Gonja Sufi - A Sufi and A Killer (Warp records, 2010)

Lock it Down has been waiting for this album. Finally someone brewed an electronic psychedelic potion of of all those funky & freaky exotic records we love. Earlier, we already talked about the emergence of the LA scene around Flying Lotus & Gaslamp Killer and now the next chapter reveals itself: GonjaSufi’s album A Sufi And A Killer, produced by the Gaslampkiller, was released on Warp records last month (check them here on Youtube). Gonjasufi also provided vocals on the Flying Lotus track Testament (on the Los Angeles album), but his own release really did it for me. Captivating yet uneasy, freaky, funky, dark but spiritual. In touch with the past, but as uptodate as it gets. The Sound of Urgency. Once in a a while a record comes along which sums up the stuff you like, and combines it in a way you hadn’t heard before. A Sufi and A Killer is a record like that. Gonjasufi spits his distorted lyrics over beats filled with sound from records we love. The Turkish psychrock legend Erkin Koray is heard various times, his tune Yagmur is versioned into Kobwebz and Seni Her Gordugumde (aka I’nan Ki) into I’ve Given. Both Erkin Koray tracks are featured on his 1973 album on Istanbul records. As a great fan of Spanish seventies flamenco-hybrids I was thrilled to hear the voice of Las Grecas in the single Cowboys & Indians, sampling their 1974 tune Bella Kali (from their classic first album Gipsy Rock). L.A.'s Spirit gave their The Other Song (from Son of Spirit, 1976) for Gonja to recycle it to Dust. It seems he's putting a band together as we speak, can't wait to experience this in a live setting. Check out this little mix by Anikulapo, combining the Sufi songs with the originals.

Obviously, there tons more of samples, if anyone has any more suggestions, I’d love to hear it

And remember to buy this album!

Links:

gonjasufi: http://www.sufisays.com/
gaslamp killer: http://www.thegaslampkiller.com/
flying lotus: http://www.flying-lotus.com/
warp records: http://warp.net/

COSMOGRAMMA

One of my biggest musical revelations of the past decade was, without a doubt, hearing Flying Lotus' "Los Angeles" album (Warp Records/2008.) Being an avid fan of IDM, jazz and big bass music, all of which FlyLo smoothly combines into a unique blend of his own, this album seemed to be specially made for my ears. Although, at first, I didn't really get into it . It was only after seeing the man live on stage that his magic caught on and sure 'nuff I fell in love with his sound right there and then. Head over heels.

And I was not the only one because soon everyone was onto the man. Deservedly so, I might add, because this focus on the LA scene and its satelites brought us many great things. Through his music FlyLo tapped into a collective vein, serving a much needed freshness to a heavily segregated music scene and, in doing so, uniting different scenes which led to interesting new music and collabs. Artists from around the globe started working together; new artists arose on the scene, finally getting what they deserved after a long struggle of self chosen contrariness; scenes intertwined and exchanged ideas, opening up a whole new spectrum where there are no rules and, thank God almighty, no genre names (yet). Although most people still file it under dubstep, which couldn't be further away from the truth. The above goes for me too, on a personal level. I discovered many great tracks and albums since I was lured back into the idm/electronica scene by "Los Angeles." I had followed the scene for more than 10 years but left after every record started sounding alike. It seemed to me everything had been done, limits were reached, ideas were copied instead of progressed; yes, even the great Warp Records, always a label to look out for, faded a bit. Apparently all it needed was an injection of FlyLo to propell it into a new orbit. Ever since I heard interesting collabs of hiphop, jazz, psychedelica, reggae, dubstep, idm, house, uk funky and so on, and so on. Everything goes!

Flying Lotus is about to unleash his much anticipated third album, Cosmogramma, on may 3rd, but Warp decided to throw the fans some corn. They're giving away three tracks that won't appear on the album, but to call these a taster isn't doing them justice. All three of them are frigging great tunes and also a great example of what this piece is all about: they're fresh, and openminded. Oh, and yeah: they do promise a whole lot about the forthcoming album...

Go get them here!