muslimgauze: islamic songs

The sun always shines bright, very bright in the Middle East. Windows open up and we hear music. Not the music by Muslimgauze, but traditional music. We hear the Adhan, the call for prayer, the souk and people talking. Music comes from all directions -- rhythmic, mysterious, monotonous perhaps, but swirling like a dervish, round and round it goes. The music of Islam was such an inspiration for Bryn Jones (1961-1999), although perhaps "inspiration" probably doesn't justify the seemingly endless flood of material he recorded during his life. Islamic Songs is a previously-unreleased album which now sees the light of day. Although albums by Muslimgauze were usually not thematically based, it's perhaps possible to see Islamic Songs as a thematically organized album, not set in a specific surrounding, but moving along inside the busy city of the occupied Palestinian land. Jones produces his beats with considerable force on the opening piece "I Shall Sing Until My Land Is Free" and on the sixth track, which has a nice, deep bass thump. It's the sound of a low-flying drone, spying on us. A female voice is singing, guided by a tribal dance beat -- a classic Muslimgauze opening move. From then on it's down to the Kasbah, and we hear tablas, samples of stringed instruments, and obscured vocal samples. There is a moment of rest on "Sahara Head Dress," and we wake up back on the airplane, back home, with "System Virus Abuse 1, 2 and 3," a short piece on digital failure. Noted as such by Jones on the tape, this 17-second piece is the sound of a drone crashing -- one down for the enemy.