Under the Ghost Dubs moniker, Michael Fiedler has been the architect of soundscapes that are a vital backdrop to these times. Via Kevin Martin’s Pressure label, Fielder has added extra potent ingredients that intensify the dread. However, unlike Martin’s endeavours – whether it be through The Bug or under his own name – Fielder has ventured down different paths to reach the same point.
The Stuttgart producer’s 2024 debut LP, Damaged, took dub to new corners, while Fiedler’s excellent collaboration alongside Martin for last year’s Implosion saw the pair trading sub bass chaos that reached almost haemorrhaging levels.
Oblique sees Fielder cover yet more new ground in what is his most compelling work yet. The sonic contrasts, Oblique’s greatest boon in what is subtly immersive and bone-shattering. It’s something designed for headphones, as the sub bass wrangles with your internal organs without you even really knowing it.
The perfect example, Low Times, which begins like a black acid nightmare. The sub bass jolt, thrusting you into Fiedler’s cavernous world. Ultimately, it’s dub inspired by black holes. And alongside the spit and crackle of Cold Data and the slow-motion dread of the aptly titled Dead Channel, Fiedler frames a post-apocalyptic wasteland as accurately as anyone, as he pulls apart minimalism through sheer sonic radicalism.
After All continues to see Fiedler dismantle past notions. Much like Martin, Fiedler takes dub and dance hall to the most terrifying milieus, burning the rulebook in similar ways that Darren Cunningham has done to electronica through his Actress alias. On Attack, Fiedler reaches the crescendo with sub bass that comes on like violent bout of motion sickness.
In between this noise assault, Long Way to Go and Overthinking find the producer dialling things down. Both tracks, dubbed-out psychedelia primarily for green rooms. Meanwhile, despite its title, Bombed Suburbs possesses deep narcotic echoes that sees Fiedler looking east. The origins of Turkish psychedelia, emerging from beneath the mix.
It’s one of three moments at the backend of Oblique which finds Fiedler unveil ideas like never before. While perhaps his most conventional take on dub, Decay sees the producer intersecting it with tech-house. The results, something like post-punk for the outer worlds.
Meanwhile, the biggest surprise comes as Fielder draws the curtains. On Almost A Structure, he entwines dub with the kind of ambient, glider-like electronica of his fellow countrymen, Joachim Spieth and Markus Guentner. And the results are glistening, leaving the door ajar for Fielder to enter through in the very near future.
Some may lament about Oblique’s length, but seriously, where else do you need to be? The whole point of an album like Oblique is to pull you away from reality and be immersed in the artist’s world. Through their practices, artists like Ghost Dubs are explicitly reacting to the fast-paced nature of the world. And what you get is moments like Oblique. So again, where else do you need to be? Because the world that Ghost Dub carves out really isn’t any bleaker than the one we live it. It’s a reaction to it, and in all its subtle manoeuvring, seismic tones and brutal textures, is there any better to place to be?
Oblique is out Friday via Pressure. Purchase from Bandcamp.
