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Natacha Atlas :: the Remix Collection

dimm — Sun, 26 Aug 2001 13:07:56 +0000

With only 5 tunes comprising 9 separate tracks in this set, each is different enough from the other remix of the same tune that it warrants further listens. “Yalla Chant” gets twisted three times, while “Duden” and “Amulet” enjoy two reinterpretations each, leaving Klute’s “One Brief Moment” and Bullitnuts’ “Bastet”, the later of which could’ve been developed into something really special instead of the same boring loop over and over again, and the former being perhaps the best tune on this cd.

I was glad to see Banco, Talvin, and TGU’s names in the list of masters remixing a master, but it would’ve truly been interesting to witness the results that Fun-da-mental, Karsh, or even Bjork could have come up with given the quality of the base material… maybe for the next one.

Natacha Atlas :: Diaspora

dimm — Sun, 26 Aug 2001 13:00:56 +0000

The question I get asked the most about myself and this odd new form of music is , “how did you get into it? did you find out about it cuz yer injun?”

Well boys + girls it happened, as with all things great, with 4 parts luck and a sprinkling of accident, for flavour.

It was 1995, I was in Rochester, NY wasting my parent’s money on a useless education, when one of my good friends became editor of our school’s weekly magazine. He was young, and naturally had doubts that he could pull the whole thing off, so he surrounded himself with friends for comfort and reassurance.

I was hired as copy editor/illustrator/henchman. I did absolutely nothing for $60/week. Another perk was that we periodically received free cds from promoters and record labels. Most of it was crap, but this one, “Diaspora” looked a bit different and as we both listened to it in his car going somewhere to do something doubtless dubious, I commented that I liked it. He thought it was kinda weird. He let me keep it.

It’s not surprising that one of the oldest civilizations on the planet would influence such a “human Gaza strip” as Atlas to pioneer a new form of music that was simply ahead of its time. Atlas’ mind conjures up sounds that envelope your soul in a cathedral of emotion that you hope to never escape.

Diaspora’s rare to find, but if you look hard and are patient, you’ll be owning the cd that started it all (at least for me…).

Natacha Atlas :: Ayeshteni

dimm — Mon, 06 Aug 2001 10:38:16 +0000

I used to live in Washington DC, and I just learned that Natacha lives there too. I never saw her trucking around Georgetown though. Too bad, cuz she’s a hottie. But most of her album covers make her look bad. The only decent ones were from the Gedida and Halim albums.

This fourth solo album is good, and after The Remix Collection, I’ve developed a taste for her electronic-triphop style, which find’s its way into nearly every track while keeping her Egyptian heritage well intact.

Natacha does quite a bit of work with TransGlobal Underground, and they return here to mix and produce Ayeshteni into full-flavoured middle-eastern electronica at it’s best.