"The Game", Dublex Inc.´s second single release from their new album "Phoenix" is a typical "torch song". The term is a deviation of the saying "to hold a torch for someone". In this case it´s singer and trombonist Ashley Slater who´s carrying the ever burning torch. He created the band Freak Power together with Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim, which wrote chart history back in the 1990s with their hit "Turn In, Turn Out, Cop Out".
His trombone lends the song its distinct Dub feel and mood, which the legendary Specials couldn´t have gotten done better. But Ashley also penned the lyrics and performed them. "The Game" is about someone who´s been abandoned and who is slowly losing his grip onthings. "The Game" is lyrically stringing up perfectly with songs like Billie Holiday´s "Lover Come Back To Me", a by all means fitting alternative title, had those lines not already been used.
Dublex Inc. have previously released a version of "The Game" on vinyl back in 2006. But they were never completely satisfied with their version, and decided to overwork the song in its entirety with Slater, including a re-recording of the vocals.
Felix Stecher says:
We rarely even advertised "The Game" when we first released it in 2006. There was only minimal DJ promotion and no radio or press promotion, at all. Even then we´ve planned to use the track as an single release for the album, and didn´t want to spoil anything in advance. In the end, we just completely re-recorded "The Game" for Phoenix. Looked at it this way, we have two totally different releases concerning instrumentation, arrangement and, all important, the groove. Where we previously had a fouf/four beat, the album version is now in a swinging eighth groove which fits as if cast, and lets everything come off a little easier!
They were able to score their deejay friends and colleagues TM Juke (UK) and Boozoo Bajou for remixes. TM Juke is also known as producer and guitarist of Alice Russell, while also releasing his own material on UK´s hip label Tru Thoughts.
His remix catapults the track directly into Rock Steady straights and onto the dance floor. His extended version is simultaneously the fitting Dub version.
Nuernberg producers Bazoo Bajou refine the track with their remix in their own, relaxed way: They pull new slip covers over "The Game" and lure us onto this freshly made sofa into the deeper stratas of „the Bavarian“ Soul.
Lo-fi experimental synth music from the Estonian producer and frequent Dean Blunt Collaborator, crafted in conjunction with a graphic novel. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 24, 2024