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Ruptured + Beacon Sound Album Release // JULIA SABRA & FADI TABBAL // Snakeskin

September 5, 2022September 17, 2023NewsLeave a Comment

Releasing 14 October 2022 on Ruptured + Beacon Sound:
SNAKESKIN is the first full-length by mainstays of the Lebanese music scene JULIA SABRA and FADI TABBAL. Snakeskin marks the sixth collaboration between Ruptured and Portland-based indie label Beacon Sound, and is the second release in our Corrosion Series, following Anthony Sahyoun’s solo album Proof By Infinite Descent in 2021.

Snakeskin was born in the aftermath of the August 4 2020 port explosion in Beirut, which decimated several of the city’s neighborhoods – it is a reflection on what it means to feel at home in a place where “there is no rebirth, no renewal,” as the artists put it. Shapeshifting above ambient and industrial undercurrents, the album is visionary electronic dream pop, utilizing tape loops, synthesizers, vocals, and drum machines, combining Julia’s pop-inspired melodies and choral roots (an echo from her religious upbringing) with Fadi’s affinity for minimalism and musique concrète.

“The moon speaks in tongues we can’t discern / A plastic dove hangs from a cypress branch / Haven’t you heard? / Nothing grows here anymore / The air is burnt / Nothing grows…”

Recorded by Fadi Tabbal, mixed by Sary Moussa and Fadi at Tunefork Studios in Beirut.
Drum samples by Pascal Semerdjian.
Cover photo by Lujain Jo. Graphic design by Josette ‘ZOoz’ Khalil.
Mastered by Rashad Becker.

Available as a digital album and limited edition vinyl LP with download code.

Listen/Order (Ruptured) HERE

Listen/Order (Beacon Sound) HERE

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Ruptured Records · Anthony Sahyoun – Proof By Infinite Descent [Beacon Sound + Ruptured, 2021]

Ruptured Album Release // FADI TABBAL // Music For The Lonely Vol.2 (2019-2021)

January 26, 2022September 17, 2023NewsLeave a Comment

RELEASING 28 JANUARY 2022 ON RUPTURED:
Lebanese composer, musician & producer Fadi Tabbal continues his ambient explorations on Music for the Lonely Vol.2 (2019-2021), a selection of recordings from live, film and dance performances.

Music for the Lonely Vol.2 (2019-2021) is Fadi Tabbal’s sixth solo release and the second in his “Music for the Lonely” series. Where Volume 1 was purely guitar-based, this album sees Tabbal working almost exclusively with synthesizers and tape loops. The tracks are an exploration of controlled randomness in music composition, while still dealing with the recurrent theme of alienation present in all of his work.

Written, recorded, mixed and performed by Fadi Tabbal at Tunefork Studios, Beirut.
Mastered by Ziad Moukarzel, Jason Powers and Cedrik Fermont.
Photo by Fadi Tabbal. Design by Josette Khalil.

Available as a digital album and limited edition cassette, exclusive to Ruptured’s Bandcamp page.

Listen/Order HERE

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ABOUT FADI TABBAL:

Lebanese musician, producer, and sound engineer Fadi Tabbal’s body of work consists of ambient pieces using guitar, tape loops and synthesizer. He has released 5 solo albums since 2013, with his 6th Music for the Lonely Vol.2 due for release via Ruptured Records on 28 January 2022.

In addition to handling engineering and production tasks at Tunefork Studios which he founded in 2006, Tabbal is a specialist in sound conception and design. He has worked on a variety of projects, including sound and music installations for museums, theatre, and film. He is the technical director of Irtijal, Lebanon and the MENA region’s leading experimental music festival, since 2011.

Tabbal frequently collaborates with fellow ambient musician Charbel Haber, and the two of them have a new album coming out at the end of 2022 on French label Nahal. He is also currently working on an electronic duo with Postcards lead singer Julia Sabra. He was a member of several Lebanese indie bands, including The Bunny Tylers, The Incompetents, Scrambled Eggs and singer/songwriter Youmna Saba’s experimental oriental folk project. He has also recorded and produced some of the most renowned artists from the MENA region’s contemporary alternative and oriental music scenes.

Ruptured + Beacon Sound Album Release // ANTHONY SAHYOUN // Proof By Infinite Descent

November 19, 2021September 17, 2023NewsLeave a Comment

RELEASING 19 NOVEMBER 2021 ON RUPTURED:
First solo album by Lebanese musician Anthony Sahyoun, marking the launch of the ‘Corrosion Series’ by Ruptured Records in Beirut and Beacon Sound in Portland.

After making a name for himself over the last decade in Beirut’s vibrant contemporary music scene, Anthony Sahyoun unveils his solo debut, the evocative and atmospheric Proof By Infinite Descent. Using guitar, synthesizer and voice, Sahyoun tackles themes of mourning, accidental prophecy, and the new holy trinity of God, Capitalism, and Technology – all while mining the seams of experimental electronica and gravity-defying ambient music. Restless, haunting, at times breathtakingly beautiful, this is an album that seeks to rattle cages rather than soothe the comfortable.

Anthony Sahyoun co-founded instrumental rock outfit Kinematik in 2015, in the remote village of Reyfoun in the Lebanese mountains. To this day, the band has released three full-length albums entitled Ala’ (Ruptured, 2017), Murur Al-Kiram (Beacon Sound/Ruptured, 2020) and Al Jadi (Ruptured/Annihaya, 2021).
As a solo artist, Sahyoun works on electronic processing of acoustic elements, programming, drone and ambient music – his music has been described as “apocalyptic, rich and emotionally charged.” His first EP, Post Coital Tristesse, was released under the moniker Mme Chandelier by Ruptured in 2016.

Proof By Infinite Descent is the first installment in the “Corrosion Series”, a new project by longtime collaborators Ruptured and Beacon Sound that aims to showcase Beirut’s blast-resistant music scene, while building cultural connective tissue in a time of institutional corrosion.
To accompany the release of the album, Beacon Sound and Ruptured have commissioned two remixes of key album tracks, from Beirut-based producer Sary Moussa and Portland-based producer Amulets. Both remixes will be given away as bonus tracks with the purchase of the full album.

Available as a digital album and a limited edition transparent vinyl LP.

Listen/Order (Ruptured) HERE

Listen/Order (Beacon Sound) HERE

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Ruptured Records · Anthony Sahyoun – Proof By Infinite Descent [Beacon Sound + Ruptured, 2021]

Ruptured & Annihaya Double Album Release // CALAMITA: Nemesis + KINEMATIK: Al-Jadi

August 15, 2021September 17, 2023NewsLeave a Comment

Releasing 18 AUGUST 2023 on Ruptured + Annihaya:

Following their collaboration on the Lebanese vinyl edition of Senyawa’s “Alkisah” in February 2021, indie labels Annihaya and Ruptured are collaborating on two vinyl releases, to be released simultaneously in August 2021.

These are the 3rd album from Lebanese post-rock collective KINEMATIK, entitled “Al Jadi”, and the 2nd album from CALAMITA (the trio of guitarist Sharif Sehnaoui, bassist Tony Elieh and drummer Davide Zolli), entitled “Nemesis”.

Both albums were recorded and mixed by Fadi Tabbal at Tunefork Studios, Beirut.
Both albums were mastered by Harris Newman at Grey Market Mastering, Montreal.
All artworks by Hatem Imam, Studio Safar.

Listen/Order (Ruptured) HERE

Listen/Order (Annihaya) HERE

Ruptured Album Release // NP [JAD ATOUI & ANTHONY SAHYOUN] // Lattices

July 1, 2021September 17, 2023NewsLeave a Comment

RELEASING 08 JULY 2021 ON RUPTURED:

The duo of Lebanese electronic producers Jad Atoui and Anthony Sahyoun releases LATTICES, its first album release of grainy, evocative ambient explorations.

LATTICES is concerned with the exploration of non-deterministic approaches to producing electronic music, based on improvised techniques using modular systems and synthesizers.

Performed and produced by Jad Atoui and Anthony Sahyoun at home during lockdown in Beirut, 2020.
Mixed by Anthony Sahyoun at Tunefork Studios, Beirut.
Mastered by Rafael Irisarri at Black Knoll Studios, NYC.
Artwork by Anthony Sahyoun.

Listen/Order HERE

Ruptured Album Release // TWO OR THE DRAGON // Dance Grooves For The Weary EP

May 13, 2021September 17, 2023NewsLeave a Comment

RELEASING 21 MAY 2021 ON RUPTURED:

TWO OR THE DRAGON
Two or the Dragon is the electro-acoustic duo of Lebanese musicians Abed Kobeissy and Ali Hout. The project was initiated in 2014, when the two players were asked to compose scores for contemporary dance and theater performances. The duo’s unapologetic approach to traditional Arabic music hints at deconstruction, dance grooves, industry, satire and a deniable melancholy, in a manner reminiscent of early recordings by Einsturzende Neubauten, Laibach or Throbbbing Gristle.
Hout and Kobeissy approach Beirut’s industrial vistas both as a local aesthetic and a main element of their work: the unique sound of processed buzuq (Levantine long-necked lute) and percussion, combined with the two musicians’ rich background in traditional Arabic music, takes the sonic, visual and pseudo-political day-to-day that is Beirut and reflects it onto a hyper-realistic soundscape.

Rather than a contemporary rendering of traditional Arabic music, Two or The Dragon’s music is saturated with their city’s aural components. The restless din of Beirut plays a major role in shaping the duo’s aesthetic; from the drilling of ever-expanding construction sites, the cacophony of car horns in unpredictable traffic, the drone of randomly juxtaposed electricity generators powering an entire city, and the thousands of wandering tankers pumping water into apartment blocks. Colorful fields of raw noise evolve into soothing agents of amnesia, in an absurdly elongated post-war period.
“DANCE GROOVES FOR THE WEARY” marks a departure from Two or The Dragon’s usual trademarks. The prevailing attitude here is one of sobriety and caution, undoubtedly as a result of the events that started dismantling the fabric of Lebanese society, from October 2019 to the present day.

Kobeissy’s solo piece, on which this EP is based, was composed in the Fall of 2020, following THE most violent summer in Lebanon’s history. As “DANCE GROOVES FOR THE WEARY” progresses, the initial sense of sobriety and caution seems to have run its course. The physical detonation of the drum machine – an agent provocateur of sorts – paves the way for an emotionally charged finale, with faint traces of a Bizet melody and a grinding, distorted daf.
At the heart of this new work is a desire to provide solace for the megalomaniac, the tired, the frightened, the bored, and the hopeful alike. A slap in the face of Lebanon’s ongoing, undeterred collective amnesia.

Listen/Order HERE

Ruptured Album Release // STELLAR BANGER // Data Is EP

May 11, 2021September 17, 2023NewsLeave a Comment

RELEASING MAY 21ST ON RUPTURED:

STELLAR BANGER
Stellar Banger is an electro-acoustic quartet composed of Lebanese musicians Ali Hout and Abed Kobeissy and German musicians Pablo Giw and Joss Turnbull.
The roots of this unique collaboration were laid down during the 2019 iteration of Irtijal Festival in Beirut, when the four men played together for the first time following their respective festival sets. The next year, right before the eruption of the Coronavirus pandemic, they set about working on a set of concrete recordings, from their homes in Beirut, Berlin, Köln and Turin. The resulting, freeform pieces were reworked, stretched and recomposed under varying states of lockdown, over the course of six months and 28 highly kinetic Zoom meetings.

The approach behind Stellar Banger is one of complete musical freedom, away from pre-assigned functions of instrumental / cultural roles, oblivious to the borders separating acoustic and digital media. At the heart of the quartet’s creative process is the notion of instant composing; improvisation with an experimental mindset, drum machines and electronic beats used in an open and intuitive manner, creating an identifiable sonic identity and structure.
Influenced by the absurd realities of a world overridden by COVID-19, far-right politics and bloody popular uprisings, the music might seem chaotic at first; but hidden within a multi-matrix of patterns, rhythms and colors, an elusive yet imposing structure begins to emerge, a pulsating musical bed composed of grainy, poly-layered pink-noise eruptions.
A case in point would be lead track “Data Is,” a bewildering example of musical defragmentation, overlaying sample shreds, stutters and tremolo patterns, unraveling as a sonic reminder of pre-existing musical idioms. The track inexorably builds up and climaxes into a giant cluster of pixels and dots; an audiophiliac prophecy of digitization, set to ghostlike incantations of astronomical objects and cosmic junk data.

Stellar Banger survived COVID-19’s reign of terror and the tyranny of border controls thanks to instant voice messages. In this EP release, messages act as both musical tools and narrative elements. They document the difficulties undergone by band members traveling and attempting to meet under lockdown. Aural, often nonsensical snapshots of arguments at airports, border controls, in quarantine; a binary, intercontinental ballistic messenger of friendship, a conveyor of hope through music. An apt representation of today’s digital world.

Mixed by Pablo Giw.
Mastered by Rashad Becker at Clunk, Berlin.
Artwork by Murtey.

Listen/Order HERE

Irtijal News // Istimrar Commission Series // Phase 1

April 3, 2021April 4, 2021NewsLeave a Comment

Ruptured News // LUMEN PROJECT // BEIRUT MOON

March 9, 2021March 9, 2021NewsLeave a Comment

LUMEN PROJECT // BEIRUT MOON – SATURDAY 13th of MARCH 2021

A longform experience with sound and image

Lumen Project (Sweden) will present performances by artists in Beirut, Lebanon // with a sonic + visual response from Malmö, Sweden featuring:

Albin // Jad Atoui // Vincent Bahar // Yasmine El Baramawy // Liliane Chlela // Nadia Daou (Nãr) // Tony Elieh // Charbel Haber // Mathias Landæus // Nathan Larson // Aya Metwalli // Ziad Moukarzel // Sary Moussa // Jawad Nawfal // Julia Sabra // Anthony Sahyoun // Sharif Sehnaoui // Fadi Tabbal // Elyse Tabet //

FREE FOR ALL — DONATIONS ARE APPRECIATED and will be shared among the participating artists

More info here: https://www.lumenproject.se/events/beirutmoon

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/141308467850730/

Initiated and realized by Lumen Project, in collaboration with Ruptured and Tunefork
Producers: Ziad Nawfal, Lina Enqvist, Maria Lyth, Erik Sandberg and Nathan Larson
Graphic design by Caroline Igel
Photography by Lujain Jo and Erik Sandberg
Editing by Erik Sandberg and Nathan Larson
With support from Musikverket

Ruptured Album Release // THE DRONE SESSIONS Vol. 1 – Live at Tunefork Studios

March 4, 2021September 17, 2023NewsLeave a Comment

RELEASING 19 MARCH 2021 ON RUPTURED:

The Drone Sessions vol. 1 – Live at Tunefork Studios
In partnership with Nathan Larson and Lumen Project (Stockholm)

Featuring brand new music from Fadi Tabbal & Julia Sabra – Anthony Sahyoun & Jad Atoui – Elyse Tabet & Jawad Nawfal – Charbel Haber & Sary Moussa – Aya Metwalli & Nadia Daou – Sharif Sehnaoui & Tony Elieh – Liliane Chlela & Ziad Moukarzel.

Mastered by Cedrik Fermont at Syrphe, Berlin. Design by Nour Raad.

Listen/Order HERE

All photos by Lujain Jo at Tunefork Studios.
Both audio and video material is going to be the subject of a live broadcast by Lumen Project, on March 13, 2021.