Blue Mosque

AMG Review of Blue Mosque

Ned Raggett
All Music Guide

While "Muzzel of Deceit" isn't as strong an introduction to this double-disc effort as earlier tracks were for their respective albums, it's still a fair effort. It shows Muslimgauze continuing the work begun on Zealot, where dub-wise production techniques blend with drones and at times slamming beats, -- "Freedom Fighter" being a great example of this (why Muslimgauze hasn't been more readily sampled by other artists remains a mystery) -- to create a very modern form out of traditional types of music. "Bir Zeit" stands out here, due to its aggressive electronic feel and distorted rhythm track elements (intentional here as compared to Zealot); though the track is mixed relatively low, it sets up an excellent air of looming menace thanks to the strange whispering throughout the track. "Futile Arad Search" is another fine piece; it relies on a strange percussion loop that seems constructed from anything but regular percussion instruments which are set against a slightly more conventional rhythm that surfaces from the wash of sound in the mix. Particularly striking is one part where little but a soft drum machine beat and the sudden shudder of a tambourine come to the fore. Other songs worthy of attention include "Fadhan," with its wheezing electronics layered below a traditional drum performance, the jaunty swing of "Bandit Queen," with its quirky keyboard hook, and the slow, compelling crawl of "Pakistani Nuclear Box." Longer tunes like "Rattan Kiss" sometimes succeed, and sometimes don't; occasionally rising from the music's foreground is the unfortunate slide from entrancing minimalism to relative boredom which can afflict Muslimgauze releases. While not quite up to the same level as Zealot, Blue Mosque is still another fine Muslimgauze release.