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CD
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GB 163CD
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$15.50
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 6/6/2025
This legendary Istanbul band remains the most experimental exponent of the hotly-tipped contemporary Turkish psych-rock scene. BaBa ZuLa are revered sonic trailblazers who have built a cult following in all corners of the globe and can count members of Einstürzende Neubauten, Can, and Nick Cave the Bad Seeds as their fans. Pulsing, hypnotic tracks powered by Turkish percussion, glitched electronics, deep bass, electric saz and dual male/female vocals. İstanbul Sokakları (Streets of Istanbul) is a vivid sonic and political statement from a band that continues to show listeners the future. It's a modus operandi that has marked them out as true iconoclasts. "Lots of Turkish musicians are fundamentalists," says co-founder and multi-instrumentalist Levent Akman. "They want it acoustic, and they hate Murat because he plays electric. We are trying to break these kinds of borders." Their latest album İstanbul Sokakları (Streets of Istanbul) contains no shortage of the hypnotic jams that have become their calling card. Across three extended pieces -- the six-minute "Arsız Saksağan (Cheeky Magpie)," the eight-minute "Yaprakların Arasından (In Between the Leaves)" and the eleven-minute "Yok Haddi Yok Hesabı (No Limits No Calculation)," they delve deep into group meditations that surge and swell with relentless percussion, dark atmospherics constantly pushed into ecstatic peaks by the biting electric saz, and vocals by turns seductive and exhorting by Murat Ertel and female vocalist (and spouse), Esma Ertel.
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LP
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GB 163LP
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$28.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 6/6/2025
LP version. This legendary Istanbul band remains the most experimental exponent of the hotly-tipped contemporary Turkish psych-rock scene. BaBa ZuLa are revered sonic trailblazers who have built a cult following in all corners of the globe and can count members of Einstürzende Neubauten, Can, and Nick Cave the Bad Seeds as their fans. Pulsing, hypnotic tracks powered by Turkish percussion, glitched electronics, deep bass, electric saz and dual male/female vocals. İstanbul Sokakları (Streets of Istanbul) is a vivid sonic and political statement from a band that continues to show listeners the future. It's a modus operandi that has marked them out as true iconoclasts. "Lots of Turkish musicians are fundamentalists," says co-founder and multi-instrumentalist Levent Akman. "They want it acoustic, and they hate Murat because he plays electric. We are trying to break these kinds of borders." Their latest album İstanbul Sokakları (Streets of Istanbul) contains no shortage of the hypnotic jams that have become their calling card. Across three extended pieces -- the six-minute "Arsız Saksağan (Cheeky Magpie)," the eight-minute "Yaprakların Arasından (In Between the Leaves)" and the eleven-minute "Yok Haddi Yok Hesabı (No Limits No Calculation)," they delve deep into group meditations that surge and swell with relentless percussion, dark atmospherics constantly pushed into ecstatic peaks by the biting electric saz, and vocals by turns seductive and exhorting by Murat Ertel and female vocalist (and spouse), Esma Ertel.
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2LP
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NIGHT 003LP
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2020 release. The sixth instalment of Night Dreamer's acclaimed Direct-to-Disc series welcomes Anadolu psych legends BaBa ZuLa into Haarlem's Artone Studio to cut an uncompromising live set of fuzzed-out psychedelia, infused with the inimitable dub-wise experimentalism that has cemented them as one of the global underground's most exciting and original bands. BaBa ZuLa describe their sound as "psychedelic Istanbul rock 'n roll" -- a heady mixture that laces the classic Anadolu psych sound with modern electronics, dub-wise studio smarts, and fiery left-field sonic radicalism.
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CD
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GB 082CD
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BaBa ZuLa, the legendary ensemble from Istanbul, have brilliantly established themselves over the past two decades as the missing link between Turkish psych, krautrock, and dub-wise stylings. Derin Derin is the thrilling follow-up to their acclaimed retrospective XX (GB 042CD/LP, 2017), and finds the band more experimental and expansive than ever. On Derin Derin, BaBa ZuLa's first studio album since 2014, they create their art with beautiful eloquence and stinging passion. It takes wing and soars high; the instrumental portion of the disc grew out of music BaBa ZuLa were asked to record for a documentary about falcons. It grew, little by little, drawing together the elements that have been the heart of the band's sound throughout its existence: the rich wildness of Turkish psychedelia and the blinding, pure emotion that runs through traditional Anatolian music, tempered with the constant musical questing of the band's inspiration, krautrock pioneers Can, and the electro-dub experiments BaBa ZuLa has undertaken with producer Mad Professor. It's an utterly 21st century sound, where the voices are sometimes submerged, sometimes screaming loud to breaking through the noise. "U Are the Swing" is a track that carries particularly profound echoes of Can's late drummer, Jaki Liebezeit. The drum part was played by Ertel's children on a kit Liebezeit himself had modified, and Liebezeit sat in with BaBa ZuLa on many occasions. Those rhythms form the bedrock of BaBa ZuLa's sound, just as they were the foundation of the early Turkish psychedelia of the 1960s and '70s that has been a lifelong influence on Ertel. Psychedelia seeped into his soul and helped to frame his vision for BaBa ZuLa when he formed the band in 1996. And throughout their existence, they've kept their unique mix of electric saz and electric oud to give that double fretboard attack that's so markedly not Western. The psychedelic sound of BaBa ZuLa also feeds quite organically into dub. On "Eagle Got Wolf", for instance, phrases and riffs echo and hang suspended in the air as the bass dives and swoops, while plucked notes appear, only to flicker away again. Derin Derin melds the past into the present and sends it flying into the future. Derin Derin is fearless music. It's the truth. And there is hope.
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LP
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GB 082LP
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LP version. 180 gram vinyl; includes download code. BaBa ZuLa, the legendary ensemble from Istanbul, have brilliantly established themselves over the past two decades as the missing link between Turkish psych, krautrock, and dub-wise stylings. Derin Derin is the thrilling follow-up to their acclaimed retrospective XX (GB 042CD/LP, 2017), and finds the band more experimental and expansive than ever. On Derin Derin, BaBa ZuLa's first studio album since 2014, they create their art with beautiful eloquence and stinging passion. It takes wing and soars high; the instrumental portion of the disc grew out of music BaBa ZuLa were asked to record for a documentary about falcons. It grew, little by little, drawing together the elements that have been the heart of the band's sound throughout its existence: the rich wildness of Turkish psychedelia and the blinding, pure emotion that runs through traditional Anatolian music, tempered with the constant musical questing of the band's inspiration, krautrock pioneers Can, and the electro-dub experiments BaBa ZuLa has undertaken with producer Mad Professor. It's an utterly 21st century sound, where the voices are sometimes submerged, sometimes screaming loud to breaking through the noise. "U Are the Swing" is a track that carries particularly profound echoes of Can's late drummer, Jaki Liebezeit. The drum part was played by Ertel's children on a kit Liebezeit himself had modified, and Liebezeit sat in with BaBa ZuLa on many occasions. Those rhythms form the bedrock of BaBa ZuLa's sound, just as they were the foundation of the early Turkish psychedelia of the 1960s and '70s that has been a lifelong influence on Ertel. Psychedelia seeped into his soul and helped to frame his vision for BaBa ZuLa when he formed the band in 1996. And throughout their existence, they've kept their unique mix of electric saz and electric oud to give that double fretboard attack that's so markedly not Western. The psychedelic sound of BaBa ZuLa also feeds quite organically into dub. On "Eagle Got Wolf", for instance, phrases and riffs echo and hang suspended in the air as the bass dives and swoops, while plucked notes appear, only to flicker away again. Derin Derin melds the past into the present and sends it flying into the future. Derin Derin is fearless music. It's the truth. And there is hope.
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12"
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GB 071EP
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BaBa ZuLa, legendary ensemble from Istanbul, present a follow-up to their career-spanning retrospective, XX (GB 042CD/LP). The three-track EP features exploratory versions of songs from their upcoming Glitterbeat album Derin Derin. "Kızıl Gözlüm (My Scarlet Eyed)" is psychedelic urban folk rock where the Turkish Huseini maqam is synched with synth drums. Two radical re-interpretations of "Kervan Yolda" are on the B side. Schneider TM (aka Dirk Dresselhaus) treats this road song in his own dark but playful manner, while resident engineer of BaBa ZuLa, Arastaman, pulls you deep into the wide-open space between the beats and the notes.
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2CD
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GB 042CD
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A kaleidoscopic career-spanning compilation from Istanbul's revered psychedelic explorers. Esteemed collaborators include Sly & Robbie, Mad Professor, Dr. Das of Asian Dub Foundation, Alexander Hacke (Einstürzende Neubauten), and more. Without a doubt one of the planet's great musical adventures. Baba Zula have been a shining beacon since 1996, bringing the West and the Orient together in a glory of Istanbul psychedelia. To celebrate those two decades of existence, XX brings together tracks from across Baba Zula's history, along with a second album of dubs created by artists like Mad Professor, Dr. Das of Asian Dub Foundation, and Dirtmusic. "We wanted to have a compilation that was a little different," explains group founder and electric saz player Osman Murat Ertel. "None of the pieces here are in their original forms. Instead, we picked remixes, re-recordings, collaborations, live tracks, all the possibilities, but none of these have been released before. And it's a mix of recording techniques -- digital, analogue, tape, mp3." Formed by Ertel and Levent Akman in 1996, Baba Zula took Turkish psychedelic pioneers of the 1960s like Moğollar as their inspiration and foundation for what they called Istanbul psychedelia, a scene that's since grown up around them. Baba Zula have played all over the world, won awards for their work in film and theater, and had their albums counted among the most prestigious ever released in Turkey. They've also built a global network of like-minded performers, experimental souls in all genres of music, working with people as varied as Turkish opera singer Semiha Berksoy, dub mixer Mad Professor, and Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit. In typically perverse and playful fashion, their biggest "hit" -- "Bir Sana Bir De Bana" ("One For You And One For Me") is here, it's not the original Baba Zula version of the song, but one by Deleyaman featuring a duet between an Armenian man and a French woman. Also included are a pair of previously unreleased live tracks. "Çöl Aslanlari" ("Desert Lions") was mixed by Einstürzende Neubauten's Alexander Hacke, while "Abdülcanbaz" is taken from a performance at the Resistance Festival in Piraeus, Greece, with Ertel's electric saz powering and pushing the group higher and higher over a swell of percussion, electric oud, effects, and vocals. They're long, mesmeric cuts, the pulsing of an ancient Turkish soul in a very modern band.
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2LP+CD
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GB 042LP
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Double-LP version. 180-gram vinyl. Includes CD and download code.A kaleidoscopic career-spanning compilation from Istanbul's revered psychedelic explorers. Esteemed collaborators include Sly & Robbie, Mad Professor, Dr. Das of Asian Dub Foundation, Alexander Hacke (Einstürzende Neubauten), and more. Without a doubt one of the planet's great musical adventures. Baba Zula have been a shining beacon since 1996, bringing the West and the Orient together in a glory of Istanbul psychedelia. To celebrate those two decades of existence, XX brings together tracks from across Baba Zula's history, along with a second album of dubs created by artists like Mad Professor, Dr. Das of Asian Dub Foundation, and Dirtmusic. "We wanted to have a compilation that was a little different," explains group founder and electric saz player Osman Murat Ertel. "None of the pieces here are in their original forms. Instead, we picked remixes, re-recordings, collaborations, live tracks, all the possibilities, but none of these have been released before. And it's a mix of recording techniques -- digital, analogue, tape, mp3." Formed by Ertel and Levent Akman in 1996, Baba Zula took Turkish psychedelic pioneers of the 1960s like Moğollar as their inspiration and foundation for what they called Istanbul psychedelia, a scene that's since grown up around them. Baba Zula have played all over the world, won awards for their work in film and theater, and had their albums counted among the most prestigious ever released in Turkey. They've also built a global network of like-minded performers, experimental souls in all genres of music, working with people as varied as Turkish opera singer Semiha Berksoy, dub mixer Mad Professor, and Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit. In typically perverse and playful fashion, their biggest "hit" -- "Bir Sana Bir De Bana" ("One For You And One For Me") is here, it's not the original Baba Zula version of the song, but one by Deleyaman featuring a duet between an Armenian man and a French woman. Also included are a pair of previously unreleased live tracks. "Çöl Aslanlari" ("Desert Lions") was mixed by Einstürzende Neubauten's Alexander Hacke, while "Abdülcanbaz" is taken from a performance at the Resistance Festival in Piraeus, Greece, with Ertel's electric saz powering and pushing the group higher and higher over a swell of percussion, electric oud, effects, and vocals. They're long, mesmeric cuts, the pulsing of an ancient Turkish soul in a very modern band.
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CD
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AY 029CD
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Essay Recordings welcomes the return of Turkish psychedelic rockers BaBa ZuLa. For their latest masterpiece, they have brought on board some truly inspirational artists such as Asian Dub Foundation co-founder Dr. Das, nu-jazz mastermind Bugge Wesseltoft and other magnificent guest musicians including Titi Robin, Alcalica, Serra Yilma and Dem Yildiz. On Gecekondu, BaBa ZuLa founder Murat Ertel (wooden spoons, percussion, machines and toys) and Levent Akmann (saz and other stringed instruments, vocals, oscillator, Theremin) are accompanied by members of their touring band Cosar Kamci (percussion, darbuka) and Elene Hristova (vocals). This Istanbul-based group is the face of modern Turkish music, blending the sounds of electric saz, wooden spoons, percussion, and ancient shamanistic tradition, and mixing them up with '60s psychedelia, electronica and dub. The result is a contemporary, urban psychedelic folk sound that is both rooted in tradition and also boasts a uniquely contemporary Turkish underground sound. Gecekondu takes its name from the Turkish word for a neighborhood constructed without planning permission -- a kind of squatters' district that has become part and parcel of Istanbul's urban fabric. Millions of people now live semi-legally in such areas on the outskirts of the city, with the authorities turning a blind eye. They built their "gecekondus" -- literally "overnight constructions" -- under cover of darkness and, by the break of dawn, they had become part of the city map. These little-regarded neighborhoods, which have grown successively, are often seen as lacking all aesthetic beauty. For the most part, they are left to their own devices, and have their own specific problems and unique form of chaos.
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