Memorias Vol. 2: High Atlas To The Sahara Desert

Ross Alexander first came to our attention with Memorias Vol. 1 - Bugandan Sacred Places (SUC 007CS), released back in 2017 on Sucata Tapes. The release featured a mind-altering mix of recorded sounds from a series of visited sites considered sacred within the Bugandan Kingdom and session recordings with Ugandan musicians Albert Sempeke and the Nilotika Collective layered with his own original composition using the Yamaha DX7 and programmed FM synthesis. The result was a unique reconfiguration of new age vocabulary with East African traditional sensibilities. The tape quickly sold out and the new Volume Of Memorias presented here arrives now on the mother label Discrepant, comes on vinyl with an expanded sound palette appropriate to the format. Memorias Vol. 2 - High Atlas To The Sahara Desert is the logical progression of Volume 1; based on a series of field recordings Alexander made during a trip through the High Atlas Mountains and into the Sahara Desert in 2018. The aim of the trip was to visit a gathering of nomadic musicians at an oasis close to the Algerian border. Like Memorias Vol. 1, the recordings made on the trip were then later processed, layered, and arranged with original compositions. Where Vol. 1 had clear nods to new age music, this volume explores the more ambient side of '80s industrial sound. Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker.