Storms on the horizon...

The next Secret Archives of the Vatican release will be called Storms. The tunes, although independent of each other, are based on a theme, the Turkish Storm Calendar. We first came across references to this in a most excellent (and highly recommended) science fiction book set in Istanbul in the near future. The Dervish House by Ian McDonald provides no details of the calendar, merely mentions it. We were intrigued but found very little information on the internet - three or four webpages with incomplete or hard to interpret listings of the weather changes through a Turkish year. The names of the storms are evocative, however, and we decided to record a set of tunes related to them. We have, for a long time, been interested in the tuning systems used in Middle Eastern music, particularly Arabic music, but we decided to research the Turkish makamlar tradition which is similar but not identical. We found some good websites with details of the modes and scales used in Turkish music (makamlar). We then had to figure out how to make our synthesisers and samplers play the detuned notes that don't exist in our usual tempered Western musical scales. The makamlar tradition includes some melodic expectations and we were unable to find enough information to do justice to these, so our music is definitely not Turkish music and we haven't tried to make it so. It is our music, influenced by Turkish music. Not many people have used microtones in our world of electronica, so for many of our listeners, it will be their first exposure to music with a different tuning system. Many of the makamlar only have one or two notes that are detuned, so we think the music sounds natural and not hard for a Western audience to grasp. There are copious online sources of transcriptions of Middle Eastern hand drum rhythms, so we have used frame drums (which we love!) as well as drum kit sounds to programme our rhythms based on these and most, if not all, of the tracks on Storms are therefore not in common four-four time. Once again, we don't believe this makes the tunes inaccessible - many of these uncommon time signatures are rooted in ancient forms of dance music after all. We also haven't abandoned our flirtations with the Cronx's indigenous folk music, dubstep, and there are bass electronica sounds supporting the orientalist melodies throughout. We have a few tracks finished and some still in the pipeline so we don't have a release date yet. However, we'll be enthusiastically pimping Storms on all of our many online platforms in due course, so you'll know when it's out.

New release from Broken Drum Records:  Nine Ships by Thousand Yard Prayer. Middle-Eastern rhythms and tunings collide with dubstep-inflected Croydonian bass music. Eclectic esoterica for the musically open-minded.

Ethnostep 2 - new release from Subbass

 

Ethnostep 2 is the second in the Ethnostep series of releases from the Heidelberg based Subbass netlabel. There are fourteen tracks of glorious Eastern-inflected bass-driven electronica, including one from our own Thousand Yard Prayer and an exclusive track from Secret Archives of the Vatican. It's available on name-your-own-price basis but that can include free.

Find it HERE


 

They say this: Making music is the most primeval form of human expression. Imbued with a mystical power to communicate at an instinctual level that transcendends language and speaks directly to the soul. What we have in mind is to go to the one place that everybody carries within themselves. We believe that the whole external universe is also found within us all. There is one planet, and on this planet there is this peaceful, easy, partying tribe, everybody can connect to.  

Tracks

1. Rotem Moav - On The Wing Of A Green Dragon
2. Dub Breakah - Zen
3. Beatfarmer- Xeno's Dream (dreamstep mix)
4. Masala - The Bygone World
5. Digital Nottich - Momne Le
6. Thousand Yard Prayer - Sassanid
7. Temple Step project - Medicine Temple
8. Zillion - Isolate
9. Dansu & Extrabright - Serpent
10. Speciez - Amal
11. Ghosthack - In The Shell
12. Ben I Sabbah - Desert Moon III
13. Secret Archives of the Vatican - Stealth Camel
14. G0LIKE - Hypno

World Without End by Thousand Yard Prayer

Rock the Howdah - Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 82

We have a new podcast episode available for your delight and delectation!



You can find episode 82 here:

• iTunes
• Libsyn
• MixCloud

 
Tracks

1. Attack Warning
   Jake Dubber
   http://soundcloud.com/jakedubber/attack-warning
2. Freedom Fighters Dub
   Red Army
   http://www.addictech.com/p/89957
3. Last Night I Fought a Mannequin
   DJ Dragoste
   http://soundcloud.com/dragoste/last-night-i-fought-a
4. Hard Reset
   Datax
   http://soundcloud.com/datax/datax-hard-reset
5. The Rapture
   Sovereign Sect
   http://www.addictech.com/p/91081
6. Jeena Jo Bhool Jaye
   Nonchalant
   http://soundcloud.com/nonchalant-uk
7. Anahita Will Sustain You
   Jamshied Sharifi
   http://www.jamshiedsharifi.com/Site/Home.html
8. Tears of Dub
   Jake Dubber & Envyus Squad 
   http://soundcloud.com/jakedubber/tears-of-dub
9. Black Forest Dub
   SPCZ
   http://soundcloud.com/speciez/spcz-black-forest-dub

Interview and mix on solipsistic NATION podcast

solipsistic NATION No. 268: Secret Archives of the Vatican contains an interview with me and a mix of some of my favourite tunes from the Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast.



Full details, track list and audio can be found HERE .

Souq Dragon

 
Souq Dragon is the latest release on Broken Drum Records by...Souq Dragon. You can download this album free from Bandcamp.

   

Tracks

1. Tagine for a Ninja
2. It is a Good Day
3. Souq Rats

Souq Dragon was born at a very early age in a small village just out of Earshot. This is his first moombahton-influenced release. Follow Souq Dragon on Facebook.