S/D : Sublime Frequencies

REVIVE !
What are the best of these ?

I have the Sumatra comps which I can vouch for. Group Inerane is mind blowing, end of story. The radio transmissions are not my bag but I have friends who dig a couple of these. Some of the odd disco stuff is essential if that is your thing. This label has put out so much that a S/D thread like this one is very useful.

for anyone in the uk who has a chance to go to the group doueh / omar souleyman tour - go! do not miss it. you'll regret it forever. absolutely astonishing.

so jealous :( I just grabbed the Omar Suleyman LP last night, and it's just as good as I could hope for. I might like it even more than the new Group Doueh record!

so jealous :(

Same here!

Saw the tour last night in Glasgow and it was great fun. Syrian party bangers indeed!

Just starting work on some photos now...

http://krakow.zenfolio.com/img/v6/p242006682-2.jpg

Omar Souleyman

Sublime Frequencies Tour @ Stereo, Glasgow

Are those vinyl only limited releases?

1500 copies.

London sold out! Arse.

tell me you're lying! :-(

I heard that London and Bristol sold out too. It was certainly busy with us, though not sold out.

Yeah, I've been pointlessly putting off buying tickets for London for the last month. Finally got around to sorting it out and it's all gone. Really pissed off, quite frankly. Listening to a cd of SF stuff my friend who's got tickets gave me doesn't really help. Maybe on the door.

I musta just scraped in before they sold out. Hope the crowd gets into it.

More self-promotion - finished up my photos from the Glasgow show now: Sublime Frequencies Tour @ Stereo, Glasgow

http://krakow.zenfolio.com/img/v6/p246339584-2.jpg

Omar Souleyman

http://krakow.zenfolio.com/img/v6/p256819952-2.jpgp

Group Doueh

Nice photos!
Tell us more about the gig.

(I was thinking of going to the London one, but never mind.)

I thought that the beats and some of the keyboard stuff was a bit dubious (euro disco?) and it was a shame that there wasn't more live instrument stuff, but Omar Souleyman in particular created such a great party atmosphere, with everyone dancing and clapping along, and they seemed to be having such a good time onstage, that it was a wonderful experience nontheless. Not as mind-blowing as I personally expected, but a great fun night out. The Sublime Frequencies DJs played some awesome more psych type tunes, which was very nice.

Thanks for the compliment too.

nothing to say about group doueh?

omar souleyman was definitely the party act and was great fun but for midblowing nmusic, group doueh stole the show for me. male / female vox, some minimal percussion, keyboards and then salmou baamar's guitar playing which i would rate in the top 5 best i have ever heard. he was playing a modified strat going through some sort of filter bank and it was thee definition of hypno psyche guitar playing. really breathtaking. it differed quite significantly from the records in that the keyboard player was triggering quite hefty sounding drum machine percussion loops. at first i wasn't sure about these and thought they had done this to slightly cater for a european audience but it really started to work a couple of songs in. this was enhanced no end when halima jakani started dancing about at the front of the stage. when halima and bashiri sang together i had shivers down my spine. the last song they did was simply divine. a long, hypnotic dance track that amadou and mariam would no doubt kill for and that i would also kill to have a recording of. the audience response to all this was nothing short of ecstatic.

You can see why I'm a photographer and not a writer!

I have heard good things about the new Doueh record, wish I could see this in person.

Yeah, you're making the Americans very, very jealous!

So great you guys got to see Omar Souleyman! I bought the recent Sublime Frequencies "70's Proto-Rai Underground" comp. Excellent stuff but only 42 minutes of material and all of it leaning heavily on the horn-led Rai stuff with one increeeedible guitar-led track at the very end that just acts as a tease. Want more of the phased out guitar Rai.

Are you talking about that song "I cuddle myself"? Song is awesome.

New Doueh record is awesome. The 20 minute track that occupies the whole second side is the best track of theirs I've heard.

x post. that last track on the prot-rai is my fave too.

"despite everything" tugs at my lil heartstrings

oh my god, thanks dudes for mentioning the proto-rai thing. it is kickin my ass over here.

Great pics krakow. They're playing over here next week, hope I'm able to go.

xposts was there any actual dabke at the gig?

doueh on brian turner's show this tuesday y'all -
http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/BT

There was a miniature two-man dabke at times, courtesy of two entourage dudes filming from the side who'd occasionally get excited and bust out some moves. The crowd loved it. And that saz player was probably the best I've seen. He ain't facing much competition though.

Sublime Frequencies cofounder Hisham Mayet is giving a talk in Asheville, North Carolina, this weekend as part of Harvest Records' Transfigurations Festival: http://harvest-records.com/trans_mission.html

Little, ol' Asheville also has a new internet radio station, and it's going to simulcast the talk. Very cool!

http://www.ashevillefm.org/

(I usually don't push stuff on ilm, but this is some cool stuff.)

anybody got this Omar Khorsid 2LP thing yet? sounds intriguing -- I really liked Richard BIshop's Freak of Araby album, and I guess this is one of the big influences?

I don't have it but I sure was checking it out in the FE update yesterday. pretty reasonably priced for a SF 2LP.

$30 over at Aquarius -- thinking about getting it, though I might wait for the CD ... I just don't have a good vinyl set up these days.

I'm pretty tempted to get that, even though I still live in a primitive world where $30 is a ridiculous sum of money for vinyl. But I've heard a Khorshid album in the past and it was pretty awesome stuff, had a twangy surfy guitar sound and some synthesizer IIRC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxNjCVchtww

whoa. that is a pretty intense clip. he definitely had sex with all those ladies afterwards.

wait there's an Aquarius in Denver?

haha, no, I wish. Just on their website ...

oic

$27 from Forced Exposure but they ship UPS which is $4 minimum

yeah, probably going to just buy this ...
in the meantime: http://ghostcapital.blogspot.com/2010/02/omar-khorshid-rhythms-from-orient.html

the synths on that record^ are awesome. also the guitar playing, duh.

Ecstatic Music of the Jemaa El Fna is fucking awesome.

so is that Omar Khorshid record we were speculating about upthread.

That is, but Ecstatic Music is even better.

Sublime Frequencies collaborator Mark Gergis has started his own label, Sham Palace. The first release on Sham Palace will be a double LP by Omar Souleyman, titled Leh Jani, a 30 minute version of Souleyman's signature track originally released on cassette in Syria.

Gergis says: "I've started the label in order to be able to share more of this mountain of sounds and images I've been accumulating from around the world for almost two decades." As well as vintage releases, Sham Palace will include "later-period music, long-form pieces harvested from international cassettes, electronic folk pop and even some contemporary artists", primarily from the Middle East and South East Asia.

Gergis has worked on Cambodian Cassette Archives, Choubi Choubi! Folk & Pop Sounds From Iraq, plus Omar Souleyman releases, and will continue to work with Sublime Frequencies as well as on Sham Palace. Leh Jani will be released on 22 November, and Souleyman tours Europe in December.

has anyone caught group inerane playing, anywhere? they're here in a month or so & i am tentatively psyched

Sublime Frequencies groups always seem to skip my part of the world (Washington DC area)

where can i find their tour dates?

it is maybe compensation that you guys get to live in the best place to catch ethiopian acts outside of or possibly even inside of ethiopia, though, right
xp

http://www.sublimefrequencies.com/tour/inerane.html europe only atm amateurist

Doing that ^ feature lost me an 0mar S0uleyman feature. True story.

"lost me an 0mar S0uleyman interview" even.

Why, if I may ask?

There was some objection to the very mild and polite criticism of VVenu VVenu is the official line but I get the impression that is our relationship done with (we interviewed him very 'early on' [in UK terms] and have promoted gigs for him etc). There's still a bit of fall out going on but I will have the full story later on when some ruffled feathers have been smoothed and some stuff has been corroborated (I think it's worth talking about). There's absolutely no criticism of D0mino or SF from me though (SubFreq especially... I'm a big, big fan of what they do) - it's possibly more to do with the kind of parties who can glom onto international musicians behind the scenes when they start making it big in different territories - especially when there are language and cultural differences that can be played upon. It's frustrating for us as obviously financially we'd be much better off doing buzzfeed style lists or interviewing Dj@ngo DJ@ngo... no one's paying their rent or food bills by doing loads of features on dabke, choubi and Chaabi for online publications. It's just what we like writing about. So it's not like we're playing some kind of bullish build 'em up/knock 'em down game with him but likewise no one's getting kid glove treatment off us either... I like VVenu VVenu but it's still relatively marginal music at the end of the day despite the big name producer... [sorry about the coffee fueled, non sequitur laden, influenza influenced and vague answer]

That reaction to Gergis' criticism is unfortunate.

Hopefully Souleyman's current label will get past that.

http://brownbook.me/sublime-frequencies/

nice profile of label co-owner Hisham and look at his home and the stuff in it

thanks, bookmarking.

Really regretting not picking up certain SF releases on vinyl. Surely they'd be worth repressing?

Yep

thai country groove from isan is awesome!

Had never heard of this release till now

Indian Talking Machine is a 244-page book with two CDs. Containing over 300 photographs of Indian 78rpm record collections, collectors, and ephemera. A personal take on the vast worlds of Indian music and the intricacies of collecting sound. Indian Talking Machine is the result of nearly a year in India photographing record collections, interviewing collectors, and visiting archives and record markets: photographs of shelves groaning under the weight of unimaginable titles, beautiful label and sleeve designs from long gone eras, wind up talking machines, crammed antique shops, forgotten artists, and more that somehow survived (often barely survived) the difficult "archival" issues of India.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=encQfGLE4io

jeez that looks amazing. not even very pricey either! $36 at forced exposure (though it's out of stock at the moment).
http://www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/millis-robert-indian-talking-machine-78-rpm-record-and-gramophone-co-2cd-book/SF.099CD.html

same price and in stock at amazong if like me you have zero moral backbone

Friday October 13--Alan Bishop as Alvarius B (Sun City Girls guitarist plays outsider folk w/ Egyptian influences) solo and does a Q & a before movie doc “Invisible Hands” a documentary film about Bishop & his band, Invisible Hands, one of two of his Egypt based groups) @ 7:30 @ Lost Origins Gallery in Washington DC

Saturday October 14- Dwarves of East Agouza ( Cairo based w/ Alan Bishop from Sun City Girls & Maurice Louca & Sam Shalabi) , Deakin & Geologist ( of Animal Collective), Jenny Moon Tucker @ Rhizome in DC

Mon. Oct 16- Baba Commandant and Mandingo band (Sublime Frequencies label band) @ 6 pm @ the Mt Pleasant Library (Burkina Faso afrobeat) in Washington DC

“Musical Brotherhoods of the Trans-Saharan Highway” 2005 film about street musicians in Marrakesh, Morocco plaza by Hisham Mayet w/ a q & a w/Sublime Frequencies label head & director Mayet and musician Alan Bishop @ 7:30 @ Lost Origins

Fri. October 20-
Dwarfs of East Agouza (Alan Bishop from Sun City Girls) with Deakin + Geologist, @, and Androgynous Bulge @ The Compound, 2239 Kirk Avenue in Baltimore

Hisham Mayet of Sublime is the road manager for current Baba Commandant tour. He directed the Musical Brotherhoods film doc that is showing tonight . He told me on the phone that he has done some filming in Burkina Faso, but he's not ready yet to make it into a movie or audio project yet.

The Musical Brotherhoods of the Trans-Saharan Highway” 2005 film dvd is sold out. I think the earlier film Mayet filmed at the Jemaa el-Fnaa is also unavailable.

Pretty interesting hearing them talk tonight.

They pull down videos people post of their stuff on YouTube ( and are annoyed by YouTube profiting) but they’re ok with folks finding their stuff via more obscure download sites

Mayet has done some filming in Burkina Faso. Is going to Colombia in February to see Son Palenque and maybe film them

A recent Sublime F release, from India , Madhuvanti Pal instrumental effort on the rudra veena. Traditional sounds with a psychedelic feel

https://sublime-frequencies.bandcamp.com/album/madhuvanti-pal-the-holy-mother-plays-the-rudra-veena

thanks for the revive, I have not been keeping up with this label at all and that link sounds fantastic

20th anniversary Sublime Frequencies gig in Queens NY October 18 with Baba Commandant band from Burkina Faso and Dwarfs of East Agouza ( Egypt based ) . Both Sublime F founders Bishop and Hayet will be there

Dwarfs of East Agouza are so good, but I raved about BabaC live show on the AfroPop thread, what a killer lineup. Paul Major DJing as well!

I have mentioned Baba on global whirled African bands and more thread. Gonna see Dwarfs of East Agouza tomorrow night

Would have loved to see Baba Commandant, just finally picked up their most recent album and absolutely loving it.

Because US promoter of Baba C tour in US is Washington DC based they have done a bunch of gigs locally including free ones at a park and one at lunchtime at a library

Saw the Dwarfs of East Agouza last night. Good Egypt meets motorik meets Velvets groove at times. But also distorted vocals, falsetto ones & some improv noisy sax solos.

Alan has also done solo gigs on this tour, and has solo albums out. I haven’t heard him solo live or recorded yet.

Found out that the Bishop brothers are related to Washington DC rockabilly and honkytonk guitarist Ratso who has played with Kinky Friedman and Tex Rubinowitz.

What type of venue did you see Dwarfs of East Agouza? I saw them in a kind of stale setting in Europe this spring and it didn’t seem quite right.

I saw them in a former car repair shop looking place, where you had to enter in from a hard to find entrance in back in an area of Baltimore with warehouses and just a liquor store nearby selling single cheap beers. The crowd was standing and some dancing and enthusiastic. Maybe some were there to see the members of Animal Collective (Deakin & Geologist) who opened, but they mostly stuck around for Dwarfs. Plus since Baltimore gets less events than DC, I think that helped draw more people too. Ian Nagoski who runs Canary Records was there, Tonal Park Studio in Takoma , MD guy too

https://www.sublimefrequencies.com/store

Some items only available in mp3, but they have vinyl, cd, and dvds for some still

wtfffffff

https://www.instagram.com/p/C0HuZH0P1mL/

i'm gutted. one of the best shows i've seen in years.

Yep, damn malaria . RIP Baba Commandant

Cool new Egyptian music release by The Handover on Sublime Frequencies

https://sublime-frequencies.bandcamp.com/album/the-handover

excited about this one

https://sublime-frequencies.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-shape-shifters-field-recordings-from-the-amazonian-lowlands-1981-1985

The way that was recorded sounds very cool although a bit bittersweet in that the guy who brought the equipment there just died.

I am still catching up on the earlier Sublime 2024 release from April , The Handover , that is classical Egyptian Arabic music with aspects of other Egyptian styles

The Handover is sounding good to me

Tsapiky! Modern Music from Southwest Madagascar, featuring Mamehy, Drick, Befila, Behaja, Mahafaly Mihisa, Meny & Ando, Rebona, and Mirasoa & Mahapoteke, recorded by Maxime Bobo, Sublime Frequencies

Geeta Dayal wrote an article in April 2025 I am just seeing

https://4columns.org/dayal-geeta/tsapiky?fbclid=PAZnRzaANBkX5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABp88hRHq2QBuohDydrfxAQbO73zyiv4k-ZrUyGCRjYO_OimvceetSR45qWBrq_aem_3z69najeoBNzSdJ-lnbf6w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9n3e6Mr7rE

oh wow

whoa

https://sublime-frequencies.bandcamp.com/album/west-virginia-snake-handler-revival-they-shall-take-up-serpents

!

Wild

Just saw Instagram stories of The Handover at Womex. They are a trio with an Egyptian oudist, Egyptian violinist, and a Norwegian/Belgian synth & organist (who visits Egypt a lot) . They have a 2024 release out

That Snakehander record is pretty wild. I don’t think I could listen to it more than once but wow, some raw shit. There’s one peaceful song that sounds kinda like Spacemen 3 lol. At one point, one of the pastors tells the congregation that he forgot to take his ADD meds that day so he went a little overboard on the Starbucks. You can tell!

cosine

an absolute trip