Mahmoth's Music 9: Imagery of the Abroad.
Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Red Skies, Arabesque Zoudge 2, 2001
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Calexico Close Behind, Feast of Wire, 2003
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One of the main reasons I, and probably most others, listen to music of any stripe is for the imagery evoked, elaborate mindscapes spun from string, wood, brass and steel. Rarely, however, have I found ideas so naturally evoked as in these two scraps of music.
The first from a collection of various pieces of weird Middle-Eastern electronica, speaks directly to my idea of the Old East. Opening with the standard high-pitched flickering strings, mixed with the Muezzins' cries of the early morning, then moving on to the meat of the song. This is the wind of the desert singing across the wastes, the thunder of horse's hooves powered by smooth, white-haired flanks, the rushing race of the whole thing as it moves through your ears, beauty and desolation and so forth.
The other track goes in pretty much completely the opposite direction, and might as well be the intro music for some strange, old Western TV show, complete with rolling, guitar-bound hills, mariachi brass denoting moments of excitement, gunfire and the usual derring-do, more thundering horse hooves and the general feel of adventure and frontierishness.
In other news, my cheese is swiftly being depleted, so soon, I shall rove across the breadth of London in search of a cheesemonger who will sell me some pleasant komijnekaas...