I S
T H I S
Y O U I S S U E Y O U
T H I N K
P R O B A B LY
V E I N
A B O U T
S O
Y O U ' R E
AUDIO KULTUR
ISSUE 07 OCT 2014 FREE
02 WORD FOR THE HERD
T
here comes a point in where you’re forced to decide upon fucking off or getting your shit together. I reckon that most people will most likely encounter this when it comes to a relationship. The elevation of “Friday hook up” to significant other can be quite the daunting conundrum. We have reached this point, only our “Friday hook up” keeps us up all night and doesn’t even put out. We’re getting our shit together and we’re doing it for the twelve of you that actually read this rag. Although this decision may or may not have been influenced by copious amounts of alcohol, personal vendettas and some rather poor life choices, we’ve decided to throw the dice. Starting this month you will be able to find this magazine on the same streets that you spend your days and nights in. Take one, shit take two. We made a conscientious decision to take it to the streets before we sorted out our digital mess, because that’s the way we always wanted to do it. This is print for prints sake. Inevitably, we will cave to the powers at be and launch a swanky website, but for now let’s just cherish a bit of simplicity in an age gone wrong. To kick shit off, we’re teaming up with our friends at the Red Bull Music Academy and The Gärten to throw a massive “launch” party (better late than never, right?). Red Bull is flying in Kuwaiti audio/visual Zahed Sultan, who has already graced these fine pages, and we’ve lined up a very special live show by Lebanese producer ETYEN, because he’s fucking rad and your life will be exponentially better after you see him perform. Oh and there's a very special guest, but isn’t there always? xxxxo, Tres Colacion Editor-in-Chief
PUBLISHER überhaus
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Tres Colacion
ART DIRECTOR Alī El Sayed
ART ASSISTANT Emne Mroue
WRITERS
Natalie Shooter, Atticus Hoffman, Adrian Hartrick
COMIC
Gab Ferneine
CONTACT
Got something to say? Write us at Junkmail@audiokultur.me Life is a pitch, but at least we want to pay you for it. Send your pitches to Editor@audiokultur.me Want a fresh shipment of Audio Kultur every month to your fine establishment? TheGuy@AudioKultur.me All advertising inquiries go to SellOut@AudioKultur.me audiokultur.com facebook.com/audiokultur issuu.com/audiokultur
TABLE OF CONTENTS 03
04. FEATURED ARTIST: ANDRÉ BULJAT
10. FLASHBACKS
& REVELATIONS
16. TUNEAGE 22. FEATURE ARTIST:
06. FEATURED ARTIST: RE.YOU
14. FEATURE:
DIGGING DEEP
18. FEATURE:
EXORCISMS HAPPEN
BEDOUIN
24. FEATURE: MEDITATIONS OF
MULATU
18. THE METROPOLIS(T) 26. DAS KOMIC
04 FEATURED ARTIST
A MATTER OF FACT From spinning R&B in the Dominican Republic to working with one of the scene’s most recognizable promoters, we get personal with André Buljat.
FEATURED ARTIST 05
G
erman born, Dominican raised and Spain based, Andre Buljat has benefitted from some rather worldly experiences. He’s spent over a decade crafting a sound with elements of Detroit, Berlin and Chicago. His smooth blend of house and techno has taken him across the globe and he’s now an integral member of the FACT! worldwide team. We caught up with him just before his return to Beirut for yet another performance at The Gärten.
AK: You were born in Germany, grew up in the
Caribbean and now are based in Spain. How did each of those places influence you as a DJ and Producer? Well I started Dj’ing at a very young age, in the Dominican Republic I was mainly mixing hip hop and r&b because that was the music we were listening to at the moment. Then when I was around 15 or 16 my sister started spinning Detroit Techno. Her boyfriend at that time was one of the first electronic promoters in the Dominican Republic. He brought acts like Mike Shannon, Misters Barbara and Dj Stryke to the island in the late 90’s. This is when I really got into house and techno and I’ve never really stopped playing it. When I was 18 I moved back to Germany for three years and went crazy buying vinyls. It was very hard to get records in the Dominican Republic at that time. The only thing I was really doing for those three years was going to university and playing records all day. As soon as I graduated from the uni I moved straight to Barcelona to study electronic music production at SAE. At the time there was no one in Germany around where I lived who could teach me to produce. I had been coming to Barcelona a lot and I knew I wanted to live therebecause of great festivals like Sonar and the great beach parties. Barcelona has influenced me more than anything else really. This is the city where my sound has evolved. I have been living here for the last 10 years now.
AK: André, you’ve been to Beirut more than a few
times now and played at a few different spots. What do
you think about the scene? What keeps you coming back?
breaking around twelve bones racing I thought it was about time to concentrate more on the music.
I really love the vibe of the people in Beirut. All the venues I have played at have been really cool, especially The Gärten. To this day I still think about the morning set I played at The Gärten when Creamfields was canceled. The people really wanted to party hard that day and when the sun came up from behind the mountains it was just magical. Beirut is actually one of my favourite places to play at the moment, I just love it.
AK: Tell us about the last dream you can remember?
AK: As a DJ what do you work hard at? What do you feel sets you apart from others?
My mission is always to take people on a journey and not just play track after track. What sets me apart from other Dj’s is hard to say because everyone might have their own vision of music. What I like to do is surprise people and maybe play a track that most other Djs would be scared to play. For example, I can start my set super deep and housy and by the end of the set playing spaced out, banging techno.
AK: Tell us a little about your work with FACT. What makes FACT different than other promoters?
I have been working with FACT for 3 years now and it has been crazy. The brand is expanding really fast and we are doing events all over the planet. I think what makes FACT special is that we do different concepts all the time. We throw the Houseclass party thursdays at CLDC during the summer with the house legends like Kerri Chandler, Danny Tenaglia, Francois K, Kenny Dope, David Morales, Tony Humphries, Marshall Jefferson and on Saturday night we do a techno party at L’Atlantida with people like Miss Kitten, Luciano, Carl Craig and some other acts. FACT is very open and we don’t stick to one style because we love to make both house and techno.
I was running barefoot through the garden really fast, a nail got stuck in my foot and then I woke up.
AK: What’s your flat/house like? My flat is in the Montjuic district of Barcelona. It is very spacious, has high ceilings and my studio, so I love to be at home. My wife loves nature so there are flowers all over the place. I also have have crazy bull terrier named Jack and a three month old daughter which means that there is always something going on.
AK: What do you wish you had more time for? I wish I had more time for the studio. Sometimes it’s not so easy to throw parties, make world wide bookings, Dj and make music all at once.
AK: What’s one thing you would hate to lose and why?
I would hate to lose any of my family members or the joy of music. That would be horrible.
AK: Music is always changing. What new trends do you see emerging? Any predictions or tip offs for the next 6 months?
Music is always evolving, but there are so many styles that it’s hard to say what will be the new trend. I would say that right now most of the producers are making much more trippy and spaced out tracks at the moment. I know it’s been there for some time, but I think there is much more to come .
AK: What's been your biggest regret so far? What I regret the most is that I quite racing professional motocross when I moved to Germany. It really took me a long time to get over, but after
CITY:
Barcelona, Spain
WEBSITE:
soundcloud.com/andre-buljat facebook.com/andrebuljat
ESSENTIAL LISTENING:
Tronic [Time Has Changed Records] 7000 (Andre Buljat remix) [Indigo Raw] Acid Fantastic [Intacto Records] Boston affairs [Wasabi Recordings] I Like It [Bush Records]
06 FEATURED ARTIST
RE.WHO? From clubs in Seoul to The Talking Heads and even some Prince, we sit down with one of Berlin’s hottest exports.
FEATURED ARTIST 07
AK: First off, how did you enjoy your time in Beirut?
How did it measure up to your expectations and things that you have heard?
AK: Electronic music is very dynamic. In what direction do you see the scene moving next? Can you tip off some up and coming artists who you think will making waves in the future?
Let's say I was not disappointed! It was my first time in Beirut and I really like the city. The people I met were great. I hope to stay longer next time. Party wise I had big expectations and it fully lived up to them. The party at the Gärten was nearly perfect. I hope to be back very soon.
The sound is already moving to more technoid and groovy stuff. Let's see, I do what I feel, so I don't care that much. There is always something new, but I don't like to do what everybody else is doing.
AK: You’re now based in Berlin. So many of the
be doing?
leading DJ’s and producers have made the city home. What do you think draws people to Berlin? What makes it special for you? Berlin has so many things to discover and is a great platform for creative people. And of course good food, great nightlife, nice shopping and the best techno clubs in the world.
F
or Berlin based Re.You it’s been one hell of a ride to the top. His release schedule has been relentless, his touring has taken him to the worlds premier clubs and his live show with Rampa has added yet another layer of depth. But behind the mystique is an artist who is always looking forward. We sat down with with the German producer after his massive Beirut debut and had a little chat.
AK: How do you spend an ideal day in your city? At the moment I'm into sports. So I get up, have my breakfast, go to the gym and afterwards to my studio in Berlin’s Mitte district. Then work on some tracks, have a chat with my Mobilee team and a coffee break near my studio. In the evening I really enjoy cooking for friends.
AK:What has had the most influence on your progression as a an artist?
AK:If you weren't involved in music, what would you I guess I would still be in the creative field. Besides producing music, I have worked as a visual director - I was editing, cutting and doing visual effects. I would absolutely love to run my own bistro or restaurant.
AK: If you could only play one more record what would it be and why?
This summer at our Mobilee rooftop party during Sonar, I played this edit by Dimitri from Paris of Prince's track "I wanna be your lover". That's a great last track and of course totally different to my set. Everyone was smiling.
AK:What do you wish you had more time for? I'm super happy right now! Of course I would like to spend my time with my friends and family on the weekends which is one of the downsides of being booked then, but I don't want to complain.
I guess my closest friends. I always ask for advice and try to get better at what I'm doing. It's super important to keep focus of what you want for yourself. Also, the guys from Tiefschwarz and Souvenir really helped me to get where I'm today! Nowadays I get the most feedback from the Mobilee family and my RAR live partner Rampa.
AK:What is one record you absolutely love that most
people wouldn’t expect? What makes it special for you? Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime I don't know why, but it just gives me a feeling of happiness!
CITY:
Berlin, Germany
LABEL:
Mobilee
AK:What is your favourite club in the world and why?
WEBSITE:
I wouldn’t want to name one specific club. There are so many. It also depends on the crowd, on the sound and on the feeling. But actually while thinking about this question, there is one club I totally love and would like to mention, MYSTIK in Seoul. It’s run by great guys who already have a place in my heart! It's a super small and intimate place with perfect sound.
ESSENTIAL LISTENING:
soundcloud.com/reyou facebook.com/re.youmusic Assembly Line [Saved Records] Analogic Law (Re.You remix) [Etruria Beat Records] Anyway [Mobilee] Anyway (RAMPA Remix) [Mobilee] Closer feat. Vonda7 [Souvenir Music]
08 FEATURED ARTIST
NEW YORK’S BEDOUINS Up and coming selectors Bedouin talk about meeting in Mexico, EDM and what they’ve got planned for the future.
FEATURED ARTIST 09
the more music savvy part of the scene then Brooklyn is definitely where it’s all happening right now.
T
he New York duo of Tamer Malki and Rami Deejay might have met in Mexico only a few years ago, but anyone who has met them would assume that they’ve known each other their entire lives. On the decks they compliment each other brilliantly and studio time has payed off with a debut EP on Supernature. But perhaps their biggest triumph in a short career has been filling in for Dixon after he failed to make his recent Beirut debut. The pair absolutely smashed it and we caught up with them to learn a bit more about the rising stars.
AK: How did you guys meet? How did you come to working together?
BEDOUIN:We met in mexico in 2011. We became friends and began sharing music and ideas with each other. We didn’t end up writing Indecision, our first song together, until 2013. From there we got excited and continued to work intensely on our ‘Mirage’ EP.
AK: What's the most antisocial thing a fellow DJ can
do? What or who's been your biggest disappointment?
TAMER: The most antisocial thing a DJ can do is
not think about his or her audience while they’re playing. As a DJ, the biggest lesson we’ve learned is that it’s not about you. It’s about connecting with the party as a whole. That means everyone that is there dancing and everyone that has contributed into making the event happen. As artists in general, we rely on the fact that if we are honest with our audience.
RAMI: The American scene is growing rapidly, but
is still in its infancy. It is just now being introduced to the younger generation and they're listening to Swedish House Mafia and Tiesto. It’s moving in the right direction and I feel it’s taking a natural progression, but it will take some time for them to appreciate music with a bit more complexity or creativity. urselves, vulnerable and even a bit exposed our audience will relate.
AK: What are some upcoming trends that you see? Who do you envision having a big year?
RAMI: I think a trend I’ve been noticing over the
think about the American scene right now? In what direction do you think it’s heading?
past few years is that people are realizing that it’s not just about pressing buttons and making big bass sounds for people on drugs. You should be able to enjoy the music even sober. People like Bob Moses, Rampue, David August and Dixon have really set a nice tone for the music we are releasing. We are really excited to share our next few releases, which I feel will make next year a big one for us. TAMER: I think that it’s becoming more important for people to participate in the more ‘inspired’ types of parties and events. Everything is important; from location, to artist line up, set up and the timing of the party. It’s becoming more of “who’s promoting or organizing this party” as opposed to “which club is it at”. As for what’s going to be big this year, I would say melody. Real, inspired, honest music that makes you move is going to have a huge year. Not loops. Not soulless beats.
TAMER: The scene in general is relatively new and
AK: What have you got planned for the rest of the year?
AK: As a duo, how do you approach gigs? Who brings what to the equation?
BEDOUIN: As a duo we are continuously inspiring
each other with new ideas. We then incorporate these into each gig since we handle every environment differently. What ever we decide to play is always a reaction to the party and its energy, rather than anything premeditated. Our preparation comes from time in the studio and a lifetime of parties.
AK: You guys are based in the States. What do you
mainstream. “EDM” is blowing up here with the young people who are just being introduced to it. It’s being played on the radio so you can’t really overlook that. Its also becoming the main sound of festivals, but at the same time I’m noticing more ‘underground’ names being added to line ups. For example EDC in Vegas have Avicii and such, but then you see Art Department on the same bill. If you want to be more specific and refer to
BEDOUIN: Music wise we have two more EP’s
scheduled for release this year. The first EP will be on Berlin’s Kindisch (Get Physical’s sister label) and the second one is yet to be confirmed. We’re also releasing a free remix that’s really special to us right after Burning Man, so keep your eyes open for that. As for touring and gigs, we just finished our first EU tour which
was absolutely amazing. Every city we played in was very special in its own way. Now we’re gearing up for Burning Man followed by Panama, Zurich and Cityfox in Brooklyn. Besides that there’s much more to come. We’ve got a bunch of new projects and ideas that we’re super excited to start working on.
AK: Tell us about the last dream you can remember? RAMI: I, unfortunately, can only remember my
nightmares. They’re usually my worst fears, like my family or friends being hurt in some way. I’m not sure if something is wrong with me or if others can relate, but I’ve learned to deal. TAMER: I was lost on a small, beautiful island in the middle of nowhere with all the people that I love. Perfect weather, landscape, endless fresh fruits and fish…and of course the best music.
AK: What’s your flat/house like? TAMER: I live in a small, sunny apartment
in Brooklyn. It’s a quiet neighborhood. Perfect to balance out the madness we tend to get ourselves into sometimes. RAMI: My flat is finally a place for me to eat, sleep, and watch mindless episodes of bad HULU TV shows as an escape from my ‘real life’. The studio is a few subway stops away in a Brooklyn basement and is where we spend most of our time.
AK: What do you wish you had more time for? RAMI: I wish I had more time to spend with the love of my life that I’ve just left for our one month tour. TAMER: I try to manage my time as best as I can, but I could always use more time in the studio.
AK: Have you ever been confused with Bedouin Soundclash?
BEDOUIN: Not yet thankfully! We think there’s enough separation in the musical style. It seems our audiences will remain quite different.
CITY:
New York City, USA
LABEL:
Supernature
WEBSITE:
soundcloud.com/bedouinofficial www.facebook.com/ BedouinOfficial
ESSENTIAL LISTENING
Empire State [Supernature] Indecision [Supernature] Into Wilderness [Supernature]
10 FLASHBACKS & REVELATIONS
FLASHBACKS & REVELATIONS A month of the hottest parties for your viewing pleasure
FLASHBACKS & REVELATIONS 11
BPHOTOS018BY CARL HALAL
12 FLASHBACKS & REVELATIONS
CPHOTOSU NXT SAT BY CARL HALAL
FLASHBACKS & REVELATIONS 13
DECKS ON THE BEACH PHOTOS BY ZEINA SHAHIN
14 FLASHBACKS & REVELATIONS
THE GÄRTEN BY ÜBERHAUS PHOTOS BY ADHAM TEMSAH
FLASHBACKS & REVELATIONS 15
WICKERPARK PHOTOS BY CARL HALAL
16 FEATURE
DIGGING DEEP Searching for gems and the story of Beirut’s once thriving wax industry By: Atticus Hoffman
FEATURE 17
M
y friend George and I were digging through the vast mix of junk and gems that is Souq Al Ahd, Beirut’s Sunday flea market. Hovering over a pile of vinyl, George flicked through with a look of anticipation on his face. Excitement quickly turned to disappointment. “My father’s friend told me about a rare vinyl pressing of David Bowie’s Space Oddity. If you ever find one, snatch it up. It Could be worth £1000.” For the next two years that I lived in Beirut, I looked through any dusty piles of records I found in various storefronts throughout the city. I never came across a copy of the record.
My initial understanding of the myth of the “Space Oddity” Vinyl pressed in Lebanon was misled. Although the David Bowie record is a gem, the real mythology comes from the general pressing of records in Lebanon and not the release itself. Before the outbreak of the Civil War, the Societe Libanais du Disque began to press foreign records, buying the rights from the American or European parent companies. Lebanese vinyl pressing began because of the demand created by the tourist boom in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Ernesto Chahoud, a DJ and record collector, described Lebanon in the 1960’s as an international hub of sorts. “Everybody used to come to Beirut, it was a hub for everyone… All the hippies used to come here…all the movie stars used to come here. It was like Coppa Cabana. The currency was good, the weather was good, life is good, they come smoke dope, they come to the beach, they ski, whatever. And for sure they used to go and dance.” The Lebanese nightlife and music scene in the 1960s was not only rich, but also diverse. Istanbul, the only other Middle Eastern city that came close, was easily overshadowed by Beirut. As a tourist hub, people from all over the world would come to Lebanon for holiday. This created an incentive for Lebanese record companies to press vinyl that was not necessarily at the
forefront of popular music, but rather catered to the more niche musical tastes of tourists. David Bowie was an obvious choice for Lebanese daughter companies, as he was an international hit at the time. Along with the popular music of the time, Northern soul, funk, disco and regional music from France was also pressed too. Certain songs, that belonged to whole albums in Europe and America were pressed in Lebanon as singles. Lebanon’s romance with vinyl was short lived. In 1975, the Civil War broke out and the conflict quickly drove the thriving tourism industry into the ground. A few years later vinyl pressing died with it. For fifteen years, the conflict drug on, destroying Beirut’s image as a traveler’s paradise and the fledgling record industry that came with it. Many of the records pressed in Lebanon were destroyed with it. As the fog of war cleared in the 1990’s, and life in Lebanon slowly returned to relative normality, a few blessed crate diggers were left with a gold mine of rare vinyl records. Chahoud reflected on this period saying, “I remember the 90s, I used to go to Souq Al Ahd and dig. I used to find this Eddie Holman B-side, everybody looks for it, called “I surrender”. I used to find six or seven, buy them for like two dollars. They’re worth 1,000 dollars now.” Eddie Holman was one of the famous Northern Soul singers, a variant of Motown born in Northern England and the Midlands, who found popularity among Lebanese music fans. Chahoud also recounted digging through crates in Lebanon and finding blank white label records give to DJs. The only way to find out what they were was to listen to them. Other vinyl collectors caught on to the Lebanese vault of vinyl treasure. Florian Keller, a German DJ who specializes in rare funk and soul records, lists Beirut at the top of his favourite places to dig for records.
Obscure political and manufacturing circumstances created even rarer pieces. In particular, a Johnny Hallyday record called “Jesus Christ”. Hallyday was the French Speaking world’s Elvis Presley. Over the course of his career, eighteen of his albums went platinum and sold more than 100 million copies worldwide. Since French culture heavily influenced Lebanon, Hallyday was an obvious choice for Lebanese vinyl manufacturers. Although French culture was extremely popular in Lebanon, especially amongst the Christian segment of the population, they were not as socially progressive as their European colonizers. Hallyday’s 1970 hit, “Jesus Christ”, offensively depicted Jesus as a vagrant hippie. After being pressed, the Lebanese government pulled the record from the market. Hallyday’s name was misspelled on the few copies that were pressed, adding to the unique obscurity of the record. Recently, a single copy sold on Ebay for close to $1,000. Since the 1990’s, Lebanon’s secret vinyl underground has been largely exposed. Connoisseurs, businessmen and tourists have bought most of the valuable Lebanese pressings. In the Bohemian mecca of Mar Mikhael, an old record store called “Super Out” still sells some vinyl. On first glance, the store looks like a gold mine waiting to be excavated, but only a tiny percent of the store’s inventory is for sale. The old owner is not naïve. More recently, a couple record stores have popped up that still deal in old records, but their inventory is mostly made up of new, foreign music. Walking through Souq Al Ahd, there are still piles of records for sale, but with the increased awareness of the vinyl mythology, true gems are hard to find. This isn’t to say there aren’t treasures still left undiscovered. Dusty attics in mountain houses, grandparent’s storage spaces and small stores off the beaten path may provide a dusty sleeve with a piece of Lebanon’s brief love affair with vinyl records.
18 TUNEAGE
TUNEAGE DAMIAN LAZARUS & THE ANCIENT MOONS
YOTTO
ALL I WANT LOVERS’ EYES (MOHE PI KI NAJARIYA) REMIXES / CYCLE CROSSTOWN REBELS SOSURE MUSIC OCTOBER 6, 2014
3.5/5 The Crosstown Rebels boss repackages his early summer hit ‘Lovers’ Eyes (Mohe Pi Ki Najariya)’ for the latest release on his London label. Dixon and Mando step up on remix duties and the result is two very different sounding mixes. Dixons take on the track features one of the biggest drops that we’ve heard all year. It’s an edit that was made for the dance floor and that is more than evident from the opening sequence. Dixon presses all the right buttons here and, for an artist not exactly known for his own production work, the result is a product better than the original work. Mendo’s version is a stark contrast to the Innervision bossman’s banger. It’s somewhat of a deep roller, but still has that peak time feel. The Swiss/Spanish maestro’s mix does well to hold its own against Dixon and both tracks offer something quite different.
FRANCK ROGER / ALEX ARNOUT
NO FACES EP DECAY RECORDS OCTOBER 26, 2014
OCTOBER 6, 2014
4/5 Yotto aka Otto Yliperttula is a Finnish producer born and raised in Helsinki. In the last few years Otto has released collaborative works as Something Good with Karolus Viitala and has put material out on labels like Nocturnal Groove and System Recordings. On his solo debut Yotto busts out a punchy house record with a gritty bass line that balances the track off nicely. Groove is the key word here, and the Finnish producers use of some clever pads create a nice sense of atmosphere around a rather raw foundation. ‘Cycle Up’ takes the energy levels up a notch by way of some upbeat drum programing. A bit later in the track we get a bit of throwback filter-house and some sporadic bursts of bass. London based producer Dephlex is called in on remix duties. His take on ‘A ll I Want’ is a stripped back version that sees the tempo drop off a bit. Stick with the original.
4/5 Franck Roger & Alex Arnout step up for Decay Records ninth release this October, featuring two remixes from Jordan Peak and Cesar Mereveille. Roger’s ‘Wanderlust’ gets the A-side release and it’s a pretty straight forward house lick with an equally mpressive old-schooleque vocal. Nothing really innovative here, but it is a sound that seems to work effortlessly. Jordan Peak provides a stripped back remix (is that all remixers are doing these days?). It’s a dark and brooding effort that really fails to shine in respect to the original. Arnout’s B-Side ‘Microsociety’ is a bit of a slower take. Some soft pads and an incredibly warm bass line that works quite well with the simplicity of the track. Cesar Merveille, who has most recently worked with Visionquest and Cadenza, looks to make his mark with a quite innovative remix. Arnout’s warm bassline is swapped for a quite raw, rolling bass and some neat drum programing.
TUNEAGE 19
KERB STALLER
FOUR FINGERS BRODANSE THE RIDE EP EP DANSE CLUB LEFTROOM OCTOBER 13, 2014 (VINYL) OCTOBER 27, 2014 (DIGITAL)
4/5 Kerb Staller aka Matt Tolfrey and Jozif are set drop their new EP as Leftroom’s milestone 50th release. Four Fingers is the first bit of music to see the light from the budding partnership. The pair are currently working on an album and plan to tour together as a live act in 2015. ‘Safety Instructions’ kicks things off in style, employing the classic amen break, a 303 bass like and even some guitar licks. It’s a squelchy, acid house number that works pretty damn well. Jerome Sydenham steps up for the remix and the result is...yes, you guessed it: a stripped down, raw interpretation. No more words really needed. ‘Siren Song’ is on the flipside and is more of a gauge of what to expect from their live show/album. It comes complete with an original vocal, stuttering bass line and a clavia syth lick. Although maybe not traditional dance floor material, it’s a very nice composition.
WAIFS & STRAYS
SEPTEMBER 19TH, 2014
KEEP PUSHING EP RESONANCE RECORDS
5/5 I first heard ‘Nobody Walks’, the EP’s lead track, on the rooftop of The Standard in LA when Detroit Swindle dropped it for a huge response. Besides the repeating vocal “nobody walks in LA”, the track went off because of just how well it fit into the set. The Danse Club founders have produced a record that sounds like it could have been released 20 years ago. And I mean that in the best way possible. The record is free from trendy gimmicks and the result is a timeless feel. ‘In The House’ begins with some rippling drum programing before the stabs come in to lift the track to greatness. It’s the kind of track that transports you to some far off rave when you close your eyes and when it’s over you just want more of it. ‘Reactive’, the records final track, revolves around a rolling bassline and some smashing hi hats. It’s a fitting end to one of the best releases of 2014. Don’t sleep on it.
4/5 Often prowling through ones promo inbox can feel a bit like wandering around in the dark looking for the light switch. In the rare event that you do receive something hot off the press from an artist that you’re really into, you jump on that shit. This is one of those cases. The Bristol duo may have broken onto the scene only a few years ago, but as individual they have a long pedigree in the scene. Keep Pushing is another excellent entree into the duo’s growing catalogue. While when the duo broke out in 2011 they much represented a new indemand sound, electronic music has since shifted away from a more bass heavy sound and into far more techy territory. Waifs & Strays do an excellent job of ignoring this and crafting three tracks that seem to be a natural progression from their earlier material. The record delivers four straight up house tracks, each with their own quirks and tricks. Buy it, play it and repeat.
SEPTEMBER 22, 2014
20 FEATURE
EXORCISMS HAPPEN And they happen more than you think. From 16 year olds in Iraq to the mentally ill in Lebanon, AK takes a looks at the horrifying phenomenon. By Adrian Hartrick
FEATURE 21
W
hen I was 16 years old my family thought I was possessed by an evil demon because I was constantly getting in fights, I was aggressive, and I was in a band that played heavy metal music, which was literally considered the devil’s music in Iraq,” explained 30-year-old Baghdad native Waleed Nesiyf. “Out of despair and concern, my family convinced me to see an exorcist as a way to 'cure' once and for all my anger problem."
The 72nd chapter of the Qur'an entitled al-Jinn is often used by Exorcists in the Arab World
"When I was 16 years old my family thought I was possessed by an evil demon because I was constantly getting in fights, I was aggressive, and I was in a band that played heavy metal music, which was literally considered the devil’s music in Iraq,” explained 30-year-old Baghdad native Waleed Nesiyf. “Out of despair and concern, my family convinced me to see an exorcist as a way to 'cure' once and for all my anger problem."
exorcist would smack him on the head and hold him down on the floor and yell at him and demand that the evil spirit come out. In between beatings, the exorcist would incorrectly recite verses from the Quran, demonstrating that he was not an actual Imam. With each hit, the patient would yell in satisfaction and tell the exorcist to hit him harder. The patient seemed to enjoy it and it was almost like some sort of sad S&M ritual.”
"I agreed to go, but when my uncles arrived to take me to the exorcism they, without warning, manhandled me, tied me to a chair with ropes and chains, and placed me in the back of a pickup truck.”
Mohammad’s account shares many parallels with what Waleed experienced in Baghdad. Like Mohammad, Waleed described a kind of unspoken game going on between exorcist and patient.
Waleed’s acquiescence to his parent's request suddenly found him in a terrifying situation he could not control. He had agreed to the treatment without understanding how violent the exorcism was going to be.
“I realized after a while of being beaten and suffocated that the whole thing was a game,” described Waleed. “The more I yelled out of pure agony, the more justification Nai’my would have to keep beating me. He would just go harder and harder and keep yelling, ‘Demon come out! Demon, tell me your name!’ It was at this point that I decided to test Nai’my by making up a completely random gibberish name and answer him with it. When I did he said, ‘Aha! This is the demon I thought it was!’ From there on out, I basically played along with him so that it could appear to my family that the ‘demon’ was being exorcised and therefore the exorcism could end sooner.”
“My family drove me across Baghdad to the house of a self-declared holy man named Sheikh Ismail Na'imy. When we arrived, Na'imy, a big burly man who probably weighed 100 kg, was standing in front of his house in a dishdash observing me as my family carried me, screaming and yelling off the truck. Because cursing one’s family and elders is one of the worst possible things you could do in Iraqi culture, as a teenager I cursed in English a lot—I could get away with it without too many people understanding. This scenario was no different and as they dragged me out of the truck I cursed N’aimy and my family in English in an almost impulsive way." on behalf of both the exorcists and the patients,” declared Mohammad. “There was one case in particular that I will always remember in which the patient encouraged the exorcist to hit him harder and harder. Basically, the
Sheikh Nai’my, explained Waleed, hailed from a family of famous religious leaders in Baghdad. However, the Sheikh himself did not hold any formal theological education and, according to Waleed, simply exploited his family name to further his exorcism venture.
SOCIAL OUTLET Although, exorcisms are tied to deeply entrenched superstitions and religious beliefs, they are also a product of poverty, despair, and social stigmas. In societies where hope and opportunity run thin, and
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Socio-economic conditions are a major factor in the popularity of exorcisms
where things like mental illness and/or psychological trauma remain unaddressed and untreated, exorcisms are used as a supplementary remedy and outlet for seemingly unsolvable problems. Additionally, in socially conservative parts of Iraq and Lebanon, blaming one’s emotional outbursts and socially deviant behavior on an evil spirit, rather than a mental illness or problem in society, is less embarrassing and allows families and patients to save face. “There were three different conclusions I had about what was happening in the fraudulent exorcisms I was witnessing,” Mohammad explained. “One was that the patient was simply mentally ill and hallucinating. The second was that they [the patient] wanted to blame their misbehavior or failures in life on a supernatural being rather than themselves. In doing so they come believe their own lie, even if they are not particularly religious…..The third is what I call the ‘residue of belief ’, in which people who already believe in the supernatural find it easier and more socially acceptable to visit an exorcist rather than a psychiatrist.
Basically, people don’t want to be labeled as ‘crazy’.” Waleed’s experience also led him to similar conclusions about the popularity of exorcisms in his society. “I can say that 99% of the cases that are alleged to have any sort of possession in them are nothing but psychological disorders that society does not want to acknowledge and instead get attributed to the supernatural world.” For Waleed, the desperate conditions of life in Iraq also play a major role in the popularity of exorcisms. “You have to understand that in Iraq we experienced pressures on our daily lives that the average human does not have to deal with. Since the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq went from being a wealthy, oil-producing country to being a war torn economically isolated country in which things as simple as sugar were scarce. We had no outlets. People were broken and had nowhere to turn. I witnessed throughout my late childhood and teenage years how people turned to religion to solve the deep troubles they were facing. Mental illness, trauma, and hopelessness were and are rampant and are the result of the conditions of the country. Furthermore, there is
no proper infrastructure to cope with these problems. This is why people turned to things like exorcisms; people are desperate.”
THE THIN LINE OF REALITY While socio-economic conditions are a major factor in the popularity of exorcisms, there is a religious element to the phenomenon. Mohammad, who was raised in a secular, non-religious family, yet now considers himself deeply religious, says he witnessed an event that he could only attribute to the supernatural. “I am a very skeptical person when it comes to religion,” explained Mohammad. “I believe that most things have answers in science and it took me a long time to reach the point of being religious. However, I found that there were a select few things in life that science could not answer and this is where I began seeing religion as a source of answers.” Of all of the exorcism-like rituals Mohammad had witnessed, only two struck him as real. These two were
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Although Exorcisms have been around for thousands of years, they have declined steadily since the 18th century. Recent times have seen a rise as high as 50% in some regions.
conducted by sheikhs who were known to usually turn away people requesting exorcisms and redirect them to psychologists and psychiatrists. These sheikhs were also well studied theologians and refused to accept money for their deeds. One evening, a distressed neighbor of Mohammad’sturned up at his door in a frenzy, yelling and screaming at an invisible someone to get away from her. Mohammad and his family assumed that she was having a psychological episode and called the paramedics. When the paramedics arrived she became more agitated and started getting violent. “The paramedics tried to physically subdue her, but the four of them were not strong enough to hold her down. She managed to send one of the male paramedics flying across the corridor,” Mohammad recalled. According to Mohammad, bruises began appearing on her arms and her voice was incredibly aggressive and disturbing. When the paramedics could not manage to subdue the girl, a Syrian sheikh known to the family was
called in. It was only after the sheikh arrived and had performed exorcism rituals, which included drinking holy water and holding the woman to the floor while reciting Quranic verses, did they manage to subdue the woman. When she came to 15 minutes later, she had no recollection of the events. “Basically, I witnessed something that I could not find an explanation for outside of the supernatural world,” insisted Mohammad. Waleed remains a bigger skeptic, but he does understand how some events can be interpreted by some as only being explained by the supernatural. “To people’s defense, there are things that happen which defy physical norms,” discussed Waleed. “For example, when I was in a confrontation with my uncle one day, I freaked out and began destroying his office. I took a couch, lifted it over my head and threw it about 5 meters. Now, I was a skinny kid, so to the eyes of my uncle it looked as if I had some supernatural help. In reality, I was just enjoying a massive adrenaline rush as a result of my uncontrollable anger.”
BEYOND THE SUPERNATURAL Whether real or not, exorcisms in parts of the Arab world have added social, psychological, and even economic elements to them, which give them significance beyond the world of the staunchly religious. They are a phenomenon born more of tangible realities than vague notions of spirituality. “The saddest thing about it for me,” explained Waleed, “is that it [exorcism] is all done out of love. My family forced me to undergo the exorcisms as a desperate, last ditch attempt to save their beloved son who was acting out in ways they simply didn’t understand. At the same time, the exorcist was performing the ritual because it is the only way he can make a decent living to support his own children, who he would do anything for. Everyone is partaking in the whole thing because they will stop at nothing to help their loved ones.”
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THE METROPOLIS(T) SAINT LAURENT BY BERTRAND BONELLO (OPENING FILM)
I
t is a fact that nothing makes you both better looking and more intelligent than an extensive knowledge of arthouse cinema. Nothing. So with the collective sex lives of our entire readership in mind, we’ve partnered up with the good people at Metropolis to help increase your right swipe rate on Tinder. Each month you will find a selection of films that you can watch on the big screen and then casually drop into conversation to make people think you are really, really cultured. You’re welcome.
(Official Selection, Festival de Cannes 2014) Starring Gaspard Ulliel, Jérémie Renier, Louis Garrel and Léa Seydoux, Bertrand Bonello’s film premiered at the last Cannes Film Festival in May 2014. The film follows super famous fashion dude Yves Saint Laurent's life from 1967 to 1976. We rate it because we love biopics, it taught us how to finally pronounce the dudes name and we like seeing bad shit happen to rich famous people. It doesn’t count as a spoiler if it’s a factual event right?
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STILL THE WATER BY NAOMI KAWASE (Official Selection, Festival de Cannes 2014) Naomi Kawase’s latest film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival 2014. The movie takes place on a Japanese subtropical island. Prior to watching this film, we had no idea that that was even a thing. There is also a full-moon dance party, a dead body and a whole lot of “discovery”. It’s a film about life, death and love. All those things are pretty important. Go watch the damn movie now.
(Un Certain Regard, Festival de Cannes 2014) Alright try to keep up. Dany is 16 and lives in Crete. His mum dies and so he heads to Athens to link up with his older brother Odysseas. Now the dead mum is Albanian and their dad is Greek, but they’ve never even met the dude. The two brothers decide it’s time to meet dad and they out to Thessaloniki to find him. Along the way there’s some casual Greek racism and a really big singing contest. Think Slumdog Millionaire meets Stand By Me and then the two of them go on holiday in Greece. Watch it.
XENIA BY PANOS H. KOUTRAS
From October 12th to the 19th, Metropolis is teaming up with ARTE, with support of the French Institute in Lebanon, to put on the 6th edition of the ARTE Film week. The festival consists of a collection of top notch films that have been co-produced by the European channel. Screenings start at 8PM every evening and, obviously, take place at Metropolis. We’ve picked three of our favourites and everything else you need to know is somewhere on the internet (I’d try www. metropoliscinema.net to start with).
SUNDAY 12 OCT 2014
SAINT LAURENT (Bertrand Bonello)
MONDAY 12 OCT 2014
L’ENLEVEMENT DE MICHEL HOUELLEBECQ (Guillaume Nicloux)
TUESDAY 14 OCT 2014
MELAZA (Carlos Lechuga)
WEDNESDAY 15 OCT 2014
BANDE DE FILLES (Céline Sciamma)
THURSDAY 16 OCT 2014
XENIA (Panos H. Koutras)
FRIDAY 17 OCT 2014
LA RUEE VERS L’ART (Marianne Lamour)
SATURDAY 18 OCT 2014
JAUJA (Lisandro Alonso)
SUNDAY 19 OCT 2014
STILL THE WATER (Naomi Kawase)
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MEDITATIONS OF MULATU The pioneer of Ethio jazz, Ethiopian composer and musician Mulatu Astatke lives up to his legacy By Natalie Shooter Original photos by Roland Ragi
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A
s the father of Ethio jazz and master vibraphonist, Mulatu Astatke’s legacy stretches back to the mid ‘60s, when after graduating from the legendary Berklee College of Music he started experimenting with a new style of Latin jazz with his Ethiopian Quintet, fusing traditional Ethiopian music elements with American jazz. Though he’s released scores of albums throughout his career, a late ‘90s revival with the release of Buda Musique’s “Éthiopiques” compilation series – one of which is dedicated to the work of Astatke – helped him to reach new audiences. In 2005, the release of Jim Jarmusch’s feature film “Broken Flowers” – with a soundtrack punctuated with the sultry melodies of Astatke – helped him connect to a wider audience still. Now at 71, Astatke shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. The musician’s appearance in Lebanon at the beginning of August, as part of the Byblos International Festival, was just part of a seemingly never-ending tour as he continues to share the style that created his legacy.
As the father of Ethio jazz and master vibraphonist, Mulatu Astatke’s legacy stretches back to the mid ‘60s, when after graduating from the legendary Berklee College of Music he started experimenting with a new style of Latin jazz with his Ethiopian Quintet, fusing traditional Ethiopian music elements with American jazz. Though he’s released scores of albums throughout his career, a late ‘90s revival with the release of Buda Musique’s “Éthiopiques” compilation series – one of which is dedicated to the work of Astatke – helped him to reach new audiences. In 2005, the release of Jim Jarmusch’s feature film “Broken Flowers” – with a soundtrack punctuated with the sultry melodies of Astatke – helped him connect to a wider audience still. Now at 71, Astatke shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. The musician’s appearance in Lebanon at the beginning of August, as part of the Byblos International Festival, was just part of a seemingly never-ending tour as he continues to share the style that created his legacy.
compositions are elegant, subtle and at times marked by a deep melancholy. With an open-air stage set on Byblos port that overhangs the sea, the balmy evening with a gentle breeze and part-clouded moon seems almost part of the stage set. To a packed out audience, Astatke plays alongside his band, gliding through some of his most well known tracks, such as “Yèkèrmo Sèw” – a brass-driven slow-builder and the funk-touched “Yègellé Tezeta,” sampled on Nas & Damian Marley’s 2010 single “As We Enter,” that opens with a groove-filled Hammond organ solo and shuffling drum beat, before circling saxophone melodies takeover. Astatke’s compositions are sophisticated and subtle; they snake along with rhythms winding back and forth teasingly, building into gentle crescendos until the chorus melody hooks back in and stretches endlessly on. His vibraphone solos have strength in their fragility; the haunting shadow-forming vibrations are the breathing space between, like words left hanging in the air.
The combination of the pentatonic scales of traditional Ethiopian music with the 12 of American jazz that Astatke first explored back in Berklee continues to ground his melodies. Live, his
Astatke himself has that same understated elegance as his music. He’s assured, but humble. He lays back into the sofa, dressed all in white and speaks with a whisper, his words snaking along with their own
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melody. Astatke began life a million miles from where he is now, studying aeronautical engineering at Lindisfarne College in Wales in the ‘50s. Though he’d always had a love of music it was only while studying in the UK his eyes were opened to other possibilities. “The problem with developing countries is that music, theatre and the arts are not compulsory like subjects such as physics, chemistry and maths in school,” he says. “That musical education is not there. Imagine all the great musical talents that are lost.” After discovering his own musical talent he went on to study classical music in London’s Trinity College, before being accepted at Berklee in Boston. Beyond laying the groundwork for what was to become Ethio jazz, Astatke was also a pioneer of another sort, as the
first African to study at Berklee in the late ‘50s, for which he received an honorary doctorate in 2012. For him, developing Ethiopian music was a way to highlight its unacknowledged influence on the world’s music. “I always felt like Africa had contributed so much to the development of modern music and yet there was nothing about Ethiopia, so I decided to make research and develop the music,” he says.
certain freedom that blossomed a rich musical output before the harsh regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam. Artists such as Muluqen Mellesse, Tèshomé Meteku and Mahmoud Ahmed, who Astatke played alongside in the ‘70s, gained popularity with sounds rooted in funk-infused Latin-jazz. There’s something intensely emotional about the desperately fast-paced melodies and all-engulfing soulful vocals of this era.
When he first brought Ethio jazz back to his home country in the late ‘60s, Astatke notes it wasn’t immediately taken to – “When you’re doing something new, it’s always a problem,” he says. It’s the late ‘60s and early ‘70s though, that is considered by many as the golden age of Ethiopian music, the period under the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie had a
Astatke though, is one of the few Ethiopian musicians around in this period that now has a globally exportable name. He’s also unique in his ongoing influence on contemporary Ethiopian music. Astatke established The African Jazz Village in Addis Ababa, a music school with a program on Ethio jazz. It’s helped to train a younger generation of Ethiopian musicians
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in jazz and continues to contribute to developing the country’s musical output. For artists who have created their own legacy and achieved icon-like status, sometimes their past success can become a burden, with the weight of expectation lying on their previous output and on maintaining originality. Though Astatke could happily sit back and ride his past success, he remains dedicated to pushing Ethio jazz forward and finding new outlets for the country’s musical development. At 71, he continues to compose new material, releasing “Sketches of Ethiopia” at the end of 2013, an album that gets closer to the roots of traditional Ethiopian music. He also keeps connected to the younger African generation, the song “Surma“ on the same album features Malian
singer, Fatoumata Diawara. “Malian music is a little bit similar to ours and I wanted to make a program of East meeting the West of Africa,” he says. “I really want African musicians to be united, work together and develop together,” he says. Astatke’s also long been dedicated to opening up the possibilities of traditional Ethiopian music through its instruments. In 2007, he received a Harvard fellowship to develop traditional instruments such as the krar, on which he added strings to open up its compositional potential. “The people who play that instrument are called the Azmaris. [They] never had the chance to play more than five notes. With this Krar they manage to play many more,” Astatke explains. “Now instead of young musicians going to play guitar
they can go to the krar and still have the opportunity to do what they want to do.” Astatke though, is certainly no purist. Where Éthiopiques producer Francis Falceto openly criticized contemporary Ethiopian music for leaving behind traditional Ethiopian instruments in favour of one-man bands using synthesizers, Astatke doesn’t believe the electronic shift necessarily brings a negative impact on the contemporary scene. “If you are a musician you should be left alone to be free to do whatever you want to do. If you want to do electronic or acoustic you can do it. You shouldn’t [limit] the artist,” he says. “Then maybe they can come up with something new, like what I did with Ethio jazz.”
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WE ONLY STARTED THE MAGAZINE TO THROW THE PARTY Song & dance courtesy of: Etyen (Live) Jade (C U NXT SAT) Maxi Storrs (KATERBLAU/BAR 25, DE) Stimming (Dynamic) Technophile (Überhaus) B2B 3LIAS (Stamina - B018) YSF (Decks on The Beach) Zahed Sultan (Live) The Gärten by Überhaus Biel - Beirut - Lebanon Oct.11.2014 Doors open at 7pm, festivities kick off with the Middle East debut screening of Muscle Shoals at 8pm sharp.