BRYN Jones, aka Muslimgauze, one of our most intriguing and prolific experimental musicians, died in 1999 at the age of 37 having recorded thousands of tracks during his sadly truncated career. Here, Optimo’s JD Twitch, pictured, who plays a Muslimgauze-only set at Krakow’s world-renowned Unsound Festival this weekend, picks five of his favourites.
TRYING to pick out five favourite Muslimgauze tracks is quite a challenge. I regard myself as a big fan but probably own way less than half of his vast discography. That is still around one thousand Muslimgauze tracks to choose from which begs the question: how much Muslimgauze is too much? After spending the last two weeks revisiting a lot of his music and listening to almost nothing else, I’d quite happily hear even more. So, the answer, for me, is probably that there can never be too much. Hopefully this mini primer will inspire some people to at least dip a toe into the extraordinary musical universe of this idiosyncratic Mancunian who lived simply to make more music.
1) Afghan Black (1992) - Perhaps my most listened to ever Muslimgauze track. I still don’t know what genre this is. Fourth World? Tribal hypnotica? Transcendental exotica? Whatever, this is music to get completely lost in. Music to get you into an altered headspace without the need for any stimulants. Preferred listening method is to play on repeat for around 30 minutes.
2) An Abyssinyan Who Could Kiss Fine (2000) - Released in 2000 but recorded who knows when, Muslimgauze potentially invents dubstep on this track. Bleeps, crunching drums, disembodied voice, nutsoid arrangement, bass pressure and dub overload.
3) Bandit Queen (1994) - I released this on a 12” in 1996. Muslimgauze’s closest thing to a pop hit. Simple and repetitive but a total earworm and bearing in mind his incredible work rate and work ethic, possibly made in a matter of minutes. I am always a little surprised his tracks in this vein have never been sampled by US rap / R&B producers.
4) Khan Younis (1993) - Deepest Muslimgauze with a tribute to the city in the southern Gaza Strip. This is Bryn again at his hypno best. There have been imitators but nobody else can do music like this and conjure up such atmospheric spaces. There is also another version of this that bears almost no resemblance to the original and appears to be Bryn accidentally inventing industrial electro.
5) Purdah Zealot (1998) - One of the last things he recorded before departing this world in early 1999. Bryn had no knowledge of or affinity with the dance music world yet made a legion of tracks that despite their less than club friendly arrangements can work brilliantly in a DJ set. This is a prime example and once again sounds amazingly prescient. It could have come out this week. It is intriguing to wonder what sort of music he would be making if he was still with us. In these sadly Islamophobic times I don’t think he would have been lacking in themes to inspire him.
JD Twitch Plays Muslimgauze, part of Unsound Festival, at Hotel Forum in Krakow, Poland, on Saturday, October 22. Return flights from Edinburgh start at £196. www.unsound.pl
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here