El Mahdy Jr unspools his Ghost Tapes

The Istanbul-based producer brings an album’s worth of his scuffed and worldly sound to Discrepant.

Orbiting around the worldly tones of labels such as Boomarm Nation and ZamZam Sounds, El Mahdy Jr is an artist whose points of reference come from his roots in Algeria and his current home of Istanbul in Turkey. When these inherent influences get fused with the Western notions of bass-heavy club music, it makes for an intoxicating blend that has garnered some positive attention for the producer, not least for his 2013 debut album The Spirit Of Fucked Up Places. So far there are only a handful of releases to delve into on Mahdy Jr’s discography, but one of those already whipped up some interest at Juno Plus, when Scott Wilson described his productions on the Danse Noire 12” Gasba Grime as standing, “in a unique category of their own.”

After a productive 2014, Mahdy Jr’s first appearance of this year will be with his second long player, Ghost Tapes, due out on the Discrepant label which has to date done a fine job of issuing forth challenging sonics from a host of lesser known characters including Kink Gong and Cedric Stevens. Consisting of two long form compositions, Ghost Tapes is, according to Mahdy Jr, “based on found tapes, field recordings, beats and radio frequencies. A ruff attempt of interpreting the cultural ghost that surrounds the field and makes the difference between place and space.”

If you go by the preview track (which is streamable below) it would seem that the description is an accurate one, as a collage of rag tag samples and fragments meet with sweeping production touches in a style which has become something of a calling card for El Mahdy Jr. If you’re already sold on the premise, you can preorder the vinyl over at the Discrepant website.

Discrepant will release Ghost Tapes by El Mahdy Jr. on August 14.

Tracklisting:

1. Ghost Tapes A Side
2. Ghost Tapes B Side

Discrepant on Juno