Muslimgauze

The late Bryn Jones continues to be the most musically prolific dead guy since Tupac Shakur, his various record labels having released no fewer than 15 albums of his work since his death in 1999. Some of these have been newly released material that was found after Jones died; others have been reissues of material from earlier releases. Uzbekistani Bizarre and Souk is in the latter category, consisting of tracks taken from the DAT-only release of the same name along with three bonus tracks culled from the two-disc Izlamaphobia album of 1995. As always, Middle Eastern politics is a heavy and even oppressive presence, though more in the packaging than in the music itself, which consists largely of heavily treated percussion loops and the occasional vocal snippet. Also as always, the results are mixed: "Abdul's Halal" and "Rouge Amin Fraction" are both funky and fascinating despite their relative lack of development; on the other hand, "Lebaneeze" is a grinding, self-consciously abrasive waste of time, and of the two tracks titled "Paper Gulaz," one is worth hearing and the other isn't. Most of the other tracks fall somewhere in between, making this album a must for completist fans but an optional purchase for everyone else. ~ Rick Anderson, All Music Guide