This morning, I’m not going to serve you the usual, redundant “Happy New Year,” even if the heart is there. But on Mailtape we wish you still full of beautiful musical discoveries here and elsewhere and to share them as much as possible…And for this first episode of 2023, the band Préfaces is honored to share their playlist with us.
Préface’s music is a road trip, a journey into unknown land. The album “Hippodrome”, carried by the excellent musicians Salim Naffah, Pascal Semerdjian and Charif Megarbane, transports us into a world worthy of the best western films. Just one word, enjoy!
Préfaces’s selection
The Walkmen - I Lost You
Préfaces: ” I was really inspired by how this band revived a lot of the 50’s and 60’s aesthetics in their music. Surf guitars, showmanlike vocals, high-pitched cinematic organs etc. Most importantly the layered rhythms led by cymbals and percussion instead of being based on kick and snare drums. “
Bob Azzam - Till
Préfaces: ” The spare exotica instrumentation, the inimitable hall reverb, the unshameful melodrama, the haunting flute, but on top of it all the voice of Bob Azzam, who could sing in multiple languages and displays here remarkable restraint, with a dynamic range and vibrato control that would make the Rat Pack drop their dry martini’s to the floor. This is not surf music but it has an approach to sound and a sense of false naivety that we tried to capture on Prefaces’ first LP, notably on “Farah el Zaman” & “Helwet el Midan”. “
The Ventures - Maria Elena
Préfaces: ” Romantic guitars have always spunk me in the most nostalgic way. I think most of my guitar playing is based on those melodies that I have heard over and over again throughout my entire life. The Ventures have shaped the sound of my guitar, when played naturally and have certainly shaped the vision of what Prefaces means to me. Let the guitar sing, speak, tell you the story of unfulfilled love. “
MailTape’s selection
Préfaces - Kaher El Kheil
Anaïs G: ” This lebanese band has nothing envied the big names of music. Worthy of film soundtracks, it plunges us into a cinematic universe between 60s music, Sunday rockers and love stories or even cowboy scenes in the desert. The album “Hippodrome”, released on the Hiistology label is simply a favorite, a nugget that makes us travel through time and history. “
Liraz - Azizam
Anaïs G: ” A beautiful discovery that this Israeli-Persian singer and her music hypnotizes me from the first notes of music. Oriental rhythms, punctuated by sensual voices singing in farsi, and mixed with the Iranian pop of the 70s gives us an explosive result in the ear, an exceptional cocktail!”*
Altin Gün - Leylim Ley
Anaïs G: ” A nugget straight out of a turkish-dutch band that I love to listen to so much, and with their album “Yol” that seduced me so much already 2 years ago. But while waiting for their new album to be released in March, we enjoy this first track which is a cover of a Turkish classic. Stories of lost love and exile, a popular title worth a visit! “
Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek - Bal
Anaïs G:**“**To close this selection, nothing better than a song by this group cpomes from Turkey but now settled in Berlin. Always hypnotizing and psychedelic in their sound that brings back to the taste of the day folk walks of the 70s. A pleasure for the ears but also for the eyes with their colorful clips and psyche! “
That’s it for this morning! As always, thank you so much for joining us. Much thanks to Préfaces for these fantastic Sunday selections, and many love to Meriam Kharbat for this episode’s wonderful illustration !
