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 synergistic 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 with a wide-ranging resume including stints during the 90's as a sound engineer for James, Brian Eno and dub 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. When Simon Posford (aka Hallucinogen, Shpongle) handed Ott six of his dancefloor tunes for reworking, the potential was intriguing say the least. 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 without leaving us clueless as to its origins, 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 track 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 first solo album proper as a composer is the more wide-ranging Blumenkraft (the title German for "flower power"). 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 an urgent reggae pulse. Ott's love for good tunage, spacious dub techniques and incredibly punchy bottom-end once again come to the fore, even if it's rarely the kind of surreal, multi-coloured acid trip that is Hallucinogen In Dub.

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