artist: Ott country of origin: UK style(s): Psychedelia, ambient dub, global beats essential releases: Hallucinogen In Dub [with Hallucinogen] (2002, Twisted Records) Blumenkraft (2002, Twisted Records)

Jamaican dub and dancefloor trance have a strangely sympathetic relationship. Strange, because when heard separately there appears on the surface to be little in common between the genres in their purest forms save their trippy overtones. Yet slowing down trance melodies - or at least slowing and breaking up the 4/4 rhythms that drive them - and dressing them with thick, juicy basslines and the cavernous ambience of dub can produce awesomely effective chill music. Call it ambient dub, exotic dub, whatever you please.

UK producer Ott is a master of the style, though he also has a wide-ranging production resume including stints during the 90's as a sound engineer for Brian Eno and Orb producer Youth. After taking a tentative step with a composition on the Twisted Records compilation Backroom Beats (2002), he went on lend his epic, highly individual production sound to a full-length remix album for psychedelic trance act Hallucinogen (aka Simon Posford of Shpongle).

Many remix projects sound like after-thoughts, fairly pointless variations on the one idea. A smaller number of them bring something fresh to the original versions. Even fewer of them totally transform their source material and Hallucinogen In Dub is such a work. It is utterly mesmerising, a re-invention of great power, richness and beauty. Ambient dub sounds now abound on the psy-trance scene but with this album Ott takes it to a level where the music lives and breathes and pulses like organic life. That's no doubt due in part to his deft use of live instruments in the mix - bass, harmonica, percussion, Posford's added guitar. In his own words, "a bit off wobbly humanness can work wonders". There's not a dud among the six tracks remixed here from Hallucinogen's back catalogue but "Solstice" and "Angelic Particles" are particularly outstanding. "Solstice" starts gently with a lazy rhythm and sweet melodica phrases (a kind of keyboard harmonica) before a more urgent pulse appears about halfway though, lifting the track's intensity before flooring you with a huge, filtered synth line. The ultra-slow "Angelic Particles" similarly builds gradually before gently cascading over into a luminous electric guitar arpeggio of breathtaking beauty, echoing Popol Vuh's most rapturous moments. The album's production is loaded with fine details, sinking deeper into your consciousness with every listen.

Ott's second (or first "proper") solo album is the more wide-ranging Blumenkraft. Except for the celestial, slow-motion swirl of the stunning opener "Jack's Cheese And Bread Snack" the psychedelic element is less overt. Instead world beat, reggae and electro elements assert themselves more strongly. "Splitting An Atom" samples the voices of Masi tribesman in a madly catchy rush of sweet vocals and a rousing reggae pulse. Ott's love for good tunage, spacious dub techniques and incredibly punchy bottom-end once again come to the fore, even if the album is rarely the kind of surreal, multi-coloured acid trip that is Hallucinogen In Dub.

The long-awaited third release Skylon (2008) is frankly disappointing. The production is as impeccable and distinctive as ever, but a sameness has crept into the writing and even the lovely stand-out track "The Queen Of All Everything" relies on overly familar dub-trance gestures. An album for fans; definitely not for newcomers.

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