037: Come Out, by Roughcut

Roughcut feat. Sesco D. (Germany)
Come Out (1996)
13 tracks, 51 minutes
I can’t find anywhere to stream this. AllMusic comes closest (you can play previews of all the tracks) and you can buy the CD second-hand for cheap on Discogs. Alternatively, hit me up and I’ll sort you out.

This will be an interesting one to write, because I know basically nothing about the band Roughcut, or this album. Did they have any more albums? Did their members go on to do other things? No idea, and the internet doesn’t help much either. The group themselves appear to be from Germany, and it sounds like the featured vocalist, Sesco D., has released some reggae albums under the name Jah Sesco, but that’s as much as I can find. All very mysterious.

What I can tell you about is the music itself. The mid-1990s were the boom time for world dubtronica – that mix of electronica and dub with influences and samples from all sorts of music from all over the world pioneered by groups such as Transglobal Underground and Suns of Arqa. Come Out…uh, came out right in the middle of that, and it’s a great example of it. There’s lots of influence from Indian music all over the album, from tabla and sarangi samples to vaguely ethnic-sounding melodic noodling, but there’s also bits of jungle or Bulgarian singing or African drumming here and there. It’s all held together by dark techno synths and beats, chest-rattling dub bass and Sesco D.’s everpresent ragga-ish vocals.

It sounds a little dated nowadays, because it is. Its mid-90s origins are obvious, but listen in the right ambience and it’s a gas – early morning near the end of a party, you can take what you want from it: pump it loud and you can keep dancing till the sun’s back up; play it nice and low, and even the faster, more beat-heavy tracks can be strangely soothing.

This album – and Roughcut in general – is an interesting but basically unknown artefact of a scene right at the beginning of its heyday. If you can track it down, the music speaks for itself – which is good, because nothing else does. I’d love to learn more about this, so please get in touch if you’re in the know!