmospheric, floating and chill.

Echo Delta playing live at Revolution festival in Lithuania

Echo Delta has not done many live performances, but he is a good DJ.

I believe that’s it for the Lithuanian dub techno scene. I hope you enjoyed the read. I’m also planning to review Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Germany, United States, Greece and any other countries that have at least a few names to mention in the dub techno world. So stay tuned!

Written by Evaldas Azbukauskas