Not One, Not Two
Alo? Anybody out there? London-based producer and sound artist Yiğit Bülbül, alias Y Bülbül, first caught our attention with his deliriously quirky 2020 debut full-length "Fever" on Hamburg's tried and trusted Pingipung imprint. The extravagantly styled six-tracker was quick to win us over with its "frivolous" and "contemporary avant-garde pop projections," utterly charming, psychedelic and out of this world. Now, Y Bülbül returns to Pingipung with a new partner in crime, being Istanbul-based percussionist Yumurta, and a new collection of supernatural tracks titled "Not One, Not Two".
The collaboration took place between Maslak, Istanbul, where Yumurta readied his "singular drum takes" and Tottenham, London, where Y Bülbül took it upon himself to add "fragmented layers of bass, synths, guitars and field recordings" to the rhythmic patterns, which ultimately resulted in ten compositions to keep listeners guessing, but also strangely satisfied. In a nutshell, "Not One, Not Two" can be described as "a free-from deep listening [affair] for fans of dub, ambient and kosmische musc, where the groove and harmonies are mystically interwoven, yet somehow manage to stay on the brink of collapse. Although the sessions were nonconcurrent and scattered over two continents, the collaboration evokes scenes of a telepathic communion where individual perspectives, circumstances and stories are exchanged between the two," the liner notes read.
Despite its implicit disparities and an underlying playfulness, this seemingly haphazard experimental symbiosis is surprisingly consistent in its sonic form and profoundly intriguing. Glued to our speaker system, we felt very much inclined to indulge in every nook and cranny of this cinematic sound fest and equally intent on treating ourselves to a second helping. Maybe it was the subliminal spiritual warmth flooding our aural ecosystem that led us to instinctively judge this album as friend not foe. And that, after all, is the essential first step to any successful interaction, whatever the dimension.
You can stream the full 36-something minutes via the player below to find your own meaning hidden within. And if that doesn't do it for you, maybe Y Bülbül's "Aspiration Nation" will. You can also check out their mixtape for the latest Pingipung podcast, where they share some of the inspirations behind the album. Happy soul searching!
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