Label - Disciples
Discovered On:
the wire, Bandcamp, nts radio, WFMU, The Guardian, Neil Kulkarni (RIP)
agent - Ria Katz
Saint Abdullah & Jason Nazary
A wave of blistering noise washes over a barrage of unrelenting percussion. These are the chaotic free jazz sounds of Saint Abdullah – Tehran-born brothers Mohammad and Mehdi Mehrabani-Yeganeh – and Jason Nazary – Brooklyn-based drummer and composer. This noisy and evolving collaboration began when Nazary and the Mehrabani-Yeganeh brothers realised that they all lived in the same neighbourhood of Brooklyn and admired each other’s music. Their first release together Evicted in the Morning (2023) had tender, glitchy, ambient currents coursing through it. It focussed around synthesised, reverie-inducing melodies and sparse pulmonary drum tracks, streaming through the compositions’ veins. Their follow-up, Looking Through Us (2023) took a turn towards montaged samples, muddy modular synthesis, and free jazz disarray, with a grimy quality to its sampling that recalls the hip hop tradition of the East Coast of the US while also summoning the traditional folk music sounds of the North Coast of Iran. The anarchic cacophony they produce is stunning. Saint Abdullah & Jason Nazary bring their distorted, improvised strain of jazz electronics to Rewire 2024, performing a world premiere of a special live set based around Looking Through Us’s eviscerating drums, veering tempos, and gnarled feedback.
News & Press
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“What Nazary adds to SA’s sound is solidity and funkiness but he’s not such an orthodox drummer to simply lay down four-square beats to simplify their music’s impact - rather throughout the nine compelling tracks here he subtly interpenetrates and responds to SA’s sounds in a way that feels properly collaborative, simultaneous and fluid. Once the mix clicks, it feels entirely holistic."
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"a beautiful blend of limpid synth explorations and skittery rhythmic accompaniment"
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"Evicted in the Morning may be a symptom rather than cure, an album influenced by the global housing crisis, yet its stunning soundscapes offer refuge in an uncertain world."
