Sufi Dub Brothers

Sufi Dub Brothers is a fun, yet superficial, album of Ibiza-esque beats and sitar improvisation, superimposing Pakistani/Indian classical music on top of Western-style club music. Containing a cover of ‘Maschinenland’ by German punk band Abwärts and (on the eponymous opening track) the lyrics ‘The Sufi Dub Brothers gettin' down', the record is tongue-in-cheek and entertaining yet does little to deepen the connection between genres. Whether or not this is a conscious response to the culturally problematic output of 90s world-dance fusion artists such as Enigma, or is simply an attempt to produce some pleasing sounds, it nevertheless only partially achieves both. The end product here is, for the most part, sitar melody with electronic bass and beats. It is clear that both musicians are highly skilled – echoes of Aphex Twin on ‘Cell Song’ and some wonderfully expressive sitar playing throughout – but what they have produced together seems to stop short of what could have been and ends up devaluing both genres they represent.