Muslimgauze "Mullah Said" Staalplaat Records MUSLIMLIM 018 (1998) (65:18)
Mullah Said (12:17)
Every Grain of Palestinian Sand (10:32)
Muslims Die India (12:31)
Every Grain of Palestinian Sand (10:53)
Muslims Die India (16:27)
An End (2:38)
Muslimgauze is Bryn Jones.
Overall impression: excellent. Bryn Jones unfortunately passed away this past January but the music he is so well known for is thankfully still being released at the same feverish pace as prior to his death. "Mullah Said" is a Staalplaat subscription series limited edition release (1000), the idea being to get as much of Muslimgauze's extensive work out to those who desire it and insuring that nothing is missed. I've managed to collect a few dozen Muslimgauze albums/singles/eps over the past several months and this one has become one of my favorites. The style of this disc is what I'd call mellow, beat driven ambient dub. The five lengthy tracks are based on hypnotic and somewhat menacing grooves: a repetitive dub bass beat, waves of Middle Eastern strings and voices, layers of building hand percussion, etc. Each track is repetive but the washes of sound/percussion come and go often creating a sense of motion and change. All of the tracks are similar and even share elements. There are 2 versions of "Every Grain.." and "Muslims Die.." that are basically just remixed versions of the same track ... not drastically different from one another but enough to make them worthy of repeated listenings. The first "Every Grain.." is more beat driven and aggressive whereas the rest of the tracks have a slower and more ambient flowing feel ... plenty of beats/bass in each track though. "An End" has a smattering of percussion with a woman singing and an occasional male voice that slowly fades out bringing the journey to an end. I've been very pleased with almost all of the Muslimgauze I've managed to collect so far, but there's something special for me about the longer shifting tracks that appear here as well as on other releases such as "Hebron Massacre", "Gulf Between Us", "Sandtrafikar" and "Arab Quarter". As with the majority of Muslimgauze releases the artwork on the "Mullah Said" digipack is first class: another photographic glimpse into the lives and history of the peoples of the Middle East. Hopefully all 1000 haven't already been claimed ...
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Where did I get this cd? - mail order via Rioux's Records. Email Jason.