The first time we got introduced to the music of Ran Slavin was on his ‘Product 02’ CD release for the very same label that now releases ‘The Wayward Regional Transmissions’. Slavin hails from Israel, where he produces digital music, experimental cinema and video art. On his latest CD he approaches ‘Oriental Middle Eastern Music with Abstract Glitch’ and to this end he uses in some pieces the BulbulTarang, a three steel string Indian instrument played by Ahuva Ozeri, who was the first female star of Mizrahit music. Another piece uses the Ud, played by Moshe Eliahu. It may seem an odd mixture at work here, but in fact the opposite is true. The minimal patterns played on the traditional instruments mingle quite nicely with the electronic music of Slavin, which is not always glitch like. He employs rhythm through rhythm machines, which he processes by digital means. Of course the hotbed of cracks, hiss, static and such like is present, to make sure that this is the world of glitch.
There is however something quite warm about this CD, almost like a lazy tropical afternoon, such as in ‘Jericho 6AM’ (although the title suggest a different time). The music is not unlike that of Thilges, who have been working on this kind of merging of western digital techniques and middle eastern instruments. This CD fits quite nice the Cronica label, who have been before bringing special themes to the world of glitch and not being an ordinary label for ordinary glitch. Slavin’s disc works with traditional approaches, both in computer music and in oriental music but the combination thereof is quite new. Very nice work.
FdW