Label: Asphodel Format: 12″
Sub Dub‘s percussionist Raz Mesinai manifests here in his Bedouin guise, deplying five tracks showcasing his cultural heritage through a New York filter. “Final Warning” has a persuasively swaying main drum loop, topped with stretched ululations and sirens which lend a hallucinatory character to the cross-pollinated groove, while “Do We Belong” shows that bagpipes are not a purely Celtic invention. Badawi mixes pipes, chants and depth-charge dub bass expansion on “Bedouin Raid,” which is as energetic as the title indicates, while Simmie Sernaker‘s haunting violin drones and scrapes combine with the low-end rumble and swirling drum rhythms of “Yashar” to provide the EP’s highlight, a glorious combination of ancient and modern trance techniques.
The dark edge which haunts this EP separates the mood from the usual ethnological forgeries and pastiches of the more festival-friendly blends of Eastern and Western music; it’s upbeat, but defiantly so. “Anthrax Sandwich – Today’s Special” is a case in point – the circling drums and pipes build a vortex of increasingly edgy intensity, accentuated by an eardrum rush and a gradual fade into denied release. An EP which presages great things to come, and could well open a few ears to Moroccan and other North African music.
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