Bes

The Dwarfs of East Agouza are a trio from Cairo featuring Maurice Louca (Alif, Bikya), Sam Shalabi (Land of Kush, Shalabi Effect) and Alan Bishop (Sun City Girls, The Invisible Hands, Alvarius B.). Born during 2012, the trio’s instrumental improvisation-based explorations are propelled by Louca’s North African percussion loops and shimmering keys, Shalabi’s West African tinged free jazz guitar and grounded by Bishop’s driving Krautrock-style acoustic bass. Following many a late night jam session, the band recorded hours of material during a three-day studio run in April 2014. After compiling and mixing the album in Montreal’s Break Glass studio in July 2015, the refined result is this self-titled album. From the lilt of the four-minute Ethiopian tinged “Resinance” to the 30-minute free-form epic “Museum of Stranglers”, the album skirts the outer limits of a psychedelic soundtrack to a North African road trip.