New Zealand duo Pitch Black, Michael Hodgson and Paddy Free, have been performing together since 1996. Their music moves between ambient electronics, acid lines, heavy rhythmic structures and dub. Their own description of the project is revealing: dub is the glue holding those different musical directions together.
I like that way of thinking about genre.
Usually we describe a track by deciding which genre it belongs to. “Glue” suggests another use. A genre can become a method that allows unrelated materials to coexist.
Dub is particularly suited to that role because so much of its identity lies in production decisions: space, delay, bass, subtraction, echoes and changing relationships between elements. You can apply those ideas without copying a traditional reggae arrangement.
Pitch Black’s live performances also combine electronic sound with an important visual component, making the project feel closer to an audiovisual environment than simply two people reproducing studio tracks.
Sometimes influence is strongest when you stop copying its surface and start using its logic.
