Gonjasufi releases his newest mini-album MU.ZZ.LE with Warp Records
Gonjasufi is back with a release on the pivotal Warp Records this year, the third official album with the label after the intoxication of entrancing works of A Sufi And A Killer and The Caliph’s Tea Party. Both of those albums were released in 2010 with A Sufi and a Killer having production entirely from The Gaslamp Killer and The Caliph’s Tea Party being the remix counter part to the debut full length. Bibio, Broadcast, MRR and many more, it was easily agreed upon across the board that The Caliph’s Tea Party was just as heavy of an album as The Gaslamp Killer produced debut. At the heart of all the production work, samples and musical backdrops, there is an unmistakable and unique poet with vocal approaches that show a penchant for exploration in tonality and the many styles of attacking a word. You have never heard anything like Gonjasufi’s voice and there is no denying this fact. Much like Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Iggy Pop and the other countless scores of lyricist with little focus to octave fluctuation, Gonjasufi uses a resonance in his voice that transcends octave shifts and becomes spiritual in motion and reason instantly. When I heard news last year that a new Warp album was in the works from Gonjasufi, it felt like something that was very needed was coming to the world again.
This year Gonjasufi has come back into the fold of the Warp Records extensive release schedule with a mini album called MU.ZZ.LE. With heavy amounts of production from fellow San Diego native Pyschopop of Skrapez, Angelo Arce on keys and Gonjasufi himself, this record feels more personal and more matured than anything he has done to date. With A Sufi and a Killer, The Gaslamp Killer stripped out entire sections of various obscure rarities in his collection with added production manipulation. Psych songs to Spirit, there was a large use of tones that had graced records for decades and each track was defined by the raw and tantalizing vocal treatment that submerges you into a different world than anything you are currently in. On MU.ZZ.LE, the production becomes much more channelled and centered that adds to the overpowering effects of the vocals. One minute I feel like I am in a spghetti western and the next it feels like the underground streets of Paris in the 50′s. It’s a shifting tight rope balance that makes me feel like I am inside of an El Topo scenery remade for the 21st century human condition. With every track soaking in deep moments of poetic examination of the world and the window of ones self, the production work becomes a colorful and meaningful set of stories being told through sound. ‘White Picket Fence’, the beginning of the album, lands in a field of psychedelic and juxtaposed cross sections of heaviness and the light. The mix for ‘White Picket Fence’ is processed in a field of phasing, with a wavery off tone that makes it feel like the microphones and gear taking in this sound were submerged in water. Crashing beautiful fills on the drums and a nod to the 60′s, it has that Burning of the Midnight Lamp feel and left me in a serene yet short state of transformation right away. This is the birth of MU.ZZ.LE and Psychopop and Gonjasufi join together to bring serenity and unification through sound.
‘Feedin’ Birds’ is the second number and sounds like it comes right out of a spaghetti western of the 70′s. Gonjasufi’s wife is included as guest vocalist and the tone of how her vocals were captured is a perfect match to what Gonjasufi brings. Intertwined through many degrees, the cascading and screeching outro of her vocal passage is superbly lifted into the cosmos. Psychopop paints a field of despair where the vultures are ready for the next pickings and the lyricism achieved is as drafty, surreal and poignant as the production under them. Pyschopo produced my favorite songs on this album and the number ‘Skin’ has to be my favorite from any Gonjasufi song I have ever heard. There is a heavy rotating, almost circular rhythm to the production, with overtones sprouting to the outer reaches of the song, giving the female and male vocal interaction a seat inside of the music instead of on top. Gonjasufi’s wife appears again and she weaves around the delayed patterns of Gonjasufi’s main parts. This is one of the rawest songs I have heard from Gonjasufi yet it is majestic in scope and even gentle on contact. The intro crawls in like a heavy mist in the night, slowly fading in as the saturated mix shoots off flares of sonic sparks and energy. The vocals are set in separated short bars with heavy delay processed on both sets of vocals. The beat drops out and you really hear the harmonic value of the vocal tandem, placing as much weight as the psychotic and psychedelic beat excursion given by Pyschopop.
When I first read the credits for MU.ZZ.LE I knew I was in for treat as Gonjasufi is credited to producing and co-producing 7 out of the 10 songs. The piece ‘Venom’, solely produced by Gonjasufi, is one of the most intriguing pieces to me in his catalog. There is a very metallic feel that runs under the organic off springs of tones and vocals. It has a magnetic yet snake like crawl to it, with the lyrics painting a portrait of self reflective realities and examinations of society in every potent word. The processing of sound is very minimal and the song breathes in a sonar pulsating way, with the energy flickering in and out. Vocals are recorded in various tones and highlight the further corridor of sound the vocals add to this record. Without Gonjasufi, this album would loose a lot of its attachment to the outer extensions of this world and more importantly would loose all sense of an inner search.
Gonjasufi has always identified with a level of chaotic and extreme dualities in life and the title of his debut couldn’t have exemplified this any better. MU.ZZ.LE feels like a deeper examination of these principle foundations of the fine line between morality and causality and magnifies this view further into the evolving state of an outsider who has been let in just enough to survive. On the piece ‘Nickels and Dimes’, the ending section of the song shows a very different side of Gonjasufi, choosing to display a spoken word section that reflects his views on the wastefulness of this modern culture. This is a message to all nations, all people of any sort of wealth that allows them to eat daily, not to any race, individual or grouping of people in a region of the world. All of his lyrics have this potent omnipresent affect, where the principles of his words can be examined in thousands of situations, not just particular experiences that only include a few individuals.
MU.ZZ.LE is a beautifully crafted album and the stories, experiences and wisdom that shapes this mini-LP are profound and moving in every way. There is an honesty here, a hands reach to something pure, evanescent and powerful. Mastered by legendary UK engineer Noel Summerville, this album reflects the 30+ years and 300+ albums he has under his belt. His ability in crafting certain frequencies of sounds to emerge right together sits among the best out there and he has done a superb job with Gonjasufi’s MU.ZZ.LE. You feel the warmth and strength of an era long before this one all over the new album, without this added depth the record might not have stood up so well on first contact. Warp Records has been home for Gonjasufi since his debut record and MU.ZZ.LE is another addition to his legacy that will please fans for decades to come. Don’t miss out on getting a copy, this is one we had to get the limited edition vinyl for.
-Erik Otis
Gonjasufi
MU.ZZ.LE
Warp Records
- White Picket Fence
- Feedin’ Birds
- Nikels And Dimes
- Rubberband
- Venom
- Timeout
- Skin
- The Blame
- Blaksuit
- Sniffin’
Order MU.ZZ.LE from Warp Records
Feedin’ Birds (a duet between Gonjasufi and his wife) is taken from forthcoming mini-album MU.ZZ.LE out Jan 24 (Jan 23 in UK/Europe) http://warp.net/gonjasufi
‘The Blame’. Shot by Neil Krug and David Myrick in Downtown LA.
*All photos from Warp Records
