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As the rhythmic anchor in the ongoing series of Buena Vista Social Club recordings, bassist Orlando “Cachaito” Lopez could easily have cashed in on his overdue solo turn with another straightforward reading of Cuban son and swing classics. Instead, he’s made the first-ever Cuban dub album. Recognizing the head-nodding, sample-friendly thump of Lopez’s bass, producer Nick Gold lined up an all-star international cast of musicians, including Cubans like guitarist Manuel Galban and percussionist Anga Diaz, reggae organist Bigga Morrison, saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis, trumpeter Hugh Masekela and turntablist Dee Nasty. Loping descargas and tumbao rhythms are blanketed in waves of reverb, stretched out with Galban’s twanging guitar and then chopped up into stuttering hiphop beats. It’s the most modern Cuban record in ages. No surprise that sticky traditionalist Ry Cooder is nowhere in sight.
