Jaagheed Zarb by Muslimgauze

Jaagheed Zarb introducing almost funky hip-hop beats, interspersed with vocal snippets, and on the first track a static-y loop and eerie nay (a Middle Eastern flute) whispering through it all. In case you forgot about his signature terrifying low-end, it permeates both albums in abundance, especially on the minimal bowel-rumbling "Fazal Mahmood on Juke," the Prodigy on a broken spring track "Turn Left for Jabaliya," and amid the laid-back, rhythmic assassin, call-to-arms "Iranian Silkworm." A few more surprises lurk on this album including the space at the end of "Fazal Mahmood" -- escaping from the tape hiss is a tinny, straightforward bazaar jam, as if recorded through a boombox in a crowded market -- and the last part of "Hafeez Kardar," where extended seconds of radio fuzz oscillate from subtle noise to crystallized tabla and percussion, filtering through like sand. It skitters into the last track, electronics gobbed onto background noise and monolithic electronics.

Muslimgauze occupied a strange place in the musical world. He was a powerful, prolific innovator, releasing albums that were alternately beautiful and visceral, full of ambient electronics, polyrhythmic drumming and all kinds of voices and sound effects. The recordings earned him a devoted following in underground, experimental and industrial music circles worldwide.

The New York Times 1999