Chronomad - Chronomad ep

A rather lovely 4 track ep from 2003 on the Alien Transistor label. These are 4 tracks with a sombre beauty, driven along by tuned ethnic percussion which keeps a driving rhythm, but also manages to be intricate and intriguing. The ep was co-produced with Markus and Micha Acher from The Notwist by Saam Schlamminger, a Turkish born student of eastern music. This accounts for the excellent complex rhythms, and the understated, moody use of melody. The second track 'Sabs' is a brilliant combination of twisting percussion loops and the half-obscured sounds of a dusky bazaar - a use of ethnic music samples that could not possibly be further from cheese. Shady strings surge and retreat as a rhythm is picked out on an Oud-sounding instrument. Although the native drums are played, they are also manipulated with some chopping and timestretching, and although the tunes elicit a kind of sweetly doleful ambience, this is good head-nodding gear.

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