vivo

Bryn Jones, the singular driving force behind Muslimgauze, had one passion: making music as an output for his outrage over the plight of the Palenstinians in the Middle East. Before he died in 1999 from a rare blood disease, Jones had amassed near two hundred releases under the Muslimgauze name and, at the time of his death, there were still nearly sixty tapes, CD and DATs that had been delivered to the sister labels of Staalplaat (in the Netherlands) and Soleilmoon (in the US). Since his death, the two labels have been carefully dispersing these remaining historical recordings to other labels. Poland's Vivo in conjunction with The Label have elected to release No Human Rights For Arabs In Israel, a CD companion to the 10" record of the same name which came out in 1995 as part of the Muslimgauze limited series run by Staalplaat (the 10" had a very limited release of 200 copies).

Jones had a predeliction for recycling. He would use the same samples in multiple records, refining their placement and use with each subsequent iterative use. A single track name would show up more than once on a record, and each same-named track would be a slight variation to the theme. His songs would be endless loops of desert sound. Bells would ring in endless cycles as dry winds would scour the sandstone walls. Glitches and dropouts would marr his tracks, abrupt stops which would stop your heart before the relentless beats would strike up again as if nothing had happened. Jones' work is hypnotic and unsettling, a Middle Eastern flavored techno industrial rhythm that captured the melodies of the region and smashed them with the hard political reality facing those who lived there.

The No Human Rights For Arabs In Israel sessions come from an era where Jones was experimenting with more aggressive rhythms, harsher cuts and splices to his tape loops (apparently he did a lot of his work with old school analog equipment). The dub echoes are beginning to overpower the delicate whisper of the desert sands as he moves away from the minimalist rhythms of Azzazzin towards the heavy thunder and abrasive noise of the Mazar-i-Sharif and Farouk Engineer period. The one minute version of "Teargas" distills down the longer pulse and loop of the four minute version, changing the infinite interplay between the percussion and a snippet of radio traffic into a claustrophobic burst of manic energy. There are three versions of "Refugee" on this CD, and each builds from the previous version until the final behemoth of sound nearly collapses from the weight of the beats, the struggling snarl of heavy machinery and a spattered spray of static and percussion.

The nearly twenty minute version of "No Human Rights For Arabs In Israel" is an expanded version of "Herzliyya" from the previously released 10" EP. Over the course of the first ten minutes, a bowed instrument is warped, its sound moving back and forth in the mix as if the player were gliding like a ghost around the fixed position of the drums and microphone. And then, in a flash, they all disappear into a nearly empty field of drones as if everyone unplugged themselves and left the tape running. All that we hear is the shifting field of interference generated by the proximity of wires and current. Jones bends these few tones, still pulling rhythm and melody in a tight band of sound, and I'm betting the second half of this track is the "expanded" bit as it showcases a rather uncharacteristic sound. Still Muslimgauze in the way it cracks and splits, but it is an exercise in sine wave manipulation instead of loops and edits of Middle Eastern percussion and melodies. Even when you think you have heard everything that Bryn Jones has to offer with Muslimgauze, you discover there are still unrecognized facets of his work. Bravo to Vivo and The Label for shepharding this record to release.
Mark Teppo / markteppo.com

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I learned some interesting things in graduate school. Felching, for example. That was an interesting class discussion. But more interesting were the mystery plays. These were plays performed in fifteenth century England by roving troupes of actors. The plays reenacted stories from the Bible or from the lives of saints (hence the mystery), and usually certain plays were performed at certain times of the year. What fascinated me about these plays was their ability to tell the exact same story over and over and over again, using the exact same characters (often performed by the exact same actors)-yet, somehow, managing to make each play different enough that people were never bored. How many ways were there to tell the story of Lazarus? Well, there were a lot of ways, and as similar as one might at first have appeared to be to all the others, they were all, in fact, slightly different.

I wonder if Muslimgauze (the late Bryn Jones) was familiar with mystery plays? He should have been, as his music is founded upon the same basic idea: take a core idea and repeat it (with slight variation) forever. Actually, in Jones' case, there were two core ideas: one political, the other musical. The political idea was simple: freedom and justice for Palestinian and other Muslim peoples of the world. He did not express this idea in lyrics, for there ARE no lyrics. Rather, he used his pseudonym, "Muslimgauze," to suggest the empathy he holds to Islamic people everywhere. He also used the titles of his now countless works to offer political statements. The title of this work, No Human Rights for Arabs in Israel, is about as straightforward a political statement as they come; add to this the titles of the six tracks (in order): "Refugee," "Teargas," "Refugee," "Teargas," "Refugee," "No Human Rights for Arabs in Israel." Yes, his is not a subtle art. He has a point, and he makes it-again and again and again.

The same is true of Jones' music, which consists of relentless, pounding, driving beats, mixed with a pounding, rhythmic sampled noise (gunfire sound or a warped sine wave). That's it: beats, beats, noise, more beats, and more noise. If you don't like it, then don't listen. And, actually, there are a lot of people who don't listen-or who have stopped listening. Buy one Muslimgauze disc and you've bought them all. That's something I've read on more than one occasion.

But is that fair? I don't think so, for Muslimgauze music isn't music in the strict sense: it's ritual. Just as the mystery plays channeled Bible stories and the stories about saint's lives into a compelling drama that transformed everyday life into a magical rite, so too does Jones take the very elements of modern music and channels them towards a political and spiritual end.

They're also subtler and more interesting than critics tend to give them credit for. I can't say I'm an expert on Jones' music, but the few discs of his that I've heard are actually quite fascinating. As with the mystery plays, Muslimgauze music is at once entirely familiar yet entirely surprising. I know what I will get from Muslimgauze, but I'm still surprised when it comes. Take the last track here, for example. It's a pounding beat, coupled with a twisted sine wave that echoes the main beat. This goes on for about ten minutes. Then the beat drops out, leaving only that noise, which shuffles from noise to a mimicked version of the original beat until the end of the track. The ending to this album was, I can comfortably say, a bit of a surprise. I didn't expect Pan Sonic-like sine wave beat weirdness out of this artist. I liked it a lot.
Michael Heumann / Stylus Magazine

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. When is a re-release not? While Let It Be Naked raises some questions, Muslimgauze's No Human Rights For Arabs In Israel provides a different answer. Yes, there was a release with the same name (Muslimlim002), yet this one (a collaboration between The Label and Vivo ­ Vivo 2004009cd) is different. It represents part of the heritage Bryn Jones left behind of DATs sent to labels at amazing volumes, some with the same names. This overlaps minimally with the other release ­ two tracks are versions of those on the previous one (the title track here is not the same as the previous title track, but a longer version of Herzliyya) and the totality is a different direction.

The three 'Refugee' tracks on the album have different beats but share an edgy harshness to the rhythms, distortions and a metallic harshness which is supported by dark densities underneath ­ a scraping cycling that sounds like a jet taking off in the first, backwards sounds and a faux-lawnmower in the second, crunchy crackling drone cycle in the third. These are combined with Muslimgauze treats like false endings and some voice-like drones, creating a wall/wave of sound/sand. The 'Teargas' tracks are a little easier, featuring more obvious voice loops, horns and the insistent beats. Then the extended final track, just about 20 minutes, starts as a slow solid beat, rubbery, with electro-squiggles as a buzzing instrumental accompaniment (a sort of
horn) working hypnotically, swinging around, lightly modulating, but then sliding into a second half of manipulated buzzing and humms of ambience, occasionally breaking into a beat, but drifting the album away.

This is one of the stronger albums offering an aural metaphor for the Palestinian conflict, emphasised by the cover chosen. A forceful and intriguing (but then most are) addition to the oeuvre, with no hint of barrel-bottom-scraping.
Jeremy Keens

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From the moment I glanced at the horrific cover art of a small Arab child ravaged, bleeding and bandaged I knew this prolific orator of the proletariat is firmly planting his message into the consciousness of the mostly converted. Our departed maestro of the peculiar, Muslimgauze (Bryn Jones) has a mile long discography dating back to 1982 and Poland's Vivo Records, along with participation from the house of Staalplaat, is a natural union of like spirit for the painfully meaningful depiction of war and its multiplying manifestations on the world people. I am not sure if his catalogue will ever be officially complete and that will suit his fans fine. Though, the contents are a mix of atmospheric electronics, somewhat techno, and repetitive, the real message is patented in his direct passion to embed his political passions in a thread of frenetic rhythm, tones and beats. Composed of six tracks, this Psychic TV'esque mélange of chunky beats and synth-sensation recalls early 80s lower east side day-glo attitudes pigmented with pop-art hooks. This has the feel of a Bootsy Collins or other like Funkadelic spin-off record, not quite "the same" but experimenting with foundations of something that was once quite miraculous.
TJNorris / Igloo Magazine

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Muslimgauze - No Human Rights For Arabs In Israel (Vivo / 009 / Import)
Ganze 550 Kopien werden von dem Klassiker re-released, der schon vor
gut einem Jahrzehnt zum ersten mal erhältlich war. Muslimgauze kennt
ja mittlerweile hoffentlich jeder - daher kann der vermeintlich
provokante Titel nicht mehr so richtig schocken, auch wenn immer
wieder aufs neue eine Thematik angesprochen wird, über sich wohl
niemand jemals im Recht äußern kann. Musikalisch läßt sich natürlich
auch nicht im mindesten ausmachen, woher Muslimgauze ihre Motivation
nehmen, was sie uns genau mit Titeln wie 'Teargas' oder 'Refugee'
sagen wollen und warum überhaupt die Nahost-Thematik so stark im
Vordergrund steht, wo sie doch ursprünglich aus Manchester kamen und
englische Innen- und Außenpolitik locker ebenso beschissen stinken
kann wie diese oder jene Attacke aus dem Heiligen Land. Sei's drum,
diese Fragen und einige mehr werden auf ewig unbeantwortet bleiben,
was der Musik selbstverständlich keinen Abbruch tut. Nahezu
ungebrochene drum- und Tabla-Schleifen drücken gemächlich und
beständig nach vorne, machen eher Techno als Dub (was irgendwie so
ganz und gar nicht stimmt) und scheinen ständig zu versuchen, den
aggressiven Kern aller Weisheit auszuspeien.
ed **** / DE:BUG [March 2004]

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Bez dwóch zdań, choć mamy dopiero styczeń, oto najważniejsze wydarzenie muzyczne na polskim rynku wydawniczym w bieżącym roku. I to niezależnie od tego ilu Methenych czy Stingów przyjedzie nagrać płyty z naszymi śpiewającymi paniami. Przed nami wydana przez Vivo - pierwsza "polska" płyta największego muzycznego wizjonera końca XX wieku. "No Human Rights..." jest na dodatek premierową edycją materiału, który zdążył już obrosnąć środowiskową legendą, tyleż z racji prowokującego tytułu, co i bezkompromisowości samej muzyki, a także przez wzgląd na to, iż Bryn Jones przygotował dwa różne zestawy nagrań opatrzonych takim właśnie tytułem. Muslimgauze zaskakuje po raz kolejny - tym razem przede wszystkim niemal całkowitą absencją wątków bliskowschodnich, czyli arabskiego etno wmontowanego w rozedrganą sieć drapieżnych rytmów, spowijającą "No Human..." od pierwszej do ostatniej minuty. Nie zaskakuje natomiast porażające brzmienie, poziom produkcji, niebywała i jakże charakterystyczna agresja w podejściu do materii dźwiękowej. Następujące po sobie części "Refugee" i "Teargas" tłuką słuchacza bez opamiętania i litości, rwąc na strzępy wszystko wokół. Automaty stukają i chroboczą pieczołowicie, wspomagane nadchodzącymi znienacka napastliwymi uderzeniami czystego szumu, który zdaje się nieustannie oddychać w tle. Jakieś ulotne głosy zapętlają się minimalistycznie, powracając uporczywie i natrętnie. Jakiś obłęd rodzi się skrycie... Na koniec zaś - dźwiękowy orgazm w postaci kompozycji tytułowej, dwudziestominutowego, miażdżącego dubowego potwora, zwieńczonego przeciągłym, metalicznym, sprzęgającym dronem... No human rights for the listeners... Bez kumoterstwa i wazeliny. Czapki z głów.
Dariusz Brzostek / GAZ-ETA

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Na początek psychozabawa. Zapytajcie Vivoszefa o 100 najlepszych płyt w historii muzyki. Jeśli na liście, którą sporządzi znajdzie się choć jedna pozycja, w nagraniu której nie maczał paluchów pewien Angol o ksywie "Muslimgauze", to znaczy, że: a) Vivoszef ma anginę z wysoką gorączką i majaczy; b) nie notowaliście uważnie.
A rzecz jest w tym, że to kurewsko dobrze, że TAKIE PŁYTY ukazują się na tym marnym padole (kurtka wodna, chyba przy okazji "No:wel" ktoś już coś takiego na temat VIVO popełnił, i to chyba był ktoś mądrzejszy ode mnie - sorka za plagiat; kupię "Playboya" w ramach pokuty). Radość wydawcy jest przeto ogromna, radość kupujących limitowaną edycję także. Radość posiadacza egzemplarza nr 10 - nie mniejsza. Ale ja tu będę perorował trochę o czym innym, bo to kurewsko dobrze, że jest taki ced w sprzedaży w RP. To tym bardziej dobrze, ze na tym padole ktoś wydaje płytę, na okładce której jest pokiereszowane arabskie dziecko, a tytuł wydawnictwa jawnie narusza kanon politycznej poprawności, dyktowany przez zapyziałe dziecię Agory (Panie Michnik, kiedy Pan przeprosi licealistów stanu wojennego, którzy pisali na murach "s... żyje", za jawną agitkę za mordowaniem ludności cywilnej w Belgradzie, a ostatnio w Bagdadzie - zbieżność nazw miast, nie chybił, domaga się egzegezy - ????). Bo tak naprawdę, to należałoby zbierać fundusze na reklamę tej okładki w wysokonakładowej prasie i ciekaw jestem reakcji tak zwanej opinii społecznej, jakiej by się ona doczekała.
A teraz słowo o muzyce (wszak mówią, że ona jest najważniejsza) - cedzik to tytułowy 20 minutowy numer plus alternatywne tejki innych, wcześniej wydanych kompozycji (ale w tej kapitalistycznej części europy, z małej litery pisanej), także w małych, limitowanych nakładach, często na winylach (tak na marginesie, kto nie jest bez winy, niech pierwszy rzuci kamieniem: jeśli jest jedna osoba, która kasuje tantiemy po zmarłym za kolejne edycje numerów skomponowanych przez Muslimgauze'a, to przyznaję Jej nobla w mikroekonomii za pracę "strategia marketingowa w tak zwanej muzyce niszowej"). A wracając do muzyki - ten uroczo wydany cedzik, to - przepraszam za określenie - "prosty" Muslimgauze, tak prosty, jak komunikatywny jest tu - i ważny!!! - przekaz werbalny (żeby każda muzyka była TAK PROSTA...). Mimo, iż - Janusz, wybacz - płyta ma charakter epki z remixami, jest absolutnie spójnym 40 minutowym ciągiem dźwięków (to może kolejny dowód na prawie genialność muzyki Muslimgauze'a ! - pamiętajcie o plebiscycie na 100 płyt wszechczasów).
Cieszmy się razem (Pan też, Panie Michnik), bo to istotna płyta na tym skorumpowanym niskim ambicjami rynku muzycznym. U progu roku 2004 nie można była wydać płyty o lepszym tytule. Robotnicy do maszyn, żołnierze do Iraku, przepite grubasy do Brukseli!
A Muslimgauze triumfuje zza grobu. Zmusił mnie do pisania o polityce.
Andrzej Nowak / GAZ-ETA

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