LISTEN: New Maurice Louca Track

One album rapidly making a home on the tQ stereo recently has been the new record by Maurice Louca. Benhayyi Al-Baghbaghan (Salute The Parrot) arrives via Nawa Recordings later this month and is the product of lengthy experimentations with composition, improvisation and collaboration by the Cairo musician following the release of his debut, Garraya, on the Egyptian label 100COPIES in 2011, distilled down from live performance for the album. We’ve been given a first play of one of its eight tracks, ‘Sharraq Rah Tegharrab (It Will Set)’, which demonstrates a deft uniting of forces, with Electro Chaabi MC Alaa 50 guesting on vocals alongside bursts of saxophone from Alan Bishop, of Sun City Girls and Alvarius B. Chris Michael Shaheen’s drums and Bashar Faran’s bass hold down a slowed Chaabi rhythm over which Alaa 50’s pitch-shifted, at-times aqueous, vocals set up a drone which gets flecked with Bishop’s saxophone, a discordant assault that wanders between the stereo channels. Listen above and get hold of it on November 17 on limited edition black or green vinyl, CD and download from Nawa.