Hussein Mahmood Jeeb Tehar Gass & Re-mixs Vol 3.

The following is a that appeared in Earpollution.

Regularly Soleilmoon and Staalplaat - the two labels who have undertaken the task of keeping us abreast of the Muslimgauze output - will release an unlimited edition of the Muslimgauze oeuvre. (Most of the limited releases span all types of media and are usually run less than a 1000 copies.) The good news: Hussein is one of the unlimited releases. The bad: Re-mixs Vol 3. is not. The Re-mixs [sic] series is somewhat of a misnomer in that Muslimgauze is constantly remixing Muslimgauze, borrowing/stealing/repeating elements from earlier works, but Re-mixs Vol 3. is evidently drawn specifically from Hussein and is a perfect companion for that album. They make an elegant set, Hussein being heavily structured around beats and distorted voices and Re-mixs Vol 3. with more foreground ambience - drift and noise which buries the particulars of Hussein underneath, allowing them life as echoes and distant memories like rain and wind on a canvas tent. Hussein opens with "Bilechik Mule," a song so evocatively Muslimgauze (believe me, you know after awhile) and yet so different. The heavily treated voice is almost unrecognizable as voice croons as it weaves its way through the persistent pulse of liquid rhythms. It's a siren call that breaks new ground while seeming to be an old friend at the same time, achieving a sense of timeless immediacy with its historical resonance. The album closes with "Uzi Mahmood 12," one of a series that had partial release last year with the Uzi Mahmood EP and this track sums up this series as well - tight beats stretched around the rhetoric of a strong male voice. Muslimgauze has an uncanny talent in capturing the unconscious cadence of a voice with the careful placement of his accompanying beats.

Muslimgauze's music is based around patterns, voices, and rhythms of the Middle East. These elements are either woven into landscapes of sharp, heavy beats and spasms of static or are torn apart and stripped to their very essence before being put down as the barest whisper of melody and ambience. Each release, so quick on the heels of the last, is a continuing examination of Bryn Jones' fascination with the rich music of a tumultuous region, a progressive litany that continues to innovate and surprise. Hussein Mahmood Jeeb Tehar Gass is a bold stroke, marred only by the unfortunate poignancy of its release date being only a week after Bryn Jones' death. It throbs with life, pointing Muslimgauze in a new direction that will remain an open-ended unfinished journey. Re-mixs Vol 3. is an equally appropriate epitaph - the new remixed beneath a layer of the old. The matched bookends of ecstatic release and pensive grief, Muslimgauze-style.

review by Mark Teppo
This text originally appeared in Earpollution e-zine March, 1999.

see also Azure Deux, Hussein Mahmood Jeeb Tehar Gass, Remixs Vol. 2, Re-mixs Vol 3., & Return To The City Of Djinn, Hussein Jeeb Tehar Gass & Re-mixs Vol 3.

Click back to go to Press Releases/Reviews Index or one of the links below for an individual release page.
Hussein Mahmood Jeeb Tehar Gass Hussein Mahmood Jeeb Tehar Gass (vinyl re-issue) Re-mixs Vol 3.

January 10, 2017