Midnight Voodoo invited Monstera Occulta for a guest mix during their monthly show on Radio Alhara.

For the occasion, it will be a one-hour trip in an orientalist world, with Arabic, Turkish or even Armenian sounds dedicated to the world of belly dance.

Tracklisting :

Ensemble Aït El Khedir - Les Pierres d'Agadir
Adamian et son orchestre - Nagat Essaghira
Kemal Rachid - Le Chat du Shah
Esin Engin Orkestrası - Aç Aç
Hasan Hür - Nazlim
Hassan Abou Seoud - Assouan
Mustafa Kandıralı - Atina Kasap Havası
Saffet's Oriental Orchestra - Hidzaz Gazel
Eddie Mekjian - Kurdish Bar
Zeinab Shaath/Chris Kalogerson & the Ensemble Sarqi - Shat Eskindria
Claude Ciari - Yam El-Abaya
Mohammed El-Bakkar - Raks El Nile
Naif Agby - Rouh Rouh
Ibrahim Ashmawi
Mustapha Anwar - Zinek Ouel Gossa
Amal - Sallem Aley
Mohamed Abdel Wahab - Habibi Lasmar
Unknown Artist - Layali Masr


 

MIDNIGHT VOODOO w/ MONSTERA OCCULTA @ Radio Alhara 24.03.22

Stream/Buy 'Close To Home' here: https://fanlink.to/Close_to_Home

Released on Optimo Music on 25 March 2022

Written and produced by Sara Dziri
Vocals by Sara Dziri
Ney by Valentina Bellanova
Mixed by Sara Dziri & Sam Berdah
Mastered by James Savage
Artwork by Naomi Bleiberg

Fille De Racaille

As the Crammed Discs label turns 42 this year, we’re using the opportunity of this not-round figure to turn the spotlight on certain folds of our catalogue which have now somewhat receded into the shade. We’ll be rediscovering some electronic music trends we explored during the ’80s and ‘90s by digitally releasing around 250 tracks which only ever came out on vinyl (or on now-deleted CDs). These digital reissues will be rolled out over the next 18 months (see details at the bottom).

We’re be introducing the series with an appetizer: the Rare Early SSR Electronica EP, containing five tracks which depict the inception of our SSR electronic music imprint, in the late ‘80s.

The story in a nutshell: as soon as the first wave of Detroit techno hit Europe, and playful, sample-based electronic dance music started emerging in the UK, we were excited by these new combinations of sounds, and started our SSR division in 1988. These early days of SSR saw the advent of a Belgian-Norwegian axis, when a handful of young Norwegian musicians & producers came to Brussels (in connection with Bel Canto, the electro pop band then signed to Crammed), and rubbed shoulders with central Crammed Discs figures such as Minimal Compact singer Samy Birnbach (later known as DJ Morpheus), label boss Marc Hollander, and Vincent Kenis (Marc’s former associate in Aksak Maboul). A series of hybrid electronic EPs were spawned, blending early techno stylings with flavours from around the world.

SSR (and sister sub-labels Language and Selector) would then go on to release over sixty albums and dozens of EPs, exploring a variety of styles (from house and techno to downtempo, ambient, broken beats, drum’n’bass and hip-hop), with artists including Carl Craig, Snooze, Juryman aka Ian Simmonds, DJ Spinna, 4hero and Tek 9, Bleep aka Biosphere, Telex, DJ Morpheus and many more.


Crammed Discs
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/crammed-discs
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crammeddiscs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crammeddiscs/

Rare SSR Electronica 1989-91 (Crammed Archives 0)

PREMIERE: Alegria - Danger (Crammed Discs)

Bon Public - Magma Cider Mixtape

Artist: https://soundcloud.com/acid-arab
Track: Döne Döne
Label: https://soundcloud.com/crammed-discs
Format: Limited Edition Pack (Only with Album pre-order) T-Shirt + 2LP, CD, Digital
Release date: 30/01/23

Emerging ten years ago from the transcultural cauldron that is Paris, the mighty French-Algerian collective was born from the encounter between Pierre-Yves Casanova, Nicolas Borne, Hervé Carvalho, Guido Minisky and Kenzi Bourras. With their intoxicating blend of sharp Western electronic music with Eastern sounds & vocals, they’ve been putting worldwide festivals and club audiences under a spell.
Aiming at creating a space for Arab culture in the world of contemporary electronic music, Acid Arab patiently honed their style through their numerous collaborations and their constant travels all around the Mediterranean and beyond.
After releasing several EPs (the Collections series) on electronic music label Versatile, they signed with Crammed Discs and released their impressive debut album ”Musique de France” in 2016, followed by ”Jdid” in 2019. The band have performed hundreds of shows in over fifty countries on four continents.
Acid Arab’s eagerly-awaited third album comes out in early 2023. Entitled ” ٣ (Trois)”, it consists of a collection of serious dancefloor bangers, which will also be providing delightful intimate listening experiences, thanks to sophisticated production and to intriguing, diverse performances by eight guest vocalists from North Africa, Syria & Turkey, including a.o. Cem Yldiz, Sofiane Saidi, Cheb Halim & Rachid Taha.
From Algerian gasba, Anatolian trance, synthetic dabkeh, bionic raï and many more, Acid Arab have incorporated and invented a spectrum of styles, breaking boundaries between genres. Their sumptuous new album sees them pushing the envelope and further expanding their musical territories.

(٣ is the symbol for the figure “three” in Arabic).

? (Trois)

PREMIERE | Acid Arab feat Cem Yildiz - Döne Döne [Crammed Discs] 2023

Todorecto Records is a Brussels label with an Art Nouveau aesthetic. Each project of the label is born from a vegetal inspiration. The label wants to develop hybrid music, moving between musical movements, metamorphic with an identity always in connection with its locality. The label was born out of the desire of DJ Lux18 and Antoine 80 to bring a new point of view to the Brussels electronic music landscape. This will be done by an alliance of local and international artists, where the cultural link operates through the different creations. Very inspired by the UK scene, Todorecto wants to go fast, or slow but never in half measure. This rhythmic bias is becoming, according to them, preponderant in the renewal of the approach to clubbing. The two lads mainly come from the party scene, so they have a will to feed it , but not only that... The label hosts a show on Kiosk Radio with a different relationship to listening and perception of sound.

Todorec Show w/ Dj Takeaway @ Kiosk Radio 03.03.2023

Lagos and London-based @ekitisound blends Afrobeat, house and jazz-infused hip-hop on his fusionist second album, ‘Drum Money’ for @crammed-discs

More info: https://djmag.com/listen/premiere-ekiti-sound-ku-ise

Drum Money

Premiere: Ekiti Sound ‘Ku Ise’

Ce mois-ci, Audrey et Benjamin d'Aquaserge sont passé.e.s sur la planche à mixer de Bénédicte Schmitt aka Bénélabo pour revenir sur l'enregistrement et le mixage du dernier album en date : La fin de l'Économie

Sur la Planche à mixer de Bénélabo avec Aquaserge

Making a comeback from last year’s Brussels Ass Book Fair, the Lebanese London-based artist, designer and writer Marwan Kaabour introduces us to the sonic world of Takweer ––an expansive project through which Kaabour explores queer narratives in Arab history and popular culture. 

For this Easter Sunday Kanal Outsiders programme, Kaabour opens his set with a track by his father, Ahmad Kaabour, a prominent leftist musician in the region. Lakoum A’oud speaks about the death of Jesus Christ, the principles he lived by, and the notion of return to the land ––all extremely poignant in the midst of the genocide of the people of Palestine, the land where Jesus was born.  

🌐 "Outsiders" is our daily show hosted by labels, collectives, agencies, venues, clubs, ... worldwide
📡 Connect with the Outsiders, every day, at 9 am or 9 pm CET
🔗 kioskradio.com

Outsiders: Kanal w/ Marwan Kaabour @ Kiosk Radio 20.04.2025

La nécessité de L’émergence d’une scene Arabe/Swana queer à Bruxelles.

instagram : @gazellepodcast

Corne de Gazelle w/ Zakaria El Haddany & Maria Dogahe (podcast) @ GIMIC - 15 June 2025

This month’s episode is a Marc Hollander mix entitled Crammed Cities, exclusively consisting of tracks from the label’s catalogue which all contain city names in their titles. 

Baghdad to Blankenberge, Cleveland to Casablanca, Berlin to Detroit, Chicago to Marseille, Moscow to Beijing, Warsaw to Lagos to Brussels… During the label’s four decades, many artists have used city names in song titles, for obvious or mysterious reasons of their own. This seemed like a playful, arbitrary constraint for leading the selector to trace yet another path in the Crammed jungle. This mix contains 35 tracks with cities in their title (except the last one, which encompasses many), released between 1977 and 2018 by artists including John Lurie, Suba, Tao vs Plaid, Cibelle & Devendra Banhart, Bass Clef, Adrian Sherwood, Carl Craig, Volti, Lio, some treasures hidden in the Made To Measure series, and many more.

Tracklist
Benjamin Lew & Steven Brown - Bamako ou ailleurs (1982)
Bass Clef vs Kasai Allstars - The Incident At Mbuji-Mayi (2010)
John Lurie - Car Cleveland (1986)
Yasmine Hamdan - Beirut (2013)
Cibelle & Devendra Banhart - London, London (2006)
Les tueurs de la lune de miel - Blankenberghe (1977)
Suba - Um Dia Comum (em São Paulo) (1999)
Lio - Sábado em Copacabana (2018)
Tuxedomoon - I Left My Heart In San Francisco (1979)
Amatorski - Hudson (2014)
Telex x Carl Craig - Moskow Diskow (1998)
Skip&Die - Delhi Dungeon (2012)
Tao vs Plaid - Riot In Lagos (1997)
Colin Newman - Not Being In Warsaw (1988)
Hector Zazou & Barbara Gogan - Brussels (Sahara Blue) (1992)
Tek 9 - A London Sumtin' (1994)
Le Ton Mité - Olympia By Bus (2017)
Lonely Drifter Karen - Casablanca (2008)
Peter Principle - Orval (1989)
Taraf de Haidouks - Balalau From Bucharest (2015)
Steve Shehan - Istanblue (1990)
Nadjma x Adrian Sherwood - Rapture In Baghdad (1985)
Seigen Ono - Berliner Nächte Part-2 (1991)
Daniel Schell & Karo - Vienna Carmen (1987)
Zelwer - Les trésors du Vatican (1995)
Volti - New York (1987)
Band Apart - Marseille (1983)
Chicha Libre - El carnicero de Chicago (2012)
Balkan Beat Box - Kabulectro (2010)
Snooze - The Spy From Ankara (1995)
Lonely Drifter Karen - Rain In Beijing (2012)
Aksak Maboul - Venise Improv (1979/2018)
Q-Moog - Goodnight Detroit (1997)
Samy Birnbach & Benjamin Lew - Ravenna (1989)
Aquaserge - Tour du monde (2017)

Inside & Around Crammed #7: Crammed Cities

Crammed Discs