FUTURE-RETRO FLAMBE

‘Cor what fantastic diy-futurist packaging’ I said to myself upon prising open the jiffybag that fell on my doormat.

Now, I never know whether, upon receiving a lovingly-hand-taped mixtape to look through the tracklisting before listening, or just to dive in there and read up later – it’s been a while since I received a tape, not realising fully that it’s a whole other way of listening – no convenient skipping of duff tracks or any of that stuff. Plus the fact that for me even the act of listening to a tape requires unpacking a huge and dusty late 80s midi-system and setting it up in the corner of the front-room, so casual listening is out of the window.

The overall concept of the tape, if I get it, right, is that huge swathes of groovy club music (LCD Soundsystem, Soulwax, etc) are hopelessly retrophile in their sonix, and likewise there’s the whole past of vintage tracks which sound like they’ve bypassed 20 years to be plundered. This tape, then, is the axis where the new-retro and the vintage-futurists collide. or summat.

The retro impulse is a tricky one to contend with, innit, and it’s all pervasive in our endlessly voracious culture with it’s deadening compulsion to repeat and repackage the exciting new things of the past as though they’re gonna unproblematically retain their shock-of-the-new despite the passing of – I dunno – 30 years. look no further than the Franz Ferdinand, or maybe more contemporaneously The Klaxons. In a way the fixation on an unending golden era of about 20 years ago doesn’t really qualify as a nostalgic impulse cos the ideology that there’s-nothing-new-to-be-done is so ingrained that all that can remain is a deferential forelock-tugging towards the canon of classic-rock /‘authentic’ soul / ‘real’ hip-hop / ‘raw’ garage rock (…) as a perpetual golden age whose values must still be adhered to: musicianship / soul / presence. The Hornby-esque ‘real soul’ problem is exactly what’s up with the execrable opening track from Mark Rae (of Rae and Christiansen) which throws into 5 minutes more smarmily soulful and groovy tropes than you could fit into a Westbourne Grove wine bar. I can imagine nodding off to it at The Big Chill, or maybe having Just Jack chuntering banal social observations and stoner armchair philosophy over it. I’ll be the first to admit, despite the glorious packaging* (I can’t get over the packaging!) it’s not a good start.

Mercifully, thanks to some extraordinarily deft mixing skills, this morphs quickly into the slightly less ‘classic soul’ fixated robo-funk of Soul Mekanik – and the chattering electro-grooves and burbling synths, are rather like slipping into a warm bath. I’ll check more of their stuff out – didn’t they get roped into producing Kylie or Madonna or someone like that? I can imagine that, if they haven’t already. Sounds very French, like the post-Daft Punkisms of Mirwais, etc.

And speak of Daft Punk & they shall appear – this time remixing Scott Grooves’ slightly lumpy funky house homage to the Mothership Connection, lending it some Zapp-esque bounce n squelch. I’m feeling better already. I should also point out that this tape features some exemplary mixing and cutting, and the mix ploughs on into more French retro-funk, via Falke&Braxe’s remix of Kelis’ also-ran track ‘Bossy’, rendering it into a pre-Marley Marl OldSkool hip-hop set-piece. While this is no less in thrall to a mythic ‘realness’ of a golden age (all the endlessly reiterated tales of the Bronx, birth of Hip Hop, Block Parties, Breakers, Good Vibes, etc etc.) this at least retains a sense of distantiation and irreverence leading to something more than a slavish facsimile. I hadn’t noticed the mix gathering tempo towards all things funky house, but before we know it Eric Prydz is in the mix (yup, him who did that Steve Winwood track which plagued the world (well, at least Western Europe) for several months last year (or was it the year before?), here with an equally mindless but slightly less irksome slice of funkiness.

While it has the benefit of not making you want to go out and throttle people with your bare hands if you ever hear its incessant refrain, it’s ultimately pretty nondescript. But then, it’s in the mix, right? Luckily now I’ve blinked it’s gone again. I think another track’s gone by before we roll into a new remix of OT Quartet’s mid-90s hardbag anthem ‘Hold That Sucker Down’ which accompanied many of my formative binge drug-abusing and raving days, I’ll make no secret. And if it’s found its way into the hearts of the new Hed Kandi generation via some au courant remix action then so much the better. The remix loses none of the amyl-nitrate fuelled epic grandeur and hypnotic arpegiattions of the original – I’m just glad Rollo didn’t rope in his sister (Sister Bliss of Faithless infamy) or ‘rapper’ ‘Maxi Jazz’ to lend it some wordly philosophical insight. Fuck, hearing that riff again has set my jaw aching. And with that we sail towards the end of a side of ecstatic highs snatched from the jaws of a couple of slightly drab lows.

Then we come to the retro-futurist side of the tape:

This side sits much more into the electrohouse vein, like the latter stages of Side One, with a nod of Ritzy winebar funky house biznizz. Some vintage discoid actions creeps in c/o Boys Don’t Cry and Lipps Inc’s exemplary ‘Funkytown’ – which is unimpeachably a stone-cold classic. The side is let down by the inclusion of Eric Prydz’ execrable reworking of Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick In The Wall’ which if you were really pushed you could say exudes some sort of boisterously cocky FHM swagger, but really it’s the nadir of modern civilisation. From here on the ElectroDisco/Funky House vibes are whipped into the thin sky-high atmospheres of helium trance, boomp-da-boomp-da whoosh as things skid to a dizzying halt leaving me spinning back to earth with a bump.

It’s been a dizzying trip. Partly fun, partly dire, partly just plain WTF??? Confusing. Overally I’d reckon the concept would benefit from more of a collision-course approach, maybe mashing up a juxtaposing retro future and contempo-retro in more of a jarring manner to get a grip on the continuities and ruptures, but overall I reckon this does what it says on the tin; plus it’s a good pre-going-out warmup tape too, or it would be if I ever actually went out. More than full marks for the packaging though, and the deck-proficiency skills. It’s an honour to receive such a lovingly crafted thing in every way!!

*Pics coming very soon!

From the Divine to the Ridiculous

Never really tried my hand at reviewing before but here goes I guess. Although this is a cd it’s divided in to two distinctive parts and titled from the Divine (the first “side”) to the Ridiculous (“side” two). The first broadly consists of religious or at least spiritual music while the second doesn’t have such a unifying theme at first glance – maybe it is just ridiculous. Great weird artwork on the front with men wearing strangely familiar masks and the theme is illustrated inside with a burning heart for the first side and a pentagram for the second. Anyhow, I can’t really think of a more interesting way to do this than describe each song bit by bit so that’s what I’m going to do.

The tracks on the first side are kinda overlapped without being mixed so the beginning of the new one fades in as the old fades out, something that works fairly well here I think.

First up is Howe Gelb with “That’s How Things Get Done”, it starts off promisingly enough with a kind of funky beat and slightly scuzzy guitar sound but to be honest it is only slightly scuzzy and really a little bit too polished. By the time his annoying voice kicks in I’m not liking this at all. Back the annoyingly nasal and not-rough-enough voice with some even more annoying backing singers (think Leonard Cohen) and if it wasn’t all one mix I’d be on the fast forward button.
Next up is Laura Veirs with To the Country, this is wimpy, watery folk that reminds me of the hold music on some number (which escapes me now) that I regularly have to ring for work. Without the insipid vocals it wouldn’t be too bad I guess but there they are, all over it.

Blind Boys of Alabama with a version of Ol’ Time Religion follows, this is more like it! BBA always remind me of going to visit my girlfriend’s parents because her dad is a fan and they’ve soundtracked many a (lost) game of scrabble. Gotta love the power of the vocals here, the conviction and the way they do that thing where they all sing different bits at the same time with only an organ on the offbeat to keep time. The song itself always reminds me of that Russ Meyer film where the girl with the big breasts (you know the one right?) keeps singing it on the radio – also Captain Beefheart uses a snippet I seem to remember, either way this is great.

Sacred Harp Singers – I’m Going Home, not quite so keen on this to be honest. Just a bit too straight and reminds me of the kind of thing that I would probably hear if I went to church on a Sunday in the village where I grew up (except slightly better done).

Now another gospel tune, strangely enough when this cd plopped through my door an album featuring a version of Jesus On The Mainline was sitting on the turntable, that take (by the Hopson Family) cannot compare to this barnstorming version, it’s absolutely fucking rocking and for me possibly the highlight of the whole cd, reckon I’ll have to get myself a copy of this. Just crazy, frantic and tight brassy gospel that rises to an absolutely bonkers finish while still holding it all together. Brilliant brilliant tune. Oh yeah, it’s by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. (Also reminds me of Alabama 3’s perversion of this song – Shoot Me Up In The Mainline – which I kinda like).

The cd is really hitting its stride now, following on from that last one there is no let up with Marion Gaines’ take on Grandma’s Hands, beautiful gospel-soul perfect for a sunny Sunday morning (which is just what it is now as I type). This is an ace and emotional version and another highlight of the thing.

Son House’s version of John The Revelator next – it’s Son House; it’s John The Revelator; it’s wicked. Such a powerful rough voice carries this with nothing else except some background clapping to keep time. I love this. Never really understood the point of “revelator” though, do you really need to make up a word for something if it only applies to one person?

I’m not really a Bob Dylan fan (nothing against him either mind) but I was pleased to see that the track that features on this cd is the one that a friend once played me to trick me into liking Bob Dylan – the reason being that there is no way you would know it’s by him. The track is All The Tired Horses (here re-named All The Pretty Horses, a McCarthian slip?). It’s a kind of euphoric sun-coming up kind of song with a repetitive refrain sung by a group of women over a string-type background. When the cd finishes it’s this one that’s in my head so it must be doing something right and a few listens through reinforce this as it definitely grows on me. Very nice tune.

As for the next one from Aretha Franklin (How I Got Over), it’s good and everything but I’d been enjoying those last few so much this one doesn’t seem quite up to the previous standard.

The next three tracks are all reggae which I thought was a pretty clever way of staying with the religious theme yet totally changing the style of music. Unfortunately though, while all of these tracks are ok none really grabbed me by the balls or left any kind of real impression on me to be honest. The first is African Head Charge and Somebody Touch I which I found mildly irritating due to its repeated “I” chorus, the others are VC – By His Deeds and Jah Jah Promise by Johnny Osbourne, neither of which are quite melodic or heavy or unusual or anything enough to be particularly memorable I’m afraid. After a few listens I find myself singing along to the Osbourne one but only in the way that you do if you hear anything enough.
At this point are a number of silly samples (Orbital and KLF I seem to remember) which break up the tape and, I guess, signify the change from divine to ridiculous, the Satan bit being particularly appropriate.

This second bit starts off nicely with a cunning reversal of the spiritual imagery that has dominated the first part in the form of Paradise Don’t Come Cheap by New Kingdom. This is a dramatic slice of soundtracky hip-hop with lyrics spat out in a style that reminds me in a strange kind of way of Tom Waits (though don’t ask me to explain why I think that, perhaps something to do with the way it sounds kind of hard but also as though he has a lisp – not that Tom Waits has a lips but sometimes he sounds as though he ought to have or something). Slow crashing beats and exciting (and equally crashing) string stabs all combine well with the vocal to make this great fun and a welcome change of pace from the last few nondescript tunes.
Keeping with the same angry (yet, to me at least, humorous,) style as the last, Team Shadetek’s Brooklyn Anthem is also a great rabble rousing shouter and in my book you can’t find fault with someone who uses the word “cantankerous” in their tune especially when it’s over a fast bubbling ragga-style rhythm with lots of weight on each beat like this one.

Oh yeah, should say that the tunes on this “side” are overlapped more subtly or else cut in right on the beat and there are a couple of points where I had difficulty working out exactly which bit was part of which song, if there are any errors later on or right now for that matter then that’s why. The next tune, DJ Rupture’s Rumbo Babylon it says, is all bass and pummelling, yet funky and swinging beats with industrial grinding noises and the occasional echoed snippet of vocal over the top. Works very nicely and is surprisingly easy on the ears for something made out of such harsh sounds. Then this is where I get confused, towards the end of this tune (or maybe the start of the next) a stupidly catchy melody suddenly appears on top of this beat, it sounds like a sample from Chris Rea’s Auberge (remember that?) although sadly I don’t think it is, either way I like it. I’m going to take a guess that this is still the same tune because of the way the quick cuts in the Aubergey bit mimic the beat so well.

That all grinds to a halt, there are a few funny noises before a heavy reggae beat with more mechanical crashing noises and booming noises appears with the archetypal whipcrack sound on the offbeat. Yet more vicious break-beat banging noises of various types and a nasty pulsing bassline that drops in and out make this one both stop-start and yet immediately appealing. The track is Soundboy by Kovert.
Some crying and ravey stabs introduce DJ Scud’s No Love. I’ve got an album by Scud and I have to say that it’s not exactly glued to my turntable (ie I haven’t listened to it for about three years) but I was pleased when a quick check revealed that this tune is not from that. In fact compared to that album this track of (yet more) reggae swings and random flat beats, screams and machine gun sounds is positively friendly. Those last three electro tunes have all been quite similar but all good enough in their own right so fine by me.

Staying with the lilting (if that can really describe dj Scud) sound but a definite change in feel next for Born Jamericans with Yardcore. The sounds are a lot more organic and there is a real mc really (sort of) singing but in comparison it sounds a little weak. Not bad, not good, I won’t remember it tomorrow. I suppose I can see the logic in including it as it makes a nice bridge to the next tune - Guns are Drawn by The Roots, nice melodies and all but again fairly forgettable. I’m sure by the title (and ‘cause it’s The Roots) that they are on about something important but I can’t be bothered to listen closely enough to find out. Same goes for Nightmares on Wax with 70/80s (Upbringing Mix) except that this is worse, in fact I actually find this irritating, it’s obviously going for that sunkissed, mellow, blunted, headnodding etc vibe but I reckon that there is a fine line between that and being smug whimsy and for me this is on the wrong side.

New Flesh – Wherever We Go suddenly kicks it up a bit with a welcome change of pace, a dangerous, wired bassline and fast chatting start it off well but I find that the chorus (as so often) doesn’t match up to the verse and leaves you kind of treading water until the verse and bassline force their way back in. Still a good enough tune though and that bassline is growing on me more as I listen.
Finally back to the electro sounds of a few tracks ago though this time more straight ahead than the “swung” feel of the previous tunes. Another killer bassline, that insistent percussion that graces so many electro tunes to great effect and someone who sounds like Mark E Smith. In fact, I dunno why I said that, it obviously is MES, speaking slightly more sense than usual he demands “give us the fucking cod”. More boingy noises that increase the excitement followed by some screechy sounds in the higher registers for good measure and this is great even without the stupid lyrics that add that extra dimension. It’s Ghostdigital (featuring Mark E Smith I assume) and In Cod We Trust, this seems to ring a bell somewhere in the back of my mind but I just don’t know why.

That’s the end and I have to say that even if I didn’t like all the tunes there were a lot that I did like (and quite a few I really liked) and I really appreciated the thought that had gone in to it what with the themed sides and the progression from track to track not to mention the artwork. The person getting my tape won’t benefit from anything like that and whoever did this one has made me feel that I ought to have made more of an effort.
Thanks a lot anyway, hope the review wasn’t too harsh.

...progology...

Well 1st thing to say about my cassette is that it took a circuitous route to reach me, via the downstairs neighbours of my x-roomy on the other side of town then dropped off by hand by his kind partner, all of them apparently charmed by the polite hand written cover letter accompanying the tape, as was i, which courteously explains that the tape itself also had a circuitous route to compilation, involving travelling to another whole city to access appropriate equipment, which in turn affected the selection by way of limiting the available discs for the compiling

(& i'm not even gonna mention the trials & tribulations involved in making the cassette i sent off on a trans-continental journey to my brave recipient, (as i indulged in a lengthy moaning diatribe in my tracklist/cover note) in the end the best way of making this accessible to me would have been to just rip the whole lot onto mp3 - i hate to say it, & i won't reveal now whether i restrained myself due to purist ferrite love principles or just that it didnt occur to me til later.ok?)

i am very happy to report that all tracks on cassette were 100% new to me, as well as almost all of the artists - this is ideal, so i made sure to listen a few times without referring to the track list, let the sounds merge and the sonic rinse wash thru my brain 'dolby no' on C20 'personal stereo cassette player' off my mum down in sunny piltonistan... later on i sought a 'sanyo' equipment from my good colleague marcia which has facilitated me to listen to the tape a good few more times, checking the tracklist and paying a fair amount of attention ... enough to get a clear idea of my favorite moments (& those to hit the old >>ff button) find myself occasionally humming songs to myself at inopportune moments far from the venerable 'cassette playing apparatus'

some highs and lows:
some lovely moments and some persistent earworms there ... the zombie drumsong has been rotating around my brains today with a flavour of rotting calypso and echos of slavery and sickly sweet sugarcanes - my vision of a foetid Belafonte was not so far from reality as it turns out the song is by a yankee soap actor

the tape opened extremely well - it hit me with a bit of droning zurna that discordant pipe that always starts my juices swilling o yes - the first track comes up like a turkish grimly fiendish - very taking themselves seriously sounding vocals over baroque hevvy metalesque groove, (gratifyingly when I checked out this track the auteur was 100% EXACTLY as my minds eye visualized him….)

o yeah
now, getting down to the nitigriti of reviewing brings me face to face with my own wilful ignorance about musicology, i've always enjoyed music that is amorphous and somehow approached it with an aggressively anti-trainspotterish attitude. what i always preferred was a mixtape compiled by my mate with a tub of ja 7" - no popstar pictures on the covers, untraceble versions, producers without oeuvre so that the id of any actual 'author' just dissolves and is left irrelevant by glorious and mighty confusion of riddims and dubplates, obscurity as strength (his handwriting more indecypherable even than my beloved compiler of this tape). Later on in the irresponsible music voyeur's career i loved the house mix tape from down the market; shouty mcs sprawling over beatmatches without end or beginning... nextly came cassettes ripped off pirate junglist fm: nameless tracks that break in the charts 18 months later, bigshoutouts but no bother of trackid & certainly noones getting any royalties…
into the 21C in this favored planet of mankind we encountered the mp3, the mp3blog and the scourge of p2p - further anonymising tracks into luscious muddles of inconsistent & incompatible id3tagging, wholesale looting of catalogs introduces another motive for assault on authorship and ownership, disruption of decades of discography in favor of whatever you can find on demna, 6arab, matsuli, mazika, bennloxo, barefiles - slsk's bland interface rendering track id down to:
filename.mp3
yumyum. burp

scuse me

so, after my initial impressions of some nice bits (and some sore points) i followed up by delving into google...where I was quite ambushed by a musicological revelation: it seems that the selection is mainly from the genre known as 'prog'.
interestingly i have up til now zero acquaintance with 'prog' at all, but this inspired & intrigued me, i was particularly impressed by the age of the music which was all a lot older than what i'd thought; some tracks i'd assumed retro actually were in fact futuristic,

having browsed several prog resources (via guru woebot) &updated& backdated my prog ology after this rude revivalist introduction to the new/old world of prog, i dug up my cassette player from 1995 in the hope of new insights re-visiting the selection thru the lens of prog vision (marcia's apparatus having been reclaimed) but the tape decks are hopelessly clogged & the machine is good for nothing but pirate radio :)

another high
was what i sounded to me like afro funk mixed to afropop on side one mmm lush - one of them includes one of the few female vocals in the selection, (erm why no girls in prog? a mustache thing??) the geographical distribution of the artists impressed me as i'd no idea of the internationalist scope of the prog konspiracy. these tracks turned out to be from Indonesia & by son of asha bhosle.

a theme of nostalgic not quite gothic and not quite psychobilly-ish flavour thruout, always sounding modernist, often using drum machines, electro rather than guitar, some synth and some solid electronica beats, some rocking theremin, peppered with some few tracks of standard soulful blues/r&b that sounded older than the rest & a bit incongruous

one track which made me feel strongly ambivalent opened with a heavily u2 sounding vocal (=cha!) moving along over some very cheeky fluting, side 2 starts with a very suicide-sounding black safari with some satisfying animal sounds uh uh then the selector comes thru with some longer more houseical tracks - one particularly agreeably sleazy number dribbles me right back to tha 90s with a very moist 'just for tonite baybeee' chorus that almost got to italo, moving to some sounds that are rather zappatistic, a classic can style blisssed out explosion leads us into an espanol version of nancy sinatra's bangbang - yes we liked that mix thankew

definitely the low point was that grim vocal on 'leave the driving to uuusss' that song brought me dooown, with it's failed teen hollywood diva yuppie nonsense vocal - it did however drop me into a deep reminiscence down a memory-rabbithole as follows:
a very early memory of the dawn of home video culture watching the wiz of oz and some oldskool dizney kartoons on what i can remember as gurt chunky cassettes in some type of wall-mounted playa type gizmo - this fragmentary recollection of the early 70s cutting edge techno before the vhs/betamax format wars the re-surfacing of this long-suppressed intrusive prog recollection is somehow an interesting meditation in terms of this project marking the ARES END OF KASSETTE KULTURE.
cheers'en

A Cocktail of Arabic Musical Joy

At least, that’s how the letter accompanying my tape translated the Arabic title. Certainly an apt description for a cassette boasting tracks from Egypt, Yemen, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and even Syria. I must confess a shocking lack of exposure to Arabic music. The only remotely middle-eastern flavoured examples that come to mind are from adventure movie soundtracks like Raiders of the Lost Ark, Bladerunner, and The Cell, the latter of which contains the startling and beautiful sufi music of the Jajouka, a Moroccan hill tribe. This is one time, though, when my ignorance is a good thing. There is nothing more exhilarating than the first listen to a fresh musical discovery, and we’re not taking about a new band here; we’re talking about a whole new genre of potentially untapped artistic genius. And I am all about the art.
The letter also apologized profusely for the sound quality, or lack thereof. Evidently the tape was recorded from downloaded mp3s and satellite TV rips. Ordinarily, I would be very critical of the use of mp3s, but given the efforts of the sender (‘cause you know he had to beg to use that stereo) to make the tape, I can only chuckle and shake my head.

Frankly, I counted myself lucky I was able to listen to it at all, the package was so beat up (Did you forget to tip your mailman at Christmas?). Apart from the sound being mostly in one ear (a problem I solved with a flip of the mono/stereo switch on my mixer), the quality of the recording was actually pretty good.

On first listen, I quickly realized that I was going to have to review this tape based on sonics alone. Other than the notes kindly provided by the sender, I have no clue as to the lyrical subject matter and Googling Arabic track titles and artist names using the Latin alphabet is an exercise in futility. It was a challenge, to say the least, and I can only hope that I’ve done it justice.

Side 1 kicks off with a surprisingly sexy Egyptian number by Sa’ad Al-Sghair. Recorded from the (movie?) soundtrack to Qissaat al-hai al-sha’bi*, I expect that this is an example of the pop end of the Arabic music spectrum. The track features cut-up samples of what I presume are ethnic instruments like the nasal-sounding ney (although I swear I hear an accordion in the mix) over lush synth pads and a sinuous rhythm. Vocals are performed by Amina*, who’s smoky voice effectively sells lyrics that the sender describes as “the filthiest I’ve encountered.” “Jump up on the carriage, oh yeah, ride it…” and, “various remarks about cucumbers and houmous…” sound like they might be the most lascivious I’ve ever heard, too. It’s a great start to the tape and really wet my appetite for more.

The next two songs, both by Yemeni artist Abu Bakr Salim, are what I imagine represent a more typical, traditional approach to Arabic pop music. The second of the two, Gesher min Al-Moz (Sweet As Bananas*), is the superior song. With a gentle, laidback rhythm and a call-and-response between male and female choirs, “Gesher” puts me in mind of a cast musical number like “Summer Nights” from Grease (could be way off on that one, but there you go).

Track 4 is by Kuwaiti artist Nawal (not to be confused with the Lebanese singer of the same name*). “Tamen Qelbi” (track title) is how I imagine Arabic club music; traditional instruments over 808 beats. Again, strings are at the forefront of the song, usurped only by the vocals. However, instead of being sweeping, the strings repeat a hooky little minor chord motif in much the same way synth loops are used in European dance music. The string-loop effect allows the listener to focus more on the vocals while maintaining the authenticity of the Arabic pop sound. It’s a tremendously successful tactic and I wish I had this track in my DJ bag.

The next three songs, one by Nawal and two from Mohamed Abdou, are from live sets. Alas, I’m not hearing anything new in these tracks. As with all of the previous tunes, strings are the instrument of choice. I understand why stings are so popular in Arabic pop; bowed instruments lend themselves very nicely to the ululating nature of the Middle Eastern vocal. As a fan of the Pet Shop Boys, it can never be said that I don’t appreciate strings in pop music, but by this point I’m getting tired of violins overshadowing the far more interesting ethnic instruments. I suspect that the string quartet has the same stranglehold on Arabic pop that guitar & bass has on European and North American pop. It also occurs to me that I’m not steeped enough in the genre to discern the subtle differences in these three compositions.

Happily, the tape’s compiler obliges my short attention span and drops a lovely triptych of tunes by Emirati singer Hussein Al-Jesmi. The first, “Al-Shaki”, is a short a cappella study of the Middle Eastern vocal. Clocking in at only 1:21, the track sounds like a singer warming up, complete with comments from unnamed bystanders. The appeal is perhaps a bit voyeuristic, but there’s something deliciously raw about hearing the different attempts at perfection. The two tracks that follow are versions of “Fegadtik”, one live and one polished. This is an old mix tape trick of mine, too; start with a live version and blend into the version released on CD (or vice versa). The transition is abrupt, but that’s to be expected given the rudimentary recording set-up. “Fegadtik” is a haunting lament featuring only vocalist and piano (no strings, thank god). The vocals are startlingly effective: Despite the fact that I can’t understand a word he’s saying, I can feel the singer’s pain. As an instrumental the song(s) evoke a piano bar or jazz club, a lone pianist at the keys. Adding the Arabic vocals to the mix jumbles that image with one of “The Blue Parrot” from Casablanca. The fusion of east and west has produced something extraordinary. It’s the best thing on Side 1 and is the perfect climax to the first half.

Side 2 opens with a pop track similar to those on Side 1. “El-Leila Helwa” (“Night is Sweet”*) is sung by Madonna Al Lebnania, whose vocals are indistinguishable from Amina’s (Side 1, Track 1). Again, the ubiquitous strings make an appearance. Fortunately, they are used sparingly as stabs and blurts. What makes this track stand out is not the instruments or the vocals, but the frenetic rhythm section. The drums are nuts! The complexity of the rhythms would leave many a breakbeat producer standing stunned with his mouth open in the middle of the dancefloor.

Tracks 2 and 3 blend into an intense, live a cappella by Egyptian songstress Sherine. The range of this woman is astounding. The songs, both titled “Garah Tani”, sound to me like a songs of worship, but not in the dire, dry style typical of western hymns. I would describe it more in terms of black gospel music from the southern United Sates; joyful music, a surrendering of yourself to the beauty of belief. I’m far from religious, but by the end I was cheering along with the crowd.

Sherine’s songs lead perfectly into 23 more minutes of live a cappella brilliance. No, really. I love every minute. The two a cappellas are credited to “Anon ?”, which could be the man’s name or an abbreviation for anonymous, and bookend a mostly instrumental soundtrack snippet from the film Ghazlan fil Ghaba Il-Dieb. Both a cappellas are titled “Mawai”, so I am unsure whether they are two parts of the same piece or separate performances. Regardless, the first 13 minute portion is the highlight of the tape. The song builds from a drone through a relatively sedate vocal to a crescendo where the singer is practically screaming. The crowd reacts in a similar manner, both men and women urging the vocalist on to greater and greater heights, setting up the feedback loop that is the cornerstone of all remarkable live performances. At one point, the “band” cuts in with an uptempo mixture of drums, flutes and strummed instruments, only to be cut off seconds later. You can almost hear the vocalist waving his hand to shush them, knowing, perhaps, that the connection he has with the crowd is fragile. Like the preceding songs, the sense that the singer is worshipping is very strong. As the track’s energy wanes, the tape switches to the soundtrack segment.

Judging by the syncopated strings (again with the strings!) and the electronic instruments, I expect it was chopped out of the middle of some action movie or spy thriller. In fact, if it weren’t for the choirs of male and female Arabic singers, and of course the title, it could have come from any film at all. With this relatively minor ethnic inclusion, it merely sounds as if it would be right at home in the middle of an Indiana Jones chase scene. While the track may be a bit common sonically, it is effective at maintaining the pressure generated by the first half of Side 2.

The third and final part of this section feels like a rewind. It’s the same song as the first part, and sounds very similar in terms of crowd noise and instrumentation. That’s OK, though. I’m happy to get another listen. Astonishing vocals, simply astonishing.

The tape closes on a melancholy note. “W Kaberna” by Najwa Karam opens with a full orchestra before downshifting to a downbeat duet. The orchestra sits low in the mix, rather than front and center, and eventually develops into a drone, leaving the focus to the male and female vocalists. The back and forth between the singers reminds me of Peter Gabriel's "Don't Give Up", where Peter and Kate Bush go back and forth in a he-said-she-said. It’s a dramatic finish to an eclectic mixture of ethnic sounds.

It must be said that it takes great courage for all of us in the Ferrite Love Connection to put our tastes on display. All it would take is some Neanderthal with no interest in anything other than his/her own insular opinions and your carefully constructed analogue masterpiece is cut down in a blaze of scathing blog text, if it gets reviewed at all. Even compared to the rest of us, it had to take some set of stones to compile, record, and send A Cocktail of Arabic Musical Joy to some anonymous member in the wilds of eastern Canada, a place where Celtic and Country reign hand-in-hand. But the gamble paid off. It may be blasphemy to say it on a blog dedicated to analogue glory, but if the compiler could just put them on a CD and send it to me at the same address…?

Side 1
From soundtrack of Qissaat al-hai al-sha ‘bi – Sa’ad Al-Sghair [Egypt]
7an Waqt Al Lega – Abu Bakr Salim [Yemen]
Gesher min Al-Moz – Abu Bakr Salim [Yemen]
Tamen Qelbi – Nawai [Kuwait]
Ana Be Kheir (Live in Doha 2007) – Nawai [Kuwait]
Darb Al-Mahaba (Live in Doha 2007) – Mohammed Abdou with Abu Bakr Salim [Saudi]
Ayooh (Live) – Mohammed Abdou [Saudi]
Al-Shaki (Live) – Hussein Al-Jesmi [Emirates]
Fegadtik (Live) – Hussein Al-Jesmi [Emirates]
Fegadtik 2006 – Hussein Al-Jesmi [Emirates]

Side 2
El-Leila Helwa – Madonna [Lebanon]
Garah Tani (Intro) (Live 2006) – Sherine [Egypt]
Garah Tani (Live) – Sherine [Egypt]
Mawai – Anon ? [?]
From soundtrack Ghazlan fil Ghaba Il-Dieb – Unknown [?]
Mawai – Anon ? [?]
W Kberna – Najwa Karam (&Wadi??) [Lebanon]

*As noted in the sender’s letter.