arabic

Harmonious Thelonious – Abel [VER117]

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Stefan Schwander aka Harmonious Thelonious is definitely not a newcomer. He has been around for a long time and has already released lots of amazingly varied music on labels such as Emotional Response, Italic, Meakusma and Diskant. He’s also an integral part of the infamous Duesseldorf / Salon Des Amateurs axis that is an obvious hotbed of talent. He describes his style as “American minimalism vs. African drumming vs. European sequencing”, a heady mixture which is clearly evident on this EP though with a definite Middle Eastern twist. Here at Versatile HQ we were introduced to this clutch of tracks by one of the members of Acid Arab and we were totally blown away. Stefan has a very unique production style, fusing all of the above elements with a hint of Gamelan, a dash of tweaked FM synthesis type sounds with a dose of warm ambience and finally his own singular touch on the mix. We are very happy to present you these 4 tracks to you, an essential EP from one of European music’s true originals.

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Harmonious Thelonious – Abel [VER117]

Mekine U Teksi – Postanatolische Hybride: Die Steppenroboter LP [TFGC013]

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Themes From Great Cities’ latest chunk of inspired, hard-to-define goodness comes from Mekine U Teksi, a fresh outfit formed by Murat Goktas and Irfan Derin. Dedicated to legendary, currently closed Dusseldorf venue Salon Des Amateurs, the mini-album – the duo’s debut release – is shot through not only with the arpeggio-driven pulse of vintage ’80s new wave, but also the chugging attitude of psychedelic nu-disco and the exotic, intoxicating melodies of traditional Arabic music. Of course, there are other influences that make their presence felt throughout – krautrock, dark Italo-disco, punk funk and dub disco – but these merely serve to enhance the duo’s core sound, which is rarely less than enthralling.

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Mekine U Teksi – Postanatolische Hybride: Die Steppenroboter LP [TFGC013]

Alek Lee – Sfarot EP [ATN034]

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In a very “fourth world” manner, Alek Lee brings together middle-eastern influences in his music with ease and without ever having it sounding cliché: on Harabait and Sfarot (and its dub version), his friends and him play the violin, the bass clarinet and the accordion in a way which reminds of Klezmer music, putting the three songs on the EP in line with both his musical education and his cultural background.

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Alek Lee – Sfarot EP [ATN034]

Kalbata – Al Shark [FTN007]

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Fortuna Co-Founder Kalbata takes the controls for this new, Middle Eastern techno banger. Al-Shark is a banging Arab Farfisa excursion played frantically on an analog techno rhythm section. It’s the first release from the Fortuna camp which is not a reissue, but worry not, this could easily be an ancient Lebanese proto-House experiment unearthed from a dusty reel. For the B-side Kalbata takes things even further with a tribal relick of the original, placing us in a voodoo ceremony where ghosts of sinners come to dance.

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Kalbata – Al Shark [FTN007]

Ahmed Malek – Musique Original De Films [HABIBI003]

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Ahmed Malek was one of the most important musicians of the Algerian scene of the 1970s. His sountrack works that were composed for various Algerian movies of the time fuse Arabic influences with jazz, psych and funk influences. Dark cineastic soundscapes meet african Jazz at times reminicent of Mulatu. Original copies of his vinyl releases have been sold for enormous amounts. For this release we combined the strongest tracks from his releases with a selection of unreleased material straight from the families archive. The vinyl edition comes with a 8 page 12” size booklet, the cd version with a 16 page booklet with lot of unseen photos, an interview with the artist from 1978 and an introduction to Algerian cinema.

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Ahmed Malek – Musique Original De Films [HABIBI003]