JAH WOBBLE Schallplatten & CDs

Review: .

Review: Bassist, artist and (post-)punk polymath Jah Wobble is perhaps best known for his work with Public Image Ltd, but his many solo records are the real cream of the crop. Now adding to the Cleopatra catalogue, Wobble returns to drop a full-on psychic battering ram (and play on the name of a ubiquitous cosmological classic by Stephen Hawking), his Brief History Of Now. It's a dystopian album full of buzzing urgency and as ever comes packed with Wobble's latter-day spoken word segments, which rail against the contradictions of modern life. Co-written, produced and performed with Jon Klein of Siouxsie & The Banshees fame, it's a thoroughly varied project, speaking of liberation, demonic entities, and karmic retribution - somtimes in dub, sometimes not - and even throwing in a curveball cover of Wire's 'I Am The Fly'.

Review: Jah Wobble has taken his musicianship far and wide since he first rose to prominence in the glory days of post-punk and new wave. He's more readily associated with dub and international musical fusions than rock, but on this new album for Cleopatra he's returned his focus to the spiky energy bursts of his earlier work with Public Image Ltd. Produced with Jon Klein of Siouxsie & The Banshees, A Brief History Of Now covers a lot of ground and revels in allowing all kinds of influences in without losing focus. This is a set of kick ass rock tunes first and foremost, but there's space for subtlety and humour to make sure you know it's Wobble at the controls.