beirut Archives - Backseat Mafia

Album Review: Jad Atoui – ‘It Will Take Forever’: A challenging merger of electronics, noise and ambience from the Lebanese sound sculptor.

Beirut -based audio-artist Jad Atoui’s ‘It Will Take Forever’ takes you on a journey into the depths of sound. Experimental electronic music with the listener key to the experiment, it’s…

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Album Review: Charbel Haber – ‘May a soft sun bless your sky while you wait for the inevitable’: A serene ambient soundtrack of beauty and bewilderment.

From its very first notes this is an album which treads the finest line between peaceful serenity and poignant fragility. That’s a balance that only a musician of Charbel Haber’s…

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Album Review: Zone Null – ‘Phase 1’: Taking the bass to unknown places- epic, long form electronic improv from the Berlin-based duo.

Pounding into January with the irrepressible Ruptured Records and a debut album, ‘Phase 1’ from a new collaborative project Zone Null, featuring bassist Tony Elieh and electronic composer/performer Burkhard Beins.…

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Album Review: Snakeskin –‘We Live In Sand’: Enlightening, intense dream pop from the ever impressive Beirut duo.

Lebanese, electronic dream pop duo Snakeskin don’t so much shed layers from release to release, they harden their resolve, reinforcing their messaging into songs which are even more powerful and…

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Album Review: Yara Asmar – ‘everyone I love is sleeping and i love them so so much’ : Extraordinary electro-acoustic stories crafted from simple things.

Tinkering, testing, tuning and transforming, Yara Asmar is a restlessly inquisitive multi-instrumentalist. Since her debut release on Hive Mind, ‘Home Recordings 2018-2021’ the Beirut- based musician has used music boxes…

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Album Review: SANAM –‘Sametou Sawtan’: Absorbing, ambitious free rock fusion from the peerless Lebanese six-piece.

It takes a singular vision to bring something new to the post rock table these days, loud/quiet trajectories and obtuse time signatures have long been overplayed, but Lebanese sextet SANAM…

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Album Review: Prefaces – ‘Acqua Marina’: Cinematic surf rock and dream-state instrumentals from the singular Beirut trio.

If you thought the limits of surf-rock had been reached by Gitkin or Ribot or Khruangbin then the Beirut trio Prefaces have other ideas. Formed around the mercurial and prolific…

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Album Review: Charbel Haber, Nicolás Jaar and Sary Moussa- ‘Crashing waves…’: A breath-taking electro-acoustic journey which reaches beyond the moment.

Disseminating experimental/alternative music from the myriad of vibrant scenes across the SWANA region to the wider world has been Ruptured Music’s generous undertaking for over fifteen years. Its creative source…

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Meet: Zach Condon / Beirut ahead of his new album A Study of Losses and European dates

After a prolific yet challenging few years, Zach Condon returns with A Study of Losses, the most expansive Beirut album to date. Commissioned as a soundtrack for a Swedish acrobatic…

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Track: Beiruts New Single ‘Guericke’s Unicorn’ is a Synth-Pop Gem, Heralding an Ambitious Album

Beirut’s latest single, Guericke’s Unicorn, is a bubbling, harmony-soaked synth-pop track that showcases Zach Condon’s trademark yearning vocals. It has a hopeful yet slightly wistful nature, striking a delicate balance…

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