Music from United Kingdom

"Home Demo Tracks" by Muslimgauze is a collection of eight tracks with a total duration of about 47 minutes, featuring a distinctive blend of ambient electronics and polyrhythmic drumming. The album captures the raw and experimental essence of Muslimgauze's sound, characterized by visceral percussion, diverse voices, and sound effects. It reflects the artist's unique position in underground, experimental, and industrial music circles, continuing the innovative and atmospheric style that defines …

The excellent Black September, a continuous, five-part, 68-minute epic, is as formidably competent as ever, although more for the brooding, surreal nature of its soundworld than for its grooves, which here sound almost subsidiary. The soul samples and restlessly evolving minor-chord kaleidoscopes that unfold throughout the work is prima facie evidence of a musician on a roll. Boldly named after one of the most notorious Palestinian terrorist organizations, the group which carried out the Israeli…

The relationship between Bryn Jones's music as Muslimgauze and the track/album titles he would provide (sometimes right on the tapes he would send in for release, but often determined later, sometimes even giving two different pieces months apart the same title, accidentally or not) has always been a little mysterious. Jones himself can no longer be asked, and as you continue to investigate the swathes of material he provided, you hit sources like the DAT or DATs that make up the contents of the…

Separated from both its reputation and its sleeve art, the music of Muslimgauze explores the relationship of visual sensations -- space, color, depth, illusion -- to the listening experience. The music on Maroon is dub-like inspired techno music, laidback with voices appearing randomly in the mix. The thick drums and rich found sounds that densely populate the soundscapes on Maroon give materiality to the warm presence of the synth washes. The music is so layered and textured that it ceases to b…

The relationship between Bryn Jones's music as Muslimgauze and the track/album titles he would provide (sometimes right on the tapes he would send in for release, but often determined later, sometimes even giving two different pieces months apart the same title, accidentally or not) has always been a little mysterious. Jones himself can no longer be asked, and as you continue to investigate the swathes of material he provided, you hit sources like the DAT or DATs that make up the contents of the…

Originally released in 1993. The reissue contains remixed material from »Shekel Of Israeli Occupation«, which did never appear. Also on there are two remixes from tracks on »Vote Hezbollah«. From the original press release: »For over ten years this solitary voice from Manchester has created a unique sound drawn from a melange of Arabic and European instrumental music. From the very beginning the music has been based on drums and other percussion instruments. Recent advances have been attained th…

Lazhareem Ul Leper by Muslimgauze certainly qualifies for its range of percussion instruments, atypical electronics, skillful de-construction of ethno-traditional music. In turn, said music is re-assembled with urban stylings with a technical deftness akin to the way a Shao-Lin monk wields weapons. Muslimgauze enthusiasts may recognize sounds from Izlamaphobia on the odd track as they were made roughly the same time, only Lazhareem is arranged differently and with more unique elements to form a …

Part of Staalplaat’s ongoing Muslimgauze archive series, Sycophant of Purdah was submitted in 1994 then “replaced” by another master Bryn Jones felt more fit for release. Sycophant then languished in the vaults until present, nearly a decade after Jones’ passing. It is no secret that Jones was a prolific artist and that numerous labels combined could not keep up with his output and will take several more years more for them to do so. Sycophant opens with a radio broadcast on the on-going Palesti…

"Kashmiri Queens" presents a more accessible side of Muslimgauze, featuring a faster tempo and fewer sonic overtones than his previous endeavors. The music's core is rooted in drone and raga samples complemented by a rich array of ethnic percussions. All the standard Muslimgauze elements present here, but this release sees a more steady approach to his sound. Far less of the abrupt cutting in and out he had favoured for a good while, and more of a concentrated approach to the music. He lets the …

Another Muslimgauze discovery in Staalplaat's reissue series, with eight rare tracks from the mind of Bryn Jones. Hefty slabs of beefy beats are seasoned with spicy South Asian melodies while mouth numbingly hot bass lines are smothered in distortion chutney; Souk Bou Saada was broiled in Machester's finest tandoor and is now served by Staalplaat. If you love East Indian flavors with a neo-bhangra beat, this disc will not disappoint, equally at home on the dancefloors of Bradistan, UK or Mumbai,…

This is a mostly beat-driven album with little background noise, ambient space, or reverb. There is also no big emphasis on Middle Eastern sounds, which (and you should be figuring this out by now) is a frequently occurring theme in Bryn Jones' politically-driven music. Occasionally, there is some melodic material, or a touch of the Middle East sprinkled in, but it's played down in favor of beats that could best be described as very raw and closer to early Autechre minimalism than something from…

*300 copies limited edition* At this point the vast swathes of unreleased Muslimgauze material Bryn Jones left behind when he passed away over 25 years ago is as legendary as any of his work. And sure enough, there's still some being unearthed today. The second entry (and only 12”-sized one) is in a series of four (three 7"s and one 12") taken from one of Jones' customary completely unlabelled DATs he sent to labels seemingly as fast as he finished them. A new series of singles collecting one of…

"Recorded whilst I was starring as H.R. Pufnstuf in the titular US documentary of the same name, Earth Covers Earth followed up the apocalyptic Sing Song Sounds of Swastikas For Noddy with another clutch of classic C93 chimes, none of which bothered the Hit Parade In Any Way Ever. Many of the songs on this beautiful album have been tattooed on the inner thighs of the Illuminati. The drugs had stopped working, and I was staring into several voids, as I couldn't focus on anything, whilst Moving Wa…

"I was obsessed, am obsessed, by The Groundhogs, so gave C93 a chance to cover their perfect "Sad-Go-Round" from their perfect Solid album. I also loved Black Sabbath, but had listened to them so much that I never wanted to hear them again. So Michael Cashmore's Perfect Playing of their intro to "Paranoid" was Perfect Way To Wave GoodBye to them, and slip into my visions of Lucifer Over London, May G+D damn him again. "The Seven Seals_" I wrote whilst sitting at my desk in my Then House in Aubre…

"I had become close friends with Thomas Ligotti, the pre-eminent writer of Nights and DeadEnds and Doubled Darknesses. I had written him many fan-letters, and we both wanted to work with each other. I Have A Special Plan For This World was our second work together, after our In A Foreign Town, In A Foreign Land. This album Channels an enormous emotional response from me. Ligotti was, is, and will be a huge influence on my work. No-one has seen the bells tolling, tolling, tolling for us all like …

"Recorded at the same time as I and Then C93 were channelling Swastikas For Noddy, Imperium was the BackSide GrimStory to the Bright 'n' Breezy (Locust) SummerTime Whistkes of Swastikas For Noddy. I was very ill whilst making both records, and my main memories (along with Speed And Vodka, ThankYou, ThankYou) were lying sick on a grimy couch at the long-gone IPS Studios in Shepherd's Bush. There was a heavy leak in the kitchen and the water was running over the studio floor and up my distressed, …

Renowned visionary collective Current 93, led by the ever-enigmatic David Tibet, return with their latest work, Sketches Of My Nightmares and Dreams Occurring. Set to be released this season, the album unfolds as an intimate cartography of the psychic landscapes that define Tibet’s unique creative universe.   Sketches Of My Nightmares and Dreams Occurring is a testament to Current 93’s ability to transmute dream-visions into sound, weaving together spectral folk, minimalist textures, and otherwo…

Tip! The hazy sound worlds of Hawksmoor(James McKeown) and Ivan The Tolerable(Oli Heffernan) come together in a swirl of hallucinatory bliss on Atoms In The Void. Both McKeown and Heffernan delve in 70s album side long form jams within their own projects, and on Atoms In The Void both come together in hazy, droning beauty in bite-size chunks. "Anise" combines pastoral folk with an underlying unease, while "Atom Dub" has that distinctive Ivan The Tolerable drone to it, while tasteful wah wah guit…

Big tip! *Definitive Edition: Deluxe 5LP + 4CD Artbook wooden box set; includes 2LP gatefold with the TTH edition and the original artwork + 3LP triple set featuring all the Prescription versions and the newly created AD II artworks by Steven Stapleton + A massive, epic 12" vinyl-sized Artbook houses the complete collection on 4CDs, with all versions gathered in one place.* Virtually unobtainable in its original fiercely limited format of only 99 copies, it is the only album apart from the origi…

Hot on the heels of the TNB + LSD La Puissance Du Vide LP (Wepwawet Editions) comes Pulchrum Metallum, a three-track collaboration CD in conjunction with Knurl. Pulchrum Metallum is a work of a seemingly incompatible blending of aesthetics. Allan Zane has seamlessly merged the anti-music of TNB with Knurl’s mechanized, amorphous soundscapes, feeding the results through the LSD absurdity blender to create a swirling vortex of utter chaos.