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Glitterbeat

BARGOU 08 - Targ

180-gram vinyl. Includes download code. "Lying between the mountains of northwest Tunisia and the Algerian border, the Bargou valley and the village named after it lie isolated, away from the world. Its poor, barren country, but standing apart, Bargou has developed its own culture that had never been documented until Nidhal Yahyaoui began the task. Born in the valley, he grew up hearing his parents and family sing the songs that belong to the region, and he was determined that the music and traditions shouldnt slip away into obscurity. "Nidhal began collecting songs from all over the valley more than ten years ago," explains producer and keyboard player Sofyann Ben Youssef, whos known Yahyaoui since they were both ten years old. "No one had ever done that before. He listened to the women, to the village elders, and he learned all the variations on the songs. This is his passion, and he asked me to join him." Together, they assembled a collective of both local and European musicians who spent three weeks playing in the Yahyaoui family home in Bargou village. They worked on the material, shaping a sound that harnessed the power of the tradition and connected it to something the young would understand. "It was important for us to record there and to use some local musicians on the record," explains Ben Youssef. "But we also wanted the young people in the village to see that something could be created right there and that they didnt need a lot of money to do it, to inspire them." Made over the course of three weeks in the Yahyaoui family home, Targ hews close to the tradition, taking its power from the root, with Ben Yousefs synthesizer adding subtle touches at the top and bottom ends. Bales of hay were piled up in the rooms to act as acoustic baffles. Ben Yousef set up in the kitchen, operating the recording equipment with one hand and playing Moog with the other. It was an improvised setup, but it captured the fire and energy of the musicians performances. But it all revolves around Yahyaouis voice. Raw and emotional, plaintive and passionate, it proudly bears all the weight of history. And underneath, the thick, fat bass carries the music firmly into the 21st century. The explosive rhythms of drums and percussion give a primal power to the bass grooves. Its the trance of the past emerging from out of the speakers. With Targ, Bargou 08 make sure that the valley and its people will never be forgotten. Lassaed Bougalmi: gasba and zokra (traditional reed instruments); Imed Rezgui: bendir (percussion); Nidhal Yahyaoui: vocals and wtar (oud-like instrument); Sofyan Ben Youssef: synthesizer and musical direction; Benjamin Chaval: drums." - Glitterbeat.

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After nearly a decade of false starts, multiple game plans veering off the rails, and a handful of shattered hopes and/or dreams, the odyssey is finally complete—the new Fusetron site is here.

This is the first phase of a multipart rollout that will span the next few months: the currently browsable stock includes miscellaneous new releases from the past 8+ months (we have a lot of catching up to do), plus approximately a third of our backstock. Note that we’ve reduced/slashed prices on many titles and will continue to do so in order to make room for new stock. We’ll also be expanding / tweaking / improving / debugging the site itself (for example, we still have work to do on the automated international postage system, not to mention the inevitable inventory discrepancies that come with transferring an ancient and massive database to a new system).

Over the next few months, as we take inventory, clean house, and delve into our storage, we will be uploading thousands of additional items, gradually, on a near-daily basis. This will include the majority of the LPs, as well as many titles, in all formats, once thought long-gone. Many currently “sold out” items are likely to resurface.

Finally, once our general backstock is up (probably in the next two or three months) we’ll begin making our extensive stockpile of rarities available online for the first time: tons of random out-of-print titles, "deadstock," warehouse finds, secondhand collectibles, etc., accumulated over the past few decades.

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