Album Review: Celt Islam - Acidanarchist (2021)

Sometimes when you follow an artist’s work closely for a decade or so, there is often a tendency to notice a subtle - or not so subtle - softening of that artist’s original sound. It might be due to compromises made on account of some sort of commercial breakthrough (often termed “selling out”), adapting to more recent musical trends, a change of environment, or simply a natural mellowing that comes with the irreversible passage of time. 

On Celt Islam’s latest release, Acidanarchist, the opposite applies. If anything, the UK-based electro dub maestro keeps ramping things up a notch (or seven) on each and every release – and there’s been a few releases. Celt Islam’s vibe just seems to get heavier and more hardcore each time out.

The Baghdad release (here) of some ten years ago was the album that first drew me into Celt Islam’s artistic vision. It was the perfect fusion of east meets west, an album which connected so many diverse global musical strands, and it appealed as a borderless, meditative blueprint for a better world. A couple of years later, as the Analogue Fakir, he released an IDM-geared album called Worlds We Know (here), which I absolutely loved, but with the benefit of hindsight, I can now view these early works through a slightly different lens … he was just getting started, still at the simmering stage, and slowly but steadily, over the course of the past decade, as world events descend into an almost farcical state, a cesspit of fakery, false information, and twisted narratives, Celt Islam has reached boiling point. Which is where we find him on Acidanarchist. 

As a Sufi Muslim based in Northern England, as a political activist and social justice campaigner, it is impossible for Celt Islam to separate his art from the environment or political climate in which it is made. That goes without saying. When forwarding the pre-release copy he noted … “this is a manifestation of our times, and where dance music needs to be, instead of the same carbon copy of everything boring, no depth, no meaning, void of any form of spirituality or real consciousness” … 

Or, anger is an energy, as someone else once claimed. Etc. And so we get drenched in a relentless high-bpm form of electronic punk (minimal vocal, often buried deeper in the mix), with track titles like ‘Vendetta’, ‘System Reset’, and ‘Resurgence’, progressively building in tempo to a reach a distinct DnB-style climax on closing tracks ‘Dominator’, and the majestic ‘Hikam’. 

And yet, for all of that forward pulsating electro momentum, my own favourite cut (of 13) is perhaps the most mellow of all, without being mellow at all … the Mark Iration collab, ‘Born As An African’ (“sufferer”), which for some reason taps into my love of On-U Sound/dub, and its bouncy swaggering skank would be absolutely begging for an Adrian Sherwood makeover if it wasn’t already near perfect in its current form. 

Other collaborators on Acidanarchist include Shahin Badar, who, amongst other things, is well known for her vocal work with The Prodigy (‘Smack’), Aki Nawaz (Fun-Da-Mental), and of course, regular and longtime Celt Islam collaborator Inder Goldfinger (percussionist extraordinaire, producer, TransGlobal Underground, far too many others to list). 

Acidanarchist will be released on 24 May, and can be found on the Earth City Recordz Bandcamp page (here).

Album Reviews: Celt Islam - Sufi Dub (2017) / I Am Electronic (2017)

Celt Islam is an extraordinary artist. I’ve been following his work closely ever since being blown away by an album called Baghdad, which was released online back in 2012. His music fuses together a range of different genres and influences, and he’s been fairly prolific over the past decade, releasing music under a number of different guises, across multiple platforms, not the least of which is his own Earth City Recordz label. During the same period, he’s also managed to establish a reputation as a compelling live/soundsystem act at Festivals and shows across the UK and Europe.

Thus far in 2017 we've had a couple of albums from Celt Islam, each one showcasing a specific strand or sub genre within the artist's wider musical repertoire. The first was a compilation album of older stuff, called Sufi Dub, which released back in February. More recently, last month, a collection of new material called I Am Electronic (or I Am Electronik, depending on where you look) surfaced on the Urban Sedated imprint. I thought I’d offer a few words on each release …

Sufi Dub

Sufi Dub is exactly as the title suggests it might be. 15 tracks of hybrid world music/dub/reggae crossover fare, full of skanky FX-laden drops and spaced-out atmospheric sticky goodness. It’s been a long time in the making, and the album showcases a quality pick and mix selection from a variety of past releases, including material from albums, EPs, and one-off releases. A sort of “best of”, if you like. Sufi Dub features a number of collaborative tracks, including a couple with like-minded regular co-conspirators such as Inder Goldfinger (on ‘Earth City Rockers’) and the Renegade Sufi (on ‘Fakir’ and ‘Mevlana’). As a fan, I’m very familiar with a lot of it, and tracks such ‘Light Within Me’, ‘Lantern of the Path’, ‘Irfan’, and ‘Freedom’ have become firm favourites and wider playlist highlights on my pod. I really love this blend, almost as much as I love the Baghdad release, which is remarkable given that it’s been pooled together from a wide range of original source material. I can thoroughly recommend the hugely inclusive holistic energy of Sufi Dub as a wicked starting point if you’re looking for an introduction to the music of Celt Islam.

Go here to pick up a copy of Sufi Dub from the Earth City Recordz Bandcamp page.

I Am Electronic

The second, more recent release, I suspect, is rather more niche and will perhaps be a little less accessible in terms of the mainstream. If that’s even a consideration, because this is unrepentant hard-edged industrial-strength electro/IDM of the highest calibre, and the overwhelming sense is that these tracks have been pieced together without any regard for compromise whatsoever. If Sufi Dub is the work of a man seeking universal acceptance or appeal, which it may or may not be, because I think his musical philosophy extends far beyond such simplistic analysis, then I Am Electronic sets its stall out in an entirely different stratosphere altogether … one where the listener is confronted by a much more frightening vision of the planet we live on. And just quietly, it probably presents a far more accurate assessment of where the world is at in 2017. Seldom can music without any form of what might be called “orthodox vocals” or lyrics, portray so much. On one hand, this work is reminiscent of a superb album called Worlds We Know, which was released by Celt Islam under the guise of The Analogue Fakir a few years back, in that it combines traditional (world music) instrumentation with much newer technologies, yet on the other hand, I Am Electronic takes things to a whole new level entirely. I’m not keen to single out favourite tracks, but if pushed, highlights here include ‘The Invisible Man’ and ‘Electro Dervish’.

Go here to pick up a copy of I Am Electronic from the Urban Sedated Bandcamp page.

Here’s ‘Lantern of the Path’ from Sufi Dub:

 

 

Album Review: Celt Islam - Murshid (2015)

Murshid (Arabic: مرشد‎) is Arabic for "guide" or "teacher", derived from the root r-sh-d, with the basic meaning of having integrity, being sensible, mature. Particularly in Sufism it refers to a Spiritual Guide.

Murshid is also title of the latest album/EP release from prolific Sufi dub specialist Celt Islam, featuring nine tracks across 50-odd minutes, and once again it's a masterclass in fusing Eastern/World elements with state-of-the-art psy-dub and trippy electro vibes.

Some of this stuff has appeared - in one form or another - on earlier releases but highlights here include the drum and bass/jungle flavours of 'The Blessed Gathering', and the re-tread 'This Is A Sign' which features a Danman vocal over what was 'Sinking Sand Dub' off the Irfan EP from earlier this year. There’s also an Analogue Fakir remix of ‘Dervish’ featuring regular collaborator Inder Goldfinger. All great stuff.

But don't take my word for it, check it out on the Earth City Recordz Bandcamp page.

Earth City Rockers ...

I need to draw your attention to a couple of new releases on the Earth City Recordz imprint.  

The first is a mini-album called Freeze, which comes from Sufi dub specialist Celt Islam. It features six older but previously unreleased electro B-Boy-styled tracks, all of which go some way to documenting the musical journey traversed by this remarkable artist over the course of the past decade. As such, Freeze represents something quite different from past Celt Islam releases, and I think that probably makes this release even more essential for fans. However, if you’re a complete newbie to the music of Celt Islam – and no regular everythingsgonegreen reader should be (assuming I still have my regular reader) – then Freeze itself might not be the best place to start due to the fact that it’s relatively raw and experimental. It works best as an archive document, something that amply demonstrates a starting point and the path taken to get to the level he operates at nowadays. I couldn’t help but notice a comment on social media from the humble artist himself (speaking about the title track on the new release): “here is something I did many moons ago … I am not the world’s best turntablist but hey I give it a good go.”

You can pick up a copy of Freeze from the Earth City Recordz bandcamp page (click here).

Celt Islam is of course Manchester-based Muhammad Abdullah Hamzah, and one of his other musical projects is the Psy-dub/electronic venturing Analogue Fakir, which also has a brand new mini-album (seven tracks) available on Earth City Recordz (click here) called Liquid Dunya. Some of this stuff really does defy labelling, so I’ll defer to Earth City’s own description of what’s on offer … “a fusion of western and middle eastern influences combined with a futurist Islamic dub attitude … open the doors of your mind to Electro Sufism.”

I think that might just about cover it.

Album Review: Celt Islam - Irfan EP (2015)

It seems perfectly fitting that my first new music purchase of the year comes from regular everythingsgonegreen perennial Celt Islam. It comes in the form of the six-track Irfan EP, and the release is available on the Earth City Recordz bandcamp page (get it here).

Celt Islam’s latest offering is yet another gem, and it features collaborations with the Renegade Sufi (aka Dawoud Kringle, on the excellent title track and opener) and the much travelled Danman (on ‘In This World’).

Across the six tracks we get snippets of all of the regular “Sufi dub” reference points we’ve come to expect from Celt Islam’s past work; eastern and African elements, psy-dub, and harder to categorise EDM-based stuff. As per usual, the quality control factor is set appropriately high, and this is yet another “no skip” release from this prolific hard-working artist.

If you haven’t checked out Celt Islam’s work before, this is an ideal starting point. Look out too for releases from The Analogue Fakir and Nine Invisibles.

And here's something from the pages of Wiki:

In Islam, ‘Irfān (Arabic/Persian/Urdu: عرفان; Turkish: İrfan), also spelt Irfaan and Erfan, literally ‘knowing, awareness’, is gnosis; however, it also refers to Islamic mysticism. Those with the name are sometimes referred to as having an insight into the unseen. Irfan is also a Muslim given name, usually for males.

The Festive Dozen 2014: The Analogue Fakir - The Forms

The music of Muhammad Hamzah (aka Celt Islam, the Analogue Fakir, Nine Invisibles) has been highlighted a fair few times already on everythingsgonegreen. While it would probably be pushing it to suggest that the genre of Sufi dub wouldn’t exist without him, Hamzah is surely the current master of its form. 2014 was another busy year for the man in question with several new Celt Islam releases, including an album called Generation Bass.

However it was while wearing his Analogue Fakir moniker back in 2013 that he released an album called Worlds We Know, a barely noticed electronic/psydub gem, which eventually made its way to my pod late last year. That meant it was prime listening material for me throughout the early part of 2014, pretty much providing the roadtrip soundtrack to most of last summer. Here’s ‘The Forms’ … 

 

 

 

 

Album Review: Celt Islam - Generation Bass (2014)

This is the first of two recent Earth City Recordz* label releases the blog currently has queued up for review. The other release is another instalment in the label's Future Sound of the Underground sampler series – Volume 4 – and I hope to get back to that one soon. But this one takes pride of place and is yet another cutting edge work from the label's main man, Sufi electro/dub specialist Muhammad Hamzah (aka Celt Islam).

Earlier in the year I took a look at Celt Islam's seriously good Medina EP, but Generation Bass represents something entirely different. Not only in terms of the album being rather more expansive than the EP format – featuring twelve frenetic tracks – but because it also appears to represent a move toward a much harder edge style.

Where much of Celt Islam's past work has merged electro textures with dub and softer world music signatures, Generation Bass morphs industrial strength dubstep with high tempo EDM in a way that elevates this sound to another level of intensity altogether. It doesn’t sacrifice a commitment to global sounds – a wide variety of “world” music influences remain intact – yet it also feels quite different to past work ... heavier, more urgent. In short, Generation Bass feels like progression, a genuine step forward for Celt Islam.

The album opens as it means to go on, instantly reaching for the jugular on the highly charged dubstep-infused 'Dub Virus', followed by the sub-rattling 'Ghettoblaster', which does exactly what it says on the tin. They’re clear highlights and a great choice as an opening pairing, but there's no let up all the way through to album closer ‘Energize’. With no obvious catch-yer-breath chill out moment, this is relentless high bpm electro dub of an almost post apocalyptic nature.

If Celt Islam’s music is all about sending a message – and it is, the message has always been one of respect, tolerance, and inclusiveness – then right now it appears that something is under this man’s skin, and right now it seems he’s as mad as hell.

And why wouldn’t he be when every day it feels like nobody is listening? When every day (on a global scale) there’s another new conflict? When every day murder, hatred, and division is rife just about everywhere you care to look ... when you’ve reached the stage where you can no longer trust your own government or its puppets in the mainstream media?

Generation Bass, whatever else it is, feels as though it was a cathartic exercise for the man who made it.

Other highlights include ‘Cosmonaut’, ‘Earth Tribe’ and ‘Interstellar Nomad’, but there isn't really any filler on what amounts to a take-no-prisoners no-holds-barred beast of an album.

My copy of the album is an advance release for preview, so it’s not quite out yet ... but keep an eye on the Earth City Recordz Bandcamp page ... and maybe grab a couple of the label’s other releases while you wait.

* belated postscript/update 27 August 2014: it turns out Generation Bass was released on Urban Sedated Records - not Earth City Recordz. This review was written pre-release and I just presumed Earth City Recordz would release and distribute as per the case with much of (but not all of) Celt Islam's previous work ...

The Analogue Fakir - 'Dead Souls'

I was fortunate enough to be sent a copy of the new Celt Islam album, Generation Bass, over the weekend, and I’ll get around to reviewing it here sometime in the next couple of weeks. Regular readers of the blog will already be familiar with everythingsgonegreen’s obsession with this extraordinary artist, but here he is in his other guise, as The Analogue Fakir, with a recent tribute track to Joy Division, ‘Dead Souls’ …

 

 

Album Review: Celt Islam - Medina EP (2014)

Here’s another great new release from Earth City Recordz, just out on Bandcamp this month. This time it’s the Medina EP, from our good friend Celt Islam, and once again it’s an intoxicating blend of boundary-pushing electro and state-of-the-art dub.

This is truly wonderful stuff, whether it’s the rootsy feel of the title track, the pulsing eastern flavours of ‘Warrior Dub’ (featuring The Renegade Sufi), or the harder dubsteppy/industrial edges to closer ‘Khanaqa’ (featuring Inder Goldfinger), it all adds up to another compelling listen, a dud-free five track EP of the highest quality.

As the blurb says, Celt Islam’s music is … “a fusion of western and middle eastern influences combined with a futurist Islamic dub attitude. Open the doors of your mind and soul to Electro Dub Sufism!! …”

And who could argue with that?

 

Get the Medina EP here

 

Here's the opening track 'Freedom' ...

 

 

 

Albums of 2013

So here we are in 2014 already. And a lot of 2013’s baggage has naturally enough, by default and design, managed to transport itself into the New Year. Not least is the small issue of this blog’s perennial failure to come up with its ten “albums of the year” before the metaphorical bells rounded things off so succinctly a few days back …

In past years I’ve done a series of album-by-album posts to highlight the albums I played (and enjoyed) most of all over the previous 12 months, but for 2013 I thought I’d cut to the chase and just list the ten “albums of 2013” in one post … partly because I’m in lazy-sod-holiday mode, but mostly because a few of them have already been reviewed here previously. These albums aren’t necessarily the best of the year, just the best as heard in my house, or in my headspace across 2013. The only prerequisite for inclusion is that I still had my mitts on a copy – in any format – at year’s end:

10. Elvis Costello and The Roots – Wise Up Ghost

Wise Up Ghost wins the prize for most unlikely transatlantic collaboration of the year. But then again, unlikely collaborations have always been one of Costello’s favourite things, and thanks to the huge talent and versatility of The Roots, the quality control factor on this one was always going to be set extremely high. The Roots might just about be the best thing ever to happen to Hip hop, certainly the group rates as the genre’s most authentic live act, and for all that Costello’s words and musings – quite often referencing work from his distant past throughout the album – are crucial to Wise Up Ghost’s success, the music of The Roots is something really quite special. A little bit post-punk, a little bit jazz, a whole lot of Hip hop (though Costello – mercifully – doesn’t rap), and never anything less than 100% funky. Best tracks: ‘Walk Us Uptown’, ‘Tripwire’, and ‘Viceroy’s Row’.

 9. Fat Freddy’s Drop – Blackbird

Speaking of bad rap (or not speaking of it) … these guys get a lot of it from local music scribes (or perhaps that’s “a bad wrap”?) and I’m genuinely at a loss as to fully understanding why that is. When I listen to this hard working local collective all I hear is “home”, a place to be; Wellington, a beach on the Kapiti Coast, or anywhere else specific to Nu Zild. Our accent, our landscape, our multicultural people … and if that’s a little bit too laidback or (apparently) derivative for some, then so be it. It works for me. If they can be knocked for a lack of (perceived) progression style-wise, it’s merely because the band is now very much at ease with who they are and the music they’re making. I happen to think that’s a very good thing. Blackbird was one of just a handful of CD’s I purchased during 2013 (downloading continued as my format of convenience and choice) and my edition came with the eight-track bonus disc. So I thought it was a pretty good score and I played it often. Best tracks: ‘Clean The House’, ‘Silver and Gold’, and ‘Barney Miller’ from the mixed bag bonus disc.

 

8. Foals – Holy Fire

When I reviewed Holy Fire earlier in the year I hadn’t expected it to wind up as one of my albums of the year, but I found myself continually returning to it, and it grew and grew and grew … originally reviewed here.

7. Lord Echo – Curiosities

Multi-instrumentalist Mike Fabulous is one very special talent. Fabulous has been, for a long time, one of the main protagonists behind the international success of Wellington reggae/dub outfit, the Black Seeds. A couple of years back he released his first solo effort under the Lord Echo moniker, and this follow-up, Curiosities, builds on that work to showcase what might prove to be a musical coming of age. Curiosities is a 42-minute ten-track no-filler extravaganza of funk, disco, jazz, and pure unadulterated pop ... plus a few other things besides. So there’s a wide scope of styles on the album and I think that, more than anything else, is what makes it such a persuasive listen. The album made a belated run for this list after I picked up my copy of Curiosities on CD very late in the year, but regular listening through December provided its own reward, and its own reason for being here. Best tracks: ‘Digital Haircut’, ‘Molten Lava’, and the sublime closer ‘Arabesque’.

 

6. The Analogue Fakir – Worlds We Know

A good cyber-friend of everythingsgonegreen, Muhammad Hamzah, a Sufi Muslim based in Manchester by way of Bradford, wears many hats. One of them is the one he dons as Celt Islam, and I’ve blogged about his work a few times already. Less well known is the work he does as The Analogue Fakir, but when he sent me a link for his 2013 release, Worlds We Know, I was completely blown away by the sheer depth and quality on offer. As with Celt Islam’s music, I simply can’t believe that more people aren’t embracing this worldly fusion of Eastern and Western vibes. Where Celt Islam’s stuff tends to be a more dub or dubstep-orientated hybrid of styles, Worlds We Know struck me as being every bit as state-of-the-art, but more indebted to electronic forms like EDM, and it works as a slightly freaky hard-edged variation on global electropop. But there’s so much more to it than any label I can tag it with – it isn’t really “pop” for a start, it’s far too dark in places, and almost post-apocalyptic in parts. A great, challenging, if largely overlooked album. Find out for yourself by downloading at the link below. Best tracks: ‘The Forms’, ‘Moments In Time’, and ‘Annihilation in Allah’.

http://earthcityrecordz1.bandcamp.com/album/worlds-we-know

 

5. The National – Trouble Will Find Me

And by the month of May, “trouble” had most definitely found me. By crook, rather than hook, back in a corner … again. This album was one of my favourites from the first half of the year and while it may not have been as dark and dramatic as High Violet, or as compelling as a couple of the band’s earlier albums, it was still a bunch of beautifully crafted tunes. And that man’s gentle baritone corners me every damn time. Originally reviewed here.

4. Daft Punk – Random Access Memories

Naturally. I’m a disco nut. I’m a history nut. I’m a Nile Rodgers fan from way back. I love some of that early Giorgio Moroder stuff. Combine all of those old school ingredients … stir to boil, and then add a liberal sprinkling of fairy dust in the form of new digital technology and you’ve got an instant everythingsgonegreen favourite. Random Access Memories plays out like some kind of skewed potted history of disco, and it was originally reviewed here.

3. GRiZ – Rebel Era

Rebel Era by GRiZ easily qualifies as my freebie download of the year. A brilliant concoction of old style blues and dubstep, Rebel Era was another one of those safe “go-to” albums on those rare occasions I was stuck for something to listen to. With heavy use of samples and a funk heart at its electro-dubby core, some might consider this throwaway fare, but for a while back there, GRiZ was the biz (sorry – Ed) in my world, and this “solo” album is every bit as good as the work he did with fellow dubstephead Gramatik (released as Grizmatik). Originally (sort of) reviewed here.

2. Public Service Broadcasting – Inform - Educate - Entertain

An almost flawless blend of sepia-tinged nostalgia and modern rock as we know it. But not as we know it. So different from anything else on offer. A journey into another world, another time, another place. Samples and soundbites abound. Originally reviewed here.

1. Darkside – Psychic

It seems appropriate – given that the vast majority of my music listening is via headphones – that my 'Fones album of the year and the blog’s overall album of the year is Darkside’s Psychic. I could – and did, more than once – completely lose myself in this album. Immerse myself in it. Use it to shut out everything else around me. Not always an easy listen, Psychic is an absorbing mix of production FX, vocal distortions, and ambient soundscaping, but it also leans heavily towards classic rock, with more than a few old fashioned blues signature moments buried deep within its sonic mash. It’s such a hybrid of musical styles and production techniques it’s (thankfully) impossible to damn it with one singular/solitary genre label. Hell, the first couple of minutes on the 11-minute opening opus amount to little more than a pulse, and it’s a full five minutes in before we get anything resembling a meaningful beat. So it requires patience, and the impression is that the album was designed to be listened to as a whole, not as individual pieces within that whole. But oh how that patience is rewarded. Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington also collaborated as Daftside, and hopefully we’ll hear more from this duo. Best tracks: ‘Heart’, ‘Paper Trails’, and ‘Freak, Go Home’.

Honourable mentions: Atoms For Peace – Amok, Panda Dub – Psychotic Symphony, Primal Scream – More Light, DU3normal – Flow Frequency, and London Grammar – If You Wait.

Reissue of the year – I can’t decide between The Breeders’ (Last Splash deluxe) LSXX, or the Tears For Fears reissue of The Hurting. So I choose both. Two reissues of the year – my blog, my rules!

Compilation of the year – I can’t say I downloaded or purchased too many compilation releases during 2013 (an unusual development for me) but this sampler release from the aptly titled Earth City Recordz label – reviewed here – opened up a whole new world of sound possibilities for me.

New Zealand album of the year – obviously Lord Echo (see above), closely pushed by Fat Freddy’s Drop, and two other Wellington-based-band releases: Black City Lights with Another Life, and the relatively low profile Bikini Roulette’s otherwise gripping Erotik Fiction. For all that Lorde’s Pure Heroine “made the grade” internationally and wasn’t too bad at all for a debut release, I can’t hand-on-heart say it rates as highly as many other blog and mainstream media year-end lists tend to suggest. I make no excuses for the very obvious Wellington bias in my picks, I really should have expanded my “local” music horizons a little further than I did, and I know I missed far too much good stuff through the year, something I hope to rectify (again!) in 2014.

So that’s that. Obligatory annual list completed.

Comment below if you agree or disagree (fat chance – Ed) … or maybe you just want to call me naughty names again … I’m clearly not all that fussy.

 

Album Review: Earth City Recordz - FuTuRe SoUnD Of ThE UnDeRGrOuNd VoL 3 (2013)

Manchester-based recording label Earth City Recordz has just released the third compilation in its Future Sound of the Underground series (of label samplers). I picked up a download a few weeks back and I’ve been thoroughly enjoying it ever since.

The main guy behind Earth City Recordz is Muhammad Hamzah. I’ve been following him via social media for a while now and it’s unlikely there’s a harder working artist-producer-DJ-social and/or political commentator out there. His output as an artist working under the Celt Islam and The Analogue Fakir monikers, both live and in the studio, is prolific, and he’s relentless at supporting the work of other artists, getting it out there, in whatever form, wherever, and whenever he can.

 

As label samplers go, FuTuRe SoUnD Of ThE UnDeRGrOuNd VoL 3 is a very generous listen at 23 tracks over the course of more than 130 minutes, it showcases a wide range of artists, and features a genuine hybrid of styles. And just like Celt Islam’s best work, there’s a borderless feel about much of this compilation, as you’d tend to expect from such an ethnically diverse mash of nationalities coming together in the name of dub.

Yet to call it dub and stick such a singular label on it fails to give the compilation, or the label, the credit it deserves. Yes, dub, or transnational dub, does appeal as an ideal catch-all, but there’s also large portions of electro, some EDM-indebted stuff, some drum’nbass, dubstep, plus super-sized chunks of that thing we call “world music”.

The highlights are spread fairly evenly across the 23 tracks, the best of which are: MasterMind XS - ‘Far From Here’, Celt Islam - ‘Beyond’, Samia Farah - ‘Al Shams’, Mosienko Project - ‘Kings Valley Dub’, Vel Curve - ‘Tribal Dub’, Oenky & Tompafly - ‘Solitude In Darkness’, 4bstr4ck3r - ‘Mental Stabber’, Demon Dubz - ‘Don’t Stop’, and The Analogue Fakir closes the album with ‘Retro Box’.

Earth City Recordz on Bandcamp

Earth City Recordz on Soundcloud

Earth City Recordz on Facebook

And here’s Celt Islam:

 

Echo Chamber – Around The World In Dub

In keeping with recent everythingsgonegreen themes and continuing our look at the global spread of dub music, here’s a great set of compilation/sampler albums from Dan Dada Records … Echo Chamber – Around The World In Dub Volumes 1 & 2 from July 2012, and its wicked twin, Volumes 3 & 4, released digitally earlier this week.

Each is a name-yer-price download and each showcases some of the best state-of-the-art dub you’re likely to hear in 2013. A truly international line-up features the work of artists from every corner of the globe, often in unlikely collaboration.

Highlights include the work of Bandulu Dub (with multiple contributions across all four volumes), plus some great stuff from the likes of Dubmatix, Celt Islam feat. Dawoud Kringle, Volfoniq, DU3normal, and our own Dub Terminator & Ras Stone.

Get the downloads here:

Echo Chamber - Around The World In Dub Volumes 1 & 2

Echo Chamber - Around The World In Dub Volumes 3 & 4

Albums of 2012 # 1: Celt Islam – Baghdad

When I was posting a short series of ‘Just Browsing’ posts to highlight a few of my own favourite downloading sources a while back, I had fully intended to include Celt Islam’s Soundcloud page but never quite got around to it. Here’s a guy with virtually no commercial profile whatsoever, yet he’s making some of the best electro-dub-world crossover tracks you’re ever likely to hear. He calls it Sufi Dub, and he gives most of it away.

Celt Islam (aka Muhammad Abdullah Hamzah) is a Manchester-based composer and producer with an extraordinary talent, and the album Baghdad – released digitally in late 2011 – is perhaps the ultimate example of his widescreen musical vision thus far.

 

I say widescreen, yet ironically it is probably only the niche market appeal of his work that has held him back from wider acclaim. I suspect some of this stuff is not all that accessible to an awful lot of people, a situation not helped by the limited marketing scope of a self released album.

But it’s widescreen in the sense that it blends so many different genres to produce something of a genuine world music hybrid. No single style dominates an absorbing mix of dub, electro, drum’n’bass, and dubstep, with African flavours and Middle Eastern influences being the most prominent.

I picked up my copy of Baghdad mid-year, having previously compiled a pick and mix playlist of some of his earlier output. It blows me away every time I listen to it. So much so, it soon became the irresistible and only option when it came to selecting my number one album of the year. I can’t say for sure that it was my “most listened to”, but it is the one that made the most impact on me.

 

It somehow all feels very international, very global. The absence of vocals (for the most part) probably helps. I don’t really know whether having some sort of global vision is a key philosophy behind Sufi Dub, but it feels good. It feels like it connects a wide range of musical strands, something that’s open to all colour and creed, just patiently waiting to be embraced as a theological and meditative blueprint for a better world.

At a time when global unity feels like a forlorn hope – even if it remains every bit the main ideal we should all aspire to – Baghdad offers a brief reprieve from concepts like xenophobia and ethnic difference. A journey across a border-less world, no less.

If only more people knew about it.

Highlights: ‘Tribernetikz’, ‘The Silk Road’, ‘Sarayda Dub’ (clip below), ‘Presence’, and ‘Sinking Sand’.