Dub Trio are as direct as their moniker advertises: three guys in a studio recording their dub tunes right to tape, with no overdubs in sight. The secret behind this NYC collective -- involving Stu Brooks (bass and keys), DP Holmes (guitar, keys) and Joe Tomino (drums, percussion and keys) -- is an adroit dreadlocked musicianship that allows them to lay down their tracks in a single take. Their dubby craft was honed on the enlightened club circuit, with gigs at Big Apple venues like The Knitting Factory and Tonic eventually leading to this remarkable debut of unique, ragga-fresh instrumentals.

Purists will have to give this one time: Dub Trio follow their instincts, bastardizing the genre's rules by incorporating electronics, noise and winding paths of unconventional, proggish rock. This means kicking off opener "Drive By Dub" with a disco-fied four-on-the-floor thump (a la Sly & Robbie, to whom they're often compared) or slathering Brooks's bottom-ended bombast with pastoral keyboards and soaring guitars on "Casting Out The Nines" (arriving with more than a little of Boards Of Canada's slow-motioned loveliness). On "Sick Im Kid", the three go out with a sputter of distortion that would make Merzbow proud, an avenue they reprise and extend on a ten minute live version of the track at the album's end. Mostly, though, theirs is a heady, psychedelic mix of rockin', ragga-licious jams with Pink Floydian space muzak tendrils snaking through the air. Like Lake Trout and other artists who merge jam band aesthetics with King Tubby-ish blunted assaults, Dub Trio's Jamaican color is drawn expertly by human hand (no drum machines were ever employed) with dubs performed on the fly

Aside from the live version of "Sick Im Kid" mentioned previously, there are two other live cuts here that expose their easy skill on stage. Dubaholics who can accept Dub Trio's charming eccentricities will be in tune with Exploring The Dangers Of, a smart, inventive record that captures of-the-moment dub/rock creation as it flows from the spigot.