Where Did The Year Go?

Happy birthday to me, but more importantly ambient flamenco is now a thing, the alternative sounds of Lebanon make it past the security checkpoints, dub is in safe hands and jazz intentions go awry.

So it looks like I missed the newsletter’s June 30th birthday, which will probably come as no surprise to family and friends. I’m not one for anniversaries or enforced celebrations, but it would be remiss not to send a MASSIVE thank you to all the subscribers, whether paying, early adopter or new arrival. The subscriber count has just passed 3,500, the open rate is a fairly respectable 40-45% and the connection is meaningful, which is such a relief after “social” media’s pay to access your follower years. The future is bright.

It’s been a hell of a year too. My daughter was born three weeks after the first newsletter, and after three days spent in the maternity ward curled up on an undersized chair in my version of the foetal position, I arrived home with an extra mouth and TSMM outlet to feed. I’ve been desperately juggling the day job, sleep deprivation, keeping the music project alive and trying my best to be involved as much as possible with the little one, who’s not quite so little these days, ever since

It’s taken me about this long to work out how to keep everyone happy without ending up in a hospital bed, but if I’ve misjudged it then please send food rather than flowers to the ward. As for developing TSMM that’s another matter, but there might even be some light appearing at the end of that tunnel soon.

Eeyun & The Co-Operators - Dub Over Yonder (Waggle)

I do love a bit of dub - old, new, classic or progressive, although oddly the dub torch is seemingly being kept alight these days everywhere except Jamaica, and Bristol’s Waggle crew are definitely doing their bit. Although their focus is mostly on classic sounding, vocal roots reggae, they have included a few versions and dubs on 7” b-sides and have now just released their second full length dub transmission via Strasbourg’s Hornin’ Sounds.

On my first cursory listen the album didn’t leap out at me, but like so many deeper albums you’ll be rewarded by giving it your full attention for a couple of spins. Just like so much of the island’s pre-90s output there’s serious craft in these deceptively simple riddims, sometimes less is more.

The album consists of dub versions of tracks from two roots albums: Joe Yorke & The Co-Operators - A Distant Beat, and The Co-Operators and Friends’ - Sounds from the Fridge. All the dubs were mixed at the same time as the vocals whilst the crew were still in the zone, so as to retain the vibe.

The album gets going in stripped back style with the guitar licked “Downpour Dub”, the guitar refrains intertwining over the languid riddim as echo drones hum and hand played percussion peppers the track. There’s some playful sweetener added to the squelchier sounds of “Pennyquick Version” which leads us nicely to the more righteous, trombone augmented “A Joyful Dub”.

“Frontline Dub” brings the brass front and centre, before the ritualistic Nyabinghi percussion and vocal call from Dennison Joseph to “Bring down fire on Babylon kingdom” - rings loud and true throughout, and in this age of uncaring peak capitalism it’s a sentiment whose time has surely come again, if it ever went away? “Last Night’s Dub” sees another heavy riddim test your speakers, and trust me this album won’t be kind to lower quality hi-fi gear, whilst Joe Yorke’s distinctive vocals keep the low frequencies company. “Closed door” is a lesson in stripped back dub construction; “Battle Cry Dub” lollops into the fray, before Joe Yorke’s vocals echo through the speakers to round off this weighty album of classic dub vibes in sweeter fashion. If you’re a fan of Jamaica’s seventies reggae sounds then don’t delay, hit play. You can also find a track from them amongst good company over at the Slow Dub Playlist.

Charbel Haber, Nicolás Jaar and Sary Moussa - Crashing waves dance to the rhythm set by the broadcast journalist revealing the tragedies of the day (Ruptured)

This is a heavy album, but what would you expect from a recording utilising Tunefork Studios in Beirut as a conduit to remotely unite these artists during the Israeli aggression/response (delete as applicable), as the country was under attack?

Charbel Haber is a Lebanese musician, performer, visual artist and composer from Beirut. Nicolás Jaar will be familiar to many, but for those that don’t know he’s a top drawer American-Chilean artist and label boss, who unusually has become more popular as his music has become more uncompromising. Last but not least, Sary Moussa is a versatile electronic musician who has been active in the Beirut underground scene since 2008 and who has released on Jaar’s Other People label.

On August 2nd, 2024 the artists connected remotely and started playing: Haber on guitar, Jaar on bass clarinet with Moussa handling live signal processing. These core sounds were the building blocks with which Moussa built this often uneasy recording by manipulating the live audio feeds, the aim being to create a sonic document of “attention under pressure”, and surely pressure doesn’t get any more intense than being in a city under attack, and not knowing if a bomb is about to turn the studio, and possibly your lights out at any moment.

Consisting of four long-form tracks, the LP gets off to a surprisingly sedate start with the minimal, delicate electroacoustic sounds of “Part 1”, which are mellow enough to have made it on to my admittedly esoteric Slow Ambient Playlist, but unsurprisingly the calm doesn’t last long. “Part 2” is a vaguely orchestral piece that suddenly erupts half way through, burying its initial grace under guitar and electronic distortion and electronic cries for help, before dissolving into an ambient vat.

“Part 3” eases into existence but it’s not long before the light fades and electronic creatures emerge from the shadows to accentuate the unease before Jaar pierces the gloom with some angular free jazz clarinet that distracts from the situation, but does nothing to lift the mood. The final part starts off optimistically enough with minimal guitar repetition providing some welcome calm until Jaar’s stormy wind contribution starts to flood through the undersea cables, portending that the distorted electronics will be arriving again soon to strike militants, elected officials and innocent family and bystanders alike.

Farah Kaddour & Marwan Tohme - Ghazel (Ruptured)

Whilst in Lebanon it’s a good time to shine further light on the excellent Ruptured Records catalogue. The label is run by radio host and DJ Ziad Nawfal alongside sound engineer and studio owner Fadi Tabbal, who have been transmitting their many projects, as well music from alternative artists across the MENA region to the world since 2008. They’re a welcome antidote to the accepted notions of music from the region which are too often shaped by the Western music press, promoters and distributors, and which too often focus on more traditional sounds and tired fusions.

Although both Farah Kaddour and Marwan Tohme have boundary bashing form - both being members of the darker, experimental rock outfit SANAM, they’ve taken a break from melting minds to bring the traditional string sounds of the region into the twenty first century by fusing them with ambient electronica.

Kaddour is an accomplished buzuq player, whilst Tohme is adept at electronic trickery alongside being a useful guitarist, and this album recorded between the Tunefork studio in Beirut and Tohme's home in the Lebanese mountains is a perfect melting pot of rural, urban, traditional and innovative

The opening track “Kayfa Taltaqi el-Qulub” translates as “How Hearts Meet” and is the perfect showcase for Kaddour’s evocative string work that leaves the regional setting for this recording in no doubt, as she serenades her homeland over a looped refrain and gradually encroaching, ultimately distracting electronic intervention that eventually realises it might have overstepped the mark and politely steps aside to wisely let the lady have her uninterrupted say once more.

The LP title track sees the pair intertwine acoustic instruments and celebrate their shared musical history, the buzuq and guitar making a good case for geo-politics to follow suit. Deeming they’ve just gone too traditional, “Bissi” introduces some looped percussion and uneasy effects as the tune creeps around Beirut’s shadier neighbourhoods late at night. “Wulidna Fil-Barzakh” (“We Were Born in Purgatory”) see the country’s tensions rise to the surface in a wave of dramatic synths and edgy electronics, the buzuq too romantic at heart to make an appearance during this slice of war-torn electronica. The album concludes with the more contemplative “Naghmat Al-Ra’i”; Kaddour musing about life, the notes given space to breathe and the listener time to contemplate them, whilst Tohme’s electronics first rumble, then rise in an agitated swarm to shatter the thoughtful mood before dissipating just as quickly to allow Kaddour to ride the low frequency pulse back to the safety of her home.

prepare thyself - void jazz (Reptilian Snack)

It’s not all chilling and Portuguese wine over at TSMM HQ, sometimes I like to shake my head and move my feet whilst drinking. I’m not sure how I stumbled across this duo from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania but I’m glad I did. Curious about the musicians I now know that Andrew Kruske has quality solo project called Chameleon Treat!, which on cursory listen appears to meander through psychedelic nouveau and dream pop realms. Details on Eli Weidman are a bit harder to hurriedly piece together, but he seems to be a drummer for hire, most notably with the cool and quirky Ames Harding & the Mirage who are also worth checking.

Apparently the album was born when Kruske decided he wanted to ditch the earnest lyrics and under the influence ambling for a bit, improve his improvisational skills and make a jazz fusion album. Luckily for us he got somewhat sidetracked.

The result is a banger of an album that defies easy description but hangs loosely around peak time krautrock and soaring psychedelic space rock. The grounding album opener, “atoms, nothing else“ kicks off with some minimal, mantric guitar and possibly marimba which set a keen tempo and are soon joined by Weidman’s simultaneously loose but locked in percussion. Framework set, the layers build - more synths, more guitar, until there’s a torrent of hypnotic refrains rushing through the speakers, and if you’re not at least nodding your head by this point then please call a doctor. On it’s own that would work for me but just wait for the half way bass lift off which will probably have a similar affect to the CPR administered by the attending medics. This tune is star bound and taking everyone in earshot with it.

Next up is “ghost particle” that starts off equally hurried but less densely, giving you time to put your teeth back in and comb your hair, despite the synths immediately ruffling your brain cells and attempting to prise open your doors of perception. Just as your mind starts drifting Weidman fills in the percussion and Kruske rocks in with some bastard rhythm and blues guitar and more spaced out synths, we’re off again. Next up “wormholes in fiction” sees Weidman shaking, skittering, looping and layering his percussion as a freak flag flying groove evolves, slowly loosening your grip on reality again before delivering another reality tunnel shattering finale.

This is followed by the jam session meets soothing psyche rock meets shoegaze meets space rock of “orbital decay” as the boys once again lull you into a false sense of psychedelic security before testing your lysergic limits with this constantly morphing creation. By now you’ll have lost all track of time, and the LP closer, “spirits of the prism” is here to give your tender cerebral cortex the comedown tune it is crying out for. A jazz filled motorik riddim takes you by the hand as Kruske sets the guitar and keys to ambient space rock for ten a half minutes. And breathe. The album is a trip and a half, let’s hope they get the urge to make another jazz LP soon.

Raúl Cantizano & David Cordero - Aunque llegue la mañana (Noray)

David Cordero is a prolific ambient producer with serious TSMM blog and playlist form. He’s based in Cadiz, and what better location than to bump into experimental flamenco guitarist Raúl Cantizano, who as well as rocking the barrio fiestas has been involved in everything, from angular art rock to experimental electroacoustic work.

The release is also the second on Cordero’s newly minted Noray label, which is shaping up very nicely. Cantizano gets the ball rolling with some minimal acoustic picking and gentle intentions as Cordero sits back, content to lay down translucent electronic swathes in his path. “Resonancia Angular” belies its name to set new standards in flamenco lullabies, resulting in the perfect siesta soundtrack, Cordero once again subtly augmenting rather than distracting from the six string maestro. Just in case you ate too much for lunch and are having trouble nodding off, Lela Soto’s disembodied vocal haunts “Algo a Lo Que Regresar” for extra soporific effect. “Fragmento Ausente” develops a mild edge as the strings become more recognisably flamenco but are juxtaposed with some subtly edgy electronics and, whether live or manipulated, the sound of strings being bowed and/or manipulated.

Cantizano takes it easier on “Los Arrepentimientos”. As ghostly pads blow in from the north he sits back on a sheltered terrace and brightens the grey skies with a warm, intermittent refrain. Now rested he lightly moves his fingers over the strings to give the field recordings and reversed sounds on “Fugaz” some forward momentum. He’s in rightfully optimistic mood on “Todavia hay sol” as he soaks up some rays, the notes hanging in the air like pollen from the Andalusian flora, as Cordero politely encroaches on his sunny playing with some glacially cascading synths.

"Mi Centro Vine a Encontrar" is the album’s peak flamenco guitar moment, although there will still be no dancing, before the album fittingly weaves its way along dusty, rosemary strewn, electroacoustic Andalusian paths, planting the seed of a new genre that we can only hope germinates in the region’s sun baked landscape. Olé.

soo:k - Grape Chariot (Swims)

Usually, after its publication, the newsletter feeds the blog and social media with album reviews and I reserve the blog for supporting smaller, independent artists with single reviews, but here’s an album that went straight to blog, but which is well worth your time.

The album starts in pleasingly ambient fashion, the lightest of chimes and tones drifting serenely above the sounds of gentle waves as some ambiguous sonic details eventually enter the picture to flutter and drift through the warm idyllic soundscape, you know that all will be well with the album. And it is.

The baton is then passed to, "Sylvanus Never Slept" which maintains the vibe admirably, but tunes in to some alien radio transmissions to add a distant galactic dimension to this already far out LP. "The Living Mountain" then unfurls its parachute and floats back down to earth with a new age sensibility, spirit world vocals and some gently propulsive beats that are more suited to after the after party rather than dance floor deviance.

The album is determined to keep you on your toes as "Thistle Kiss" adds a bit of spiky attitude and jets the listener back to a neighbouring galaxy, albeit a pretty cosmic, chilled one. "Grape Chat" then beams in some classical strings to add a bit of grandeur to the star gazing.

And so we continue. The album flirts shamelessly with multiple ambient adjacent genres, exploring a shadow world where belief system energy ripples collide and swirl. Electronic futurism dissolves into more holistic new age frequencies, age old classicism is face painted and thrust into the hear and now, fauna looks the machines in the eye and pecks the cables, as vintage soundtracks say hello to their twenty first century grandchildren. It's an assured, adventurous and immersive debut from an artist I'm now following with interest.

Don’t Forget TSMM’s Playlists and Podcast.

From ambient sound baths and wellness imbuing new age vibes to underground house via jazz, neoclassical, folk, dub and more, the twenty one TSMM playlists and podcast cover a lot of ground, and are updated regularly.

Just hit this smartlink to connect to the various services and TSMM profiles.