Checkpoint 303: Free music from occupied territories

Apart from the Chehadé brothers, I had never really thought about Palestine as a source of music - and certainly not electronic music. Mea culpa. Checkpoint 303 are a Franco-Palestinian-Tunisian collective that create electronic music using field recordings of life in the occupied territories. Although not overtly political, the sounds they use are often of demonstrations, bullets being fired and voices through megaphones. They combine this with snippets of news reports (most effectively in “Needle Stuck on Lebanon”). Add a touch of oud-playing and you get a rich sound with an overlay of drama.

Checkpoint 303 are about to play a number of dates in Palestine, including a special event at the Beit Hanina college in East Jerusalem for the international Fête de la Musique on June 23. Check their MySpace page for updates, or download their music on Checkpoint 303.

Electric Gypsyland 2

The music of the Balkans must be some of the most incendiary being played today. Outfits such as Taraf de Haidouks, Koçani Orkestar and Mahala Raï Banda play with a trademark brass sound that reaches fever pitch pretty quickly - and never comes down (think of a film by Kusturica and you won’t be far off).

So what would happen if you give their material to a selection of mixers, turntablists and DJs? The answer is “Electric Gypsyland 2″. Tunng, Buscemi (best known for his Latin lounge mixes), Oi Va Voi (a klezmer afficianado) and London’s Russ&Roc accepted the invitation. So what do we get for our time? Click through to find out…

Aiwa: Arabic dub/electronic on the road

Created in 1998 by two Iraqi brothers brought up in France, Aiwa is one of the most exciting fusion/electronic outfits. Musically, they mix Classical Arabic sounds with heavy dub/electronic grooves and ultra-suave rap. They have released two albums “Aiwa” and “El Nar” (photo), with an album of remixes of “Aiwa” in the pipeline - more about this later.

Aiwa are about to take to the road again, playing a number of dates in France and Poland:

To check out their music, visit Aiwa Music.

Sex and the Single Rabbit

With a title that is sure to get lots of search engine activity, Crammed Discs have started opening their archives. The European label is known for its cosmopolitan genre-bending style such as Bebel Gilberto (see below), the early Zap Mama and Taraf de Haidouk. In the eighties and nineties, they also had a successful electronic imprint called SSR (Sampler Sans Reproche - Sampling without fear). The virtual twin-set includes material such as the Matthew Herbert remix of a Hector Zazou/Harold Budd track, a Snooze remix by Isolée, a track off the long-deleted DJ Morpheus vs Bassbin Twin vinyl EP, sonic terrorist Meira Asher, London jazz/dope beats heads Elixir, Japan’s Tao, Phosphorus and their dreamy, soundtrack-like trip-pop and Finland’s minimal/glitch pioneer Aural Expansion.

“Sex and the Single Rabbit” will only be available through electronic outlets, which most likely means that tracks can also be downloaded individually. If that sounds tasty, try the link below.