Digital Chamber MP3

Raz Mesinai is a maestro of Middle Eastern-edged ersatz chamber music. On his new Asphodel Records album, Safe, he piles samples of composed and improvised cues by the likes of guitarist Marc Ribot, violinist Mark Feldman and cellist Jane Scarpantoni into his computer and completes what they might never have accomplished without his post-production mediation: a mesh of digitally enabled collaboration that layers their individual efforts with an emphasis on drama and momentum, all trailing electronic echoes. Having originally gained fame as half of the next-gen dub act Sub Dub, Mesinai has recently branched into film work. Safe, which he’s had in the can for some time, finally arrives attributed to his Badawi pseudonym and represented by a free download courtesy of Asphodel, “I Said Oblivion” (MP3), an escalating charge of strings and percussion. More info at razmesinai.com. (My interview with Mesinai appears in the Winter/Spring 2006 issue of e/i magazine, on newsstands now. I’ll post it on Disquiet.com as soon as the subsequent issue is published.)