TKMC Catalog

Title: Je Veux Voir (Original Sound Track)
Author: Scrambled Eggs
Reference: tkmc 006

The Scrambled Eggs are no strangers to movie atmospheres. They contributed several outstanding tracks to filmmakers Joreige and Hadjithomas' previous outing, "A Perfect Day", and the soundtrack went on to win a prestigious European award. "Je Veux Voir" (Joreige and Hadjithomas' latest ) is however an altogether different experience, as it sees the Lebanese rock band tackle the movie's atmosphere on their own, delivering in the process 17 tracks of unbridled intensity and startling restraint.
Tracks 1 to 14 (which are mysteriously untitled) were recorded after watching excerpts from the as-yet-unreleased movie; the band gathered in Beirut's Tunefork studios, and improvised directly onto tape melodic passages combining ambient soundscapes, 'guitarified' meanderings and moody rock drones. These were filtered through 16 ambient microphone inputs disposed haphazardly in the room, not necessarily directed at any particular instrument, and recorded by prolific sound engineer Fadi 'Fe' Tabbal. Additional arrangements and mixing were performed at a later stage by 'Fe' and Scrambled head-honcho Charbel Haber.
Tracks 15 and 16 feature French/Lebanese experimental musician Joe Ghosn, surrounded by a cast of like-minded friends, operating under the guise of Discipline and the Mainstream Ensemble.
Tracks 17 to 19 are further additions by the Scrambled Eggs, consisting of demo tracks remixed by band members Charbel Haber and Marc Codsi, as well as one stellar, unreleased recording, 'Let it Go'.
Ziad Nawfal

Title: XEFM
Author: XEFM
Reference: tkmc 005

Music by Tony Elieh, Charbel Haber, Abdallah Ko, Fadi Tabbal / Recorded by Fadi Tabbal at Tunefork Sudios, Beirut, Lebanon / Mixed and Mastered by Charbel Haber and Fadi Tabbal at Tunefork Studios, Beirut, Lebanon / Produced by Charbel Haber for TKMC Records and Fadi Tabbal for Tunefork (www.tunefork.com) / Illustration by Abdallah Ko / Art Direction by Karma Tohme / Licensed and distributed by Incognito

On the surface of things, and upon repeated listens, this record sounds like the product of four musicians entirely in tune with each other's possibilities and musical scope(s). What makes this venture supremely interesting, paradoxically, is that this statement is not exactly true. The four musical minds at work on this, the XEFM's first recorded output, come from vastly differing musical backgrounds, and manage to achieve unprecedented hegemony on this outstanding record.
The quartet of Charbel Haber, Tony Elieh (both hailing from punk band Scrambled Eggs), Fadi Tabbal (from Tunefork Recording Studios), and Abdallah Ko (the loose cannon in this wild bunch), creates an intriguing, foggy tapestry of sounds, spreading over six tracks, and hovering between ambient electronica, folksy rock, and outlandish noise.
Ziad Nawfal

Title: From The Canaries in The Coal Mines Comes an Endless Stream of Reveries
Author: Charbel Haber
Reference: tkmc 004

Music by Charbel Haber / Recorded at the mighty old Hotel2Tango, 173 Van Horn, Montreal, Canada / Mixed and Mastered by Charbel Haber and Fadi Tabbal at Tunefork Studios, Beirut, Lebanon / Produced by Charbel Haber for TKMC Records and Fadi Tabbal for Tunefork (www.tunefork.com) / Illustrations by Charbel Haber / Art Direction by Karma Tohme / Licensed and distributed by Incognito

Not content with his regular duties as singer/songwriter and guitar player with famed local rock band Scrambled Eggs, Charbel Haber branches out on his own for this, his first solo outing under his own name. The album marks a considerable change of direction from the Eggs' latest punk-oriented releases, but one that Haber's devotees could easily predict. The guitar player's predilection for atmospheric, ambient sound-scapes finds a truly remarkable outlet on the pieces presented here.
The album's 5 tracks vary in both length and style, from short guitar and "found sounds" delightful improvisations, to longer, drone-like meanderings, featuring guitar, effects, and synthesizer-like blips and glitches. The works of such guitar players as Cul de Sac's Glenn Jones and Pelt's Jack Rose immediately spring to mind, as do the more 'outward' experimentations of the Jewelled Antler collective.
The listener's patience finds ample reward towards the end of the album, with a lush, magnificent, 20-minute piece featuring several overlapping guitars, reminiscent of Godspeed You! Black Emperor's apocalyptic tableaux and Thurston Moore's (from Sonic Youth, and one of Haber's idols) solo work.
Ziad Nawfal

Title: BAO
Author: BAO
Reference: tkmc 003

Track 05 (mp3 @192kbps, 4:16, 6.1MB)

Even lifeless scraps of metal have their say on this record. Recorded in one restless day in June 2005, this is the first studio release from BAO, a free improvisation trio based in Beirut, active since 2002.
The sounds generated by this fearless threesome float along the far frontiers of colorist harmony, occasionally venturing into texture-land. Jingly, drone-like, and detuned guitar elements hover on the edge of melody, coupled with tape-sampling intrusions, peculiar blooping percussive bonks, and choking trumpet.
The vitality of interaction between the musicians, arising from their ability and responsiveness as improvisers, sets these 5 pieces apart from routine nebulous drift and impressionistic sketches. Engineering mood and crafting atmosphere are part of the agenda, but the real interest resides in a sense of three accomplished instrumentalists sparking together, collaboratively shaping a busy flow of sound, while each leaving their personal mark upon it.

Title: nevermind where, just drive
Author: Scrambled Eggs
Reference: tkmc 002

Track 02 (mp3 @192kbps, 6:18, 8.9MB)
Track 03 (mp3 @192kbps, 3:35, 5.1MB)

A couple of guitar power chords crack down after one last breath, as if to announce an intermission. You feel instantly propelled into the smoking room of a small concert hall, with its small vending machines, tinkling clocks and foggy ambience.
This relatively short release (Scrambled Eggs's third...) consists of a suite of sketches, aborted song intros, and abstract song structures, and was recorded and mixed in December 2004 in the band's hometown of Beirut. The album's dramatic noise collages seem decisively divorced from any specific regional or cultural origins.
The foursome combines trash noise guitars, electronics and tape machines, backed by bass and drums, and engulfed by a thick sheath of maximalist distortion. The result can be steadily hypnotic at times, and volatile, mirage-like, at others.
Including guitar-generated pulses and drones and sudden jumps in volume and intensity, the album represents an uncompromising sound, the latter shifting restlessly between moods and arrangements, never settling into anything resembling a comfortable groove, but opting for an episodic series of compressed but intense tableaux.

Title: Discipline
Author: Discipline
Reference: tkmc 001

Track 04 (mp3 @192kbps, 3:28, 4.9MB)
Track 05 (mp3 @192kbps, 1:35, 2.3MB)

Discipline's TKMC release is mystifying. Almost no track titles or details, the disk cloaked in blurred artwork, with wide stretches of grey on the insert; the music contained therein is just as shadowed.
Using cracked electronics and primitive effects pedals, the album kicks off with a 30-minute piece that reflects the artist's technique of stacking multiple loops and field recordings. This is followed by a series of 'polite', well-mannered constructions. Drones blossom one after the other to form calm panoramic soundscapes, only to be intercepted by a few incidental chants from another time and space.
Discipline manage to capture queasy, warped loops, subject them to the stresses of sonic overload, and layer them out in intriguing structures that are as urgent as the chants of a wayward autodidact. Despite the strict use of laptops, the end result is a warm organic tapestry of sounds.