sss005. RAHA

Like the calm before the storm that rolls in over the desert horizon, the simultaneous simplicity & complexity of Raha's deft delivery exudes the true maximization of Minimal itself. But don't let that seemingly diminutive description of his undeniable gift or the unnecessary trip down the endless rabbit hole of subgenres be mistaken for less than anything but well deserved appreciation. The number of artists that live artistically more often than they self-proclaim themselves to create art is few and far between, yet here we find ourselves gifted with the sonic representation of exactly that.

The French composter Debussy famously said that music is the space between the notes, but I'd add that art is the space between breaths. By all accounts, Raha seems to have an advanced education in art history, philosophy, and music theory. It doesn't hurt that the Persian word for thank you is taken identically from the French "merci". The French and the Persians know a thing or two about music and mood. And Raha, with all of his enigmatic qualities, seems to also blur the lines between reality and fantasy. When he is in his true state of musical experimentation, little else matters. There is an undeniable freedom in finding yourself in that space between.

While short and sweet in duration, these 64 minutes represent timeless chilled out melodies that make the mirage materialize with a soft subtlety reserved for those that never doubted their existence. It takes a certain belief in the surreal to summon greatness in a time void of kings or gods and yet Raha expertly does exactly this. Far out on the perimeter, the truth makes itself real. If you go far enough, there are no stars. There is just endless nothing. The maximal minimal. And there isn't much realer than the feeling we get from this pure creativity realized.

sss004. Aiko

Our fourth installation of Soulestial Sound Sessions - SSS004 - featuring Aiko, is a mind-melding interstitial stretch through time and space thanks to the cosmic connections of our Soulestial family. From the first beat, Aiko already has her hands deep in the cosmos as an omnipotent orchestrator, sending us off into space like some galaxy-hoppin psychonauts on an intergalactic walkabout. One minute we're grooving along with a veritable level of mischievous derivations and the next we're crash landing into the next planet's solar system. It's as if aliens uplifted the outback's biggest baddest doof doof and sent it into hyperspace. Kinetic yet controlled, Aiko lands this interdimensional spaceship with flare, crisscrossing genres, sounds, and feels across the astral planes of sonic existence. And just when you think she might take you into another blackhole boogie in the darkest corner of the multiverse, she closes it out with class like a true space cadet, the whole journey wrapped in celestially tufted astral pillows, reverberating expertly through the aether. In the end, she delicately fades the controlled chaos into oblivion, with a string of piano keys burning like sky lanterns blazing across the sky in a symphony of solar flares as far as the eyes can see.

sss003. Baham b2b Gab Rhome

Our third installation - SSS03 - features producer-DJ duo Baham with a special appearance by Gab Rhome, in all of its expected glory. It was only a matter of time before we highlighted our Persian brothers Baham - traditional musical mystics reincarnated as mythical merrymakers, true to form. The divine center of music, art, and culture from old Persia has been reinterpreted through a pair of eclectic doctors that seem to be ordained in the ornate order of otherworldliness as much as they are decorated with doctorates.

Baham is 'together' inasmuch as it is 'collective' - here, these two clerical conduits have honed a collection of sounds and inspirations that paint the world over. This inclusivity is the key to their kingdom and maybe even, their divinity. Music knows no borders and these men know no bounds. The mix brings everything together masterfully like a Who's Who dinner party that includes everybody that matters despite their often misinterpreted history. Perhaps music may bring peace where so many other art forms have failed. This, my friends, is what I imagine Baham hopes for us all...

...And as a special amuse-bouche bonus, Baham's Canadian counterpart and friend Gab Rhome joins in for a B2B to round out this spicy dish of a mix with all of the accouterments for which Gab is so well known. A master chef of delectable dreamy deep house, his music is a deep dive into the golden age where life imitated art and not the other way around. Whether he sways more Victorian muse than enthusiastic savant is up for question, but one thing we can count on is an always-adventurous soiree through the coolest of catacombs, replete with sonic faire and resplendent delivery. If Baham is the family-style meal bringing us together, Gab Rhome is the sweetest of desserts to seal the deal. I already want another round, but for now, it's time for a smoke and some Zzz's.

sss002. Dead-Tones

While everything may now seem digitized, life breaks down to the analog connections... Much like brothers from opposite sides of the planet connecting musically in ways we never could've preconceived. As such, our second release is very special to us. SSS002 features Producer Dead-Tones at his finest; that is Kemel Omais, serving as the pilot of this soulful journey through sound. What starts light and fluttery - a beginning that exemplifies the cross-pollination of styles he has choicely honed from Abidjan to Paris to Beirut to LA - becomes a voyage that is but a dream, seemingly traveling through memory. Building layers upon layers, like musical destinations criss-crossing a map, this offering owes itself to a life-long collection of culture and experience. Of Possibility, perhaps. The Here and Now. And with a sleight of hand, our breath is a capsule in time capturing this contrast - the inspired spiritual dance beneath the stars. There is a beauty oft missed by our constant drive that Dead-Tones seems to recapture in these moments of transmuted, transformed, inebriated, recalcitrance. This siren song starts as an epic tale unraveling like the tattered pages of the Iliad and ends as ceremonial bones divining us as inquisitors responsible for our own mysterious futures. The possibilities are endless and beautiful when music is allowed to rip apart the fabric of existence - one to which we think we're stitched, when in fact we are the stars that illuminate the board, each of us more intimately connected than we can ever know. We are but muted tones, raising the dead with our silent songs, beautifully charmed versions of our previously risen forms.

sss001. Crescendoll

When we were compelled to start our monthly mix series, our obvious first choice was our Wülfpack soul sister Crescendoll. The hellfire queen of gutter techno consistently delivers hard-hitting music that resurrects anything dead within miles, but even we couldn't have predicted this glorious sonic journey through the nether realms of sound. While the darkside duchess of degenerates always throws it down hard enough to make the devil himself tremble, she also knows when to strategically layer in that special bounce that shifts the death quivers to booty shakes. This hellacious set and its delicious deviations is what you get when you cross a demonic dancefloor exorcism with a dystopian murder mystery - something that can only be birthed from the mind of Crescendoll. And like any good heady Odyssean journey, the profundity isn't truly realized until the end. Or is it only the beginning? The confusion belongs to the realization that this musical medusa is Ouroboros reimagined ad infinitum...