Planet Mu Records (@planetmurecords.bsky.social)

ABADIR - The Primitivist Rami Abadir rejects lazy futurism on his Planet Mu debut, instead studying the Arab world's historic rhythms, instruments and techniques and using that raw material to galvanize a suite of contemporary club music that sails far beyond the usual 4/4 template. It's dynamic, charismatic gear - crucial dancer's biz FFO Toumba, 3Phaz, Siete Catorce and Slikback. Like us, Abadir has noticed that the now-ubiquitous dystopian club fantasy has become a self-fulfilling prophecy in the last few years. What started as a subversive examination of the cultural status quo from radical non-white voices like Nkisi and Chino Amobi was swiftly co-opted by a well-heeled Eurocentric elite who traded any empathy for naive-but-marketable indifference. So on 'The Primitivist' he addresses the situation directly, following his hybridized SVBKVLT breakout 'Mutate' with another dancefloor-ready suite that sources its ingredients closer to home. Where its predecessor looked for nexus points between the Maqsoum rhythm and reggaeton or jungle, 'The Primitivist' locks into the Arab region, reaching from Egypt to Iraq, Kuwait, Syria and Palestine and adapting traditional elements with bold modern techniques. The best point of comparison might be the "Tribal Prehispánico" concept proposed by early N.A.A.F.I. legend Javier Estrada, who re-imagined Mexico's tribal guarachero sound using even more fundamental local instrumentation and advanced DAW knowledge. Abadir's music is still functionally modern, sharpened with the techniques he's refined over years of performing in some of the world's most notorious clubs and festival spaces, but it's been shaped by history - he doesn't attempt to bury his head in the sand as drones barrage the dunes surrounding him. On 'Habban', Abadir engages in his own kind of sonic warfare, disrupting a 4/4 pulse with Iraqi khishba drum samples, darbuka rhythms and reshaping the melodic content using synthesized buzuq-style pentatonic riffs. And the title track takes the concept even further, shoehorning live syncopated hand drum rhythms into a progression of glossed builds and drops that hits its crescendo with the shrill wail of Levantine mijwiz reed pipes. Elsewhere, Abadir adapts the 8-beat tsifteteli rhythm - a staple at Greek and Turkish weddings - on 'Pass & Go', chopping it with abrupt interjections and breakneck rolls and heads back home on 'This is Not Another Maqsoum', spiking the Egyptian pattern with elements cribbed from the Bedouin al-Dahiyya folk dance. It's some of the best club music (or wedding music, actually) you're likely to hear this year. https://boomkat.com/products/the-primitivist