“Riverside” is the latest release from Zentone, the long-evolving collaboration between French dub mainstays Zenzile and High Tone. First launched in 2006, the project feels like a shared workshop: two bands with distinct but compatible methods coming together to explore what dub still has to offer. Both emerged from the late-’90s French underground with a live-focused, bass-forward sound that pushed traditional dub into more electronic, performance-driven territory.

Released jointly by Jarring Effects and Wiser Records, “Riverside” brings in Jolly Joseph of Roots Attack, a well-respected presence in the French sound system circuit. His vocal delivery is understated and steady—less performance, more presence. He slips into the track like another element in the mix..

The production is sparse but exacting: a thick, controlled low-end; reverbed stabs that hang in the air; a kick drum that holds its pace. Synth lines drift in and vanish, delay trails stretch and fold. Nothing’s overplayed, and nothing feels casual. It’s dub that knows what it’s doing: lean, spatial, and rigorously restrained.

Zentone approach dub as a live process, open to reinterpretation and shaped by performance. “Riverside” unfolds patiently, making space for nuance. It’s a reminder that dub, at its best, isn’t about spectacle—it’s about tension, release, and the sound of something taking shape in real time.

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