If you're looking for the Anglo-Indian dub sensibility of
Suns of Arqa, forget it here because the Jamaican dimension is completely missing in action on
Alap-Joe-Jhala. It's a weird hybrid that seems more electronic and modern via four opening remixes and back to classic Indian with two extended Indian pieces played by a basic four-piece group of bass, tabla, drums, and sarangai. Of the remixes, "He Did Not Die" again features manic punk poet
John Cooper-Clarke and "What Does It Profit" has a pretty catchy bassline/keyboard hook working, but nevertheless soon runs out of gas. On the Indian pieces, Nicolas Magriel's sarangai string instrument takes the lead, and some nice instrumental bits in the middle of "Gavati Vilanbit" ultimately get a good head of steam going on "Gavati Drut." "Bye-Ragi" has a more active bass presence beneath the dominant sarangi, and the tablas get some prominent rapid-fire action when the Western rhythm section drops out on the concluding "Bye-Ragi Drut." But to repeat,
Alap-Joe-Jhala isn't for Jamaican dub fans or anyone looking at
Suns of Arqa as forerunners of, say,
Transglobal Underground's modern dancefloor hybrid. This is more non-purist jamming around with classic Indian forms, so a lot depends on how much you like those Indian music styles to begin with.