Dalmak

Wow! Really cool stuff from label Constellation: a bunch of Canadian post-rock/indie musicians from GY!BE, Silver Mt. Zion, Set Fire to Flames, and more went to Istanbul and recorded this heavily Eastern-influenced album, with four Turkish musicians playing instruments bendir, darbuka, erbane, meh, barama, and saz on most tracks. (The variety of percussion listed there creates a great, unique sound.) Not too post-rocky or new agey; to my untrained ear, they did an outstanding job blending their cello/marimba/percussion with the traditional instrumentation. A-file co-star Sarah Neufeld and contrabassist Aaron Lumley also feature. Fans of currently trending ragas should dig this.

1 (3:23) Wintry strings and shimmers over low rumbles. Calm. Starts/stops a few times over final 45 seconds.
**2 (7:26) Percussion quiet and constant- all together it sounds almost like a jungle. Ominous. Horns and strings fixtures, beautiful strings near the end. Ends abruptly, play with 3 (part 2)
**3 (3:18) 2 continues with a huge kick up in intensity; loud, rhythmic, intense
*4 (4:08) Folky, stringed intro (both kinds of strings); intensifies over its length. Loud, pounding drums, soaring instrumentation at the climax.
5 (3:55) Synths, electronic fiddling/ambience, non-Turkish. Really good, if you aren't digging the other more unique tracks.
*6 (3:53) Doomy ambient cello/violin overtaken by upbeat, rhythmic Turkish percussion+instruments. Breaks open into a storm halfway through. 7 is part 2, but the transition isn't bad if you can't spare 11 min
7 (6:52) Upbeat, rhythms continue, heavy strings; as they intensify, vocals kick in, continue while track grows quieter and quieter until it's sparse plucking, chimes, and a light ambient cello hum.
8 (3:59) Acoustic, Eastern-flavored piece without the traditional instrumentation; nice, not essential
9 (5:21) Chimes, strings, vox low in the mix, restrained