Naujawanan Baidar - Volume 2 (Radio Khiyaban)
This is the second volume of cassette four-track recordings by Afghan-American folk-noise outfit Naujawanan Baidar. Like on the band's first tape, Volume II mines the treasure trove of 1960s-1980s cassette music from founder N.R. Safi's paternal homeland of Afghanistan, warping both traditional and popular forms into a tangled mass of tape-saturated noise inspired by the very medium that once carried them. Although the end results may sound far removed from the original artists that helped inspired them (legendary performers like Ahmad Zahir, Beltoon and Hamidullah, or Salma Jahani) there is something to be said for this "new" or "imagined" form of contemporary Afghan experimental music. Naujawanan Baidar both reaffirms its ties to a relatively hidden (to outside eyes at least) cultural history while at the same time pushing outwards into new and unexplored territories.
Rob Mazurek - Psychotropic Electric Eel Dreams IV (Astral Spirits)
The sounds in this composition were generated by electric eels at the National Institute of Research and Technology in Manaus, Brazil. Mazurek recorded them between 2000 and 2008, and has since used them in several music compositions, recordings, and installations. In this iteration of the work, he combines them with analog/digital synthesis to create an undulating and radiant sonic texture.
Siavash Amini - Serus (Room40)
”I came across the idea of ‘other night’ described by Maurice Blanchot, during my research. It started me recognising night as something we experience as ‘the night of sleep’; it is night that we resist in sleep, by way of dreaming. Things became more interesting for me during many nights of not sleeping and intoxication, and an eventual nervous breakdown. This experience, culminating in me spending three days in ICU, gave me pause to think about Blanchot’s words”. (Siavash Amini)
Spill (Magda Mayas & Tony Buck) - Stockholm Syndrome (Al Maslakh)
Beirut based imprint Al Maslakh welcomes Spill, the Berlin-based duo of Magda Mayas on piano and clavinet and Tony Buck on drums/percussion, formed in 2003. They have, to date released 3 albums as the duo, and have collaborated with John Butcher, as well as with American bassist Damon Smith. Their new ”Stockholm Syndrome” release comprises two long and hypnotic pieces, an impressive and rich excursion into improvised music.
UBURGRUND - Invazia Mult Asteptata (Muteant Sounds)
UBURGRUND is a Romanian project driven by surrealism, random electronic techniques only on analogue devices. Depersonalization has been a grail for oriental-fetish western spirituality. UBURGRUND chooses to invade individuality in an act of forced-alienation. An invasion (of maniacal electronics) to occupy the right vacant place of the illusory self. Invazia mult asteptata (The Long-awaited invasion) depicts seven degrees of abduction.
Wukir Suryadi - Nginguk (self-released)
This is a recording resulted from one of Wukir Suryadi’s concerts from July at "Nginguk Githok". Wukir is one half of the Indonesian metal duo band Senyawa, alongside Rully Shabara.
YZEID - Ayam Soda (ТОПОТ)
”Ayam Soda” is a sincere personal experience by Cairo based musician Youssef Abouzeid — a 9 track album that explores the tensions of love/hate through deviant songwriting and alienated production. Words are sung through loose electronics and bad recordings of folk guitars that are buried deep within melodic feedbacks. A heavily-processed story, fueled by dark melancholia and a weird sense of self. Youssef Abouzeid is an Egyptian multi-instrumentalist, producer and co-founder of the Cairo label HIZZ.
