Kabul (album) - Musical Styles

Musical Styles

Muslimgauze music is often difficult to describe as sheer volume, content diversity and often singular stylings make for a confounding task. Nor did Jones produce any hit albums or songs, rather he made music both as audio aesthetic exploration and to express outrage over perceived injustices in and against predominantly Muslim countries. Muslimgauze did incorporate elements from a variety of genres including ambient, techno, house, traditional-ethnic-percussion, experimental-electro-acoustic and Jamaican dub, among a myriad of other styles that he fashioned into his own. Commonalties are often samples and loops of ethnic music from the places such as the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia; field recordings of said regions; and as the recurrent use of percussion. Another defining trait was the mongrelization of disparate ethnic and urban music stylings. On occasion, Jones eschewed stylings he was known for—namely ethno-percussion, to create beatless pure electronic textures or 4/4 dance-oriented material. Muslimgauze music also features more abstract content such as noise and drone on selections from No Human Rights for Arabs in Israel (1995) as well as The Remix (2005), Izlamaphobia (1995), and pure electro-acoustic on Azzazin (1996). Add to that, collaborative efforts with projects such as Apollon, the Rootsman, Bass Communion, Systemwide, and Suns of Arqa—artists who influenced Muslimgauze directly or indirectly and added further breadth to the oeuvre.

Jones produced music with the use of synthesis; drum machines (sometimes used as a sample trigger); sound modules; tape, Digital Audio Tape (DAT) and CD samples and loops; and a wide array of percussion and chimes. Many Muslimgauze albums were recorded in professional studios with the aid of sound engineers to add depth and further audio singularities. Computers were sometimes used in the editing process. In his last few years, Jones had personal access to increasingly sophisticated synthesis and recording equipment but never owned a personal computer.