group ses & ethnique punch: deli divan

In 2018, Sucata Tapes welcomed Grup Ses with Program 01, a mystically-mixed soundtrack of far-out new age and film soundtracks from Turkey circa 1986. A new set of Turkish delights were prepared for this year's release. Deli Divan is a two-part record with incredibly crafted beats that tell a different story depending on which version one choses. The A side captivates with its voracity; hi-tech and fierce beats drop with the sharp voice and flow of Ethnique Punch, delivering 14 (yes, f-o-u-r-t-e-e-n) short and punchy tracks. The diggin' liveliness of Grup Ses is well present in the samples used, manufacturing beats that serve well the fast paced and nocturnal voice of Ethnique Punch. The first part of Deli Divan is pretty much a straight story, but a good one. But then comes the surprise, the other side. The same fourteen tracks without voice, just the beats. And here, Deli Divan tells a completely different story. It loses the urgency, darkness and robustness of the A side, especially because the beats float in limbo without a voice. But that limbo reveals the straightforwardness of the beats created by Grup Ses for this record. There's a hidden narrative here; without the voice the short tracks connect like an outer world radio broadcast. But there's no narrator, just time-traveling beats that interlink past, present and future, synthesizing complex ideas in short bursts of one or two minutes.