Releases

bikya

mahmoudrefat — Tue, 01 May 2007 15:26:18 +0300

Bikya debut release is composed of tracks writen over the last two
years, which is evident in the variation of styles and sounds between
the tracks. Bikya sound is very beat oreinted, with layers of acoustic
and electronic sounds, subtle melodies structured in song format.

definition

mahmoudrefat — Tue, 01 May 2007 15:22:57 +0300

Definition is a compilation of different technical explorations, ideas and approaches. However, despite technical differences and styles, they all explore the mundane attempting to grasp something a bit more tangible than the repetitive nature of itself. Even melodic sequences weigh heavy and proceed lazily. It is possible that through the repetitive nature of some of the work, the tracks inspite of being mundane become alive and more layered on levels beyond actual hearing. The sounds themselves tend to be electro-organic in some cases or very low and dirty in others, possibly as a reflection of our day to day encounters with ourselves and surroundings.

tabla dubb

mahmoudrefat — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 11:21:10 +0200

tabla dubb uses a foundational element in popular Egyptian musical culture (the tabla) as the basic building block of a music that works with structure and texture, tension and release, repetition and difference. Samples from various sources (from Fouad El Mohandes to Abd El Baset Hamouda, from Gregorian Chanting to Abd El Azim El Atawany) are an integral part of the sound world being created, buried deep within the mix these references are not used as decoration as much as a secret spark, a ghost in the machine. This is a music that aims to be charged, urgent, haunted, intense and dangerous.

flow

mahmoudrefat — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 22:22:44 +0200

Music For a Small Room
This creation consists of several tracks, ranging in style and duration. It started with an experimentation with sounds, trying to see the possibilty of sounds carrying meaning while avoiding falling into traps of aesthetics or musical styles and forms. With this awareness, I worked on different themes like pleasure, or loosing hope, or ideas as being idle and waking up to life. Creating new sounds was a nessecity, and therefore I experimented a lot with noise, recording different noises and sounds from objects, machines, places, and musical instruments, then processing all of it together to create new sounds, and then weaving them the way one would orchestrate for instruments. I would like to think of the several tracks created for "Music for a Small Room" as a text rather than a musical creation. My attempt here was a conscious construction of meaning while using sounds instead of words.This was first performed in Studio Incident #1 organised by Hassan Khan, Sep 2005.
Flow
The idea with this track was to allow musical elements and motifs that were on my mind, at that moment, to flow directly with minimal conscious control. The process of creating Flow was a process of redefining my relationship to different modes of musical composition. Arhythmic and atonal musical lines were not censored and no structure was chosen before working.
Once the process started, musical ideas were flowing and shaping a certain line that had its own logic, guiding me into the texture of this work.
Flow was created as a short track, that later on was used as the source material for creating the original soundtrack for the dance performance "Mutable Transfer" for choreographer Dalia El Abd.

kabel

mahmoudrefat — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 14:41:40 +0200

the work of zimoun is more in a style that is related to Pan Sonic, but without the highly rhythm groove. Zimoun's music is entirely rhythm based, but these rhythms aren't for dancing. His work bears similarity to that of Goem: minimal to the bone, always rhythm inspired, but not necessarily dance music per se. Rhythms aren't made of machines here, but are rather short loops of white noise and static. Quite a nice one this one. text from "vital weekly"

miramar

mahmoudrefat — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 22:08:37 +0200

The recent work of mahmoud refat is based on memories of locations and situation that has been experienced between 2002 and 2005. Working with the raw sound material and field recordings that has been recorded in the past 3 years, and dealing with them in the present time and state of mind.
" It is is always fascinating what i find in my older sound material,and how i recognize them. it opens all possibilities to those hidden aspects and emotions of one regular reality " Refat says.
in Miramar Refat wants to pay attention to the inconsiderable sounds and patterns that has been part of his/other's daily life at the time.
as you hear a call for prayer or a voice of a woman passing by, or the sound of a portable power station drifting in through the window in a normal day, then hearing it through speakers after some years. would you react in the same way?.
it is to expand a person's perception of the surrounding space.
using the drum patterns in Track 3 <miramari> and track 7 <2nd April2006> and keeping them on a repetitive loop. was a slight drift towards the recognizable and familiarity.
in Miramar refat found a new language to present a musical abstraction and make it possible to the common listeners.