Ahlam - Revolt Against Reason download mp3 flac

Another experiment in combining a more traditional music with modern recording technique & a variety of styles. Akin to Bhangra, this keeps the harshness & edge, along with a helping of mystery & atmosphere, to create a sound which should appeal. The album opens with a blast of sound, a voice growling the title, scratching, moaning, then kicking almost into a rock number, then settling into a distinctive, Ethnic Folk piece set to a fast, presumably machine-driven beat. They use a little back-masking on the voices, but the main sound is a duel between the fast, sub-Techno drum beat & the eloquent acoustic guitar & mandolin, bringing the GYPSY KINGS to mind. A gnarled wow-wow guitar makes an interesting break about midway through, and it ends on a sampling flourish. "El Nouar" again hints towards Techno in it's underlying sequential rhythm before setting into a more Eastern piece which hooks you with it's distinctive vocals - even if you cannot sing the words you find yourself singing along. It has a drive & tightness of popular Westernized music. Interesting, fitting synth sounds add yet more focal images to it's already busy, filled sound, "Irfiq" again combines traditional Moroccan Folk music, suggestive of dry, warm, desert nights combines with the machine-strict- logic of our Western culture, suggestive of smoky, warm, wasteland evenings. As with previous pieces, the majority of the tune itself relies on the singers, who carry it through extremely well. Little breaks for the electronics to let themselves be heard do not seem out of place, indeed seem to act as natural breaks. "Mskin" has a mellow Funkiness reminding me immediately of BONEY M. The Western part of the sound is more prominant here with sharp brass synth overlaying the mandoline & guitar glittering body. This is perhaps one of the best tracks on the album - not as hooky as some, but the variety of sound & arrangement make it a fascinating, yet loud & insistant listen. "Taleb Maachoo" opening burst could be the beginning of many a Techno record, but it settles down into a another hybrid of Moroccan Folk & Electronic Funk, with a wobbling synth bassline which almost backdates it to the mid-Seventies - the kind of Funk which suggested action in American Cop movies of around that period, especially dealing with the Black community - a cliché of conditioning we willingly accepted. This song has a nice vocal hook (or should that be hookah) & there are moments of almost Industrial noise. "El Qouds I" comes next, with a fuzzed guitar backing which could almost be taken from THE CLASH's "London Calling", before, setting into a more mellow piece with a variety of sounds within it's rhythmic structure, all of which create a rather hypnotic, mellow sound. "Jerusalem II" uses a similar guitar intro as to the previous track. Again this is a more mellow piece, seemingly driven on by perpetual motion, a flowing piece with harder drum hidden within, On "El Alem" the opening guitar, a fuzzed piece sounds almost like Spanish flamenco might if jammed through a couple of distortion pedals. Keyboards rise up, bringing with them a more romantic vocal style, a serenade with a sharp edge to it. A rhythmic song rises out of this minimal beginning, phoenix-like with a snapping drum sound like leather against soft skin while the guitar, mandoline & keyhoards combine with electronics, samples & studio trickery to create an interesting & complicated song, given it's true tune by the voices. The album closes with "Bsäf Dunya", building from a fairly chaotic beginning on vocals into a more ambient-sounding piece with less emphasis on the electronics, It sounds as if it were recorded on location, and added to in the studio.

Another Interesting hybrid of sounds from an interesting label. AHLAM are credited as being CHEB FAJER - voice; EL FARIS - voice; IMAM EL RIKA - voice; JELMOUDI - mandoline; CHEB QCHATAR - guitar, bass; JABBAR EL SHAHEED - synth, sampler; with additional Jeel Funkers' DAHMANE KARIM - djembe; ABDOUEL SHAHEED - voice; CHERIF - voice. For more details contact BARRAKA EL FARNATSHI.

Originally reviewed for Soft Watch.