Hazlom by Aeson Zervas

The enigma that is Aeson Zervas returns with an outstanding plot twist of electro-chaabi street rave abstractions paying homage to his patrilineal Egyptian roots with a rugged, drum-spurred set.

Past meets present on nine swaggering renditions of the fiery Cairene street rave sound shotted by likes of EEK & Islam Chipsy that has emerged in ballistic permutations from the likes of ZULI, 3Phaz and 1127 in recent years. No doubt it’s bang up for it in a way that his preceding album did not hint at, and all the better for it, connecting threads between the deep past and heritage of Mediterranean rim musics that continue to inform and branch into the present.

Plangent horns and microtonal keyboards edge into weirder basslines gnawed by noise. Zervas’ zeroes in on the relationship between Greece and Egypt and the broader Arabic world here, but with a crucial artistic license that prompts him to mess with the aesthetic and find something fresh but timeless in the process, uncannily echoing in parts Actress’ hazed out take on Detroit techno.

NA

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