Muslimgauze | Artist
Muslimgauze was the main musical project of Bryn Jones a British ethnic electronica and experimental musician born 1961 in Salford, Manchester. Jones, who first worked under the pseudonym E.g Oblique Graph, was greatly influenced by conflicts and history in the Muslim world, often with an emphasis on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. With over a hundred albums released under the Muslimgauze name, Jones was prolific, but he never achieved mainstream success. His music has been described by one critic as "among the most startling and unique in the noise underground". By the late 1980s, Jones ran out of funding to self-release, and other labels that did put out his releases such as Recloose and Permis De Construire did not pay promised royalties. It was with the release of United States of Islam (1991) a formalised agreement was reached with Extreme Records, which helped fund professional studio recordings, designed attractive packaging, and used a more extensive distribution network. However Jones was frustrated with Extreme's one-release-a-year policy and in 1993 signed with then sibling labels Soleilmoon and Staalplaat, which offered a more frequent release schedule. 1993 saw the release of Vote Hezbollah, Veiled Sisters and a re-release of Iran on Soleilmoon and Hamas Arc, Satyajit Eye and Betrayal on Staalplaat. His 1998 record Mullah Said attracted much critical acclaim, with one reviewer describing it as "my all-time favourite tribal ambient release". Another review nicely captures the album's essence: "whenever listening to this album I feel like I'm walking through bazaar streets in Pakistan or something. The ambience is perfect and the production is stellar. The title track is so hypnotic and I love the sudden urgency of the drums, but the whole album maintains this ominous atmosphere... The way Bryn was able to construct these beautiful intricate soundscapes through so many samples is so fascinating". Stylistically Jones' music is often heavily electronic and strongly rhythmic, sometimes including live studio percussion. The ambient soundscape shifts with varying tempos and frequent use of gradually changing structures or melodic motifs. From his vast catalogue, standout albums include Veiled Sisters (1993), Return of Black September (1996), Narcotic (1997) and Mullah Said (1998). On 30 December 1998 Jones was rushed to hospital with a rare fungal infection in his bloodstream, for which he had to be heavily sedated. He contracted pneumonia and died on 14 January 1999. In April 2014, Vinyl On Demand released Chasing the Shadow of Bryn Jones 1983–1988, a 10 LP box set reissuing early albums originally released by Product Kinematograph, Recloose Organisation, and Jones' own Limited Editions.
Artist Website: muslimgauze.org
Featured Albums: Muslimgauze
Related Artists: Bryn Jones
