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ESPLENDOR GEOMETRICO - Sheikh Aljama

Format: LP Label & Cat.Number: Geometrik Records GR 2131 Release Year: 2014 Note: first vinyl re-issue of the "oriental / arabic" rhythmic album from 1991 (CD on DAFT Records), which is now regarded as one of their best & most interesting ones... "Esplendor Geometrico's mesmerizing rhythms sizzle with corrosive noise and metal-bashed clamor; and the sampled chants seem positioned more as subliminals than as overt citations" [AQ]; lim. 700 Price (incl. 19% VAT): €16.00 Warning: Currently we do not have this album in stock! More Info "The first ever vinyl reissue (remastered from the original tapes) of Esplendor Geometrico's 'Sheikh Aljama', which was recorded between 1987 and 1989, and first released on CD by Daft Records. This work dates from an interesting period during which their unique and characteristic rhythmic-industrial style, developed along the eighties, turns more minimalistic, schematic, cold and rough, with sporadic influences of Arabic music and rhythms. 'Sheikh Aljama', which includes their hit 'Sinaya', is an Esplendor Geometrico classic, and one of the best albums of their entire career." [label info] www.geometrikrecords.com "First time available on vinyl, Sheik Aljama has long been heralded as one of the finer albums from the long-running Spanish industrial project Esplendor Geometrico. The recordings here began as early as 1986, but the album didn't see completion until 1991. Sheikh Alkama is laced with Arabic samples, percussion, and radio broadcasts, and given the entire catalogue from Muslimgauze who genetically fused Arabic modalities within an industrial agenda, Shiekh Aljama will now and forever be compared to Muslimgauze. There's plenty to separate Shiekh Aljama from Muslimgauze though, but context is key to understanding this album. Cabaret Voltaire may have been the earliest to use Arabic samples within a bleak form of proto-electronica; and these eerie dislocations of Arabic sounds from "the other" came as an anti-colonial diatribe against what the philosopher Edward Said described as Orientalism. Both Muslimgauze and Esplendor Geometrico took those ideas much further than Cabaret Voltaire's appetite for sensuality. For Muslimgauze, the noise and Arabic rhythms were in response to very specific contemporary political events taking place in the Middle East; but for Esplendor Geometrico, the album cites the fall of the Republic of Cordoba in the 11th Century with Arabic and Islamic culture being driven out of the Iberian peninsula. Esplendor Geometrico's mesmerizing rhythms sizzle with corrosive noise and metal-bashed clamor; and the sampled chants seem positioned more as subliminals than as overt citations. "Medinati" looks back to EG's pioneering industrial work in the early '80s, more in keeping with the direct-action pummel of Test Dept; but immediately following this is the disorienting yet hypnotizing dervish of "Descontrol" with its spasmodic dromedary rhythms and shrouded megaphone barking. Like Muslimgauze, Esplendor Geometrico builds a didactic framework and allows the aesthetics of their rhythm and noise to flourish within. It's a great album to have back in print; and very strange to think this has never been on vinyl until now." [Aquarius Records]