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Dawn of Midi

Listenable and insane. That’s the sound Dawn of Midi spent years shaping, culminating in their most mesmerizing work yet: Dysnomia.

In many ways, it’s the first record that truly reflects the trio’s critically acclaimed live show, a test of endurance and trust that involves bassist Aakaash Israni, pianist Amino Belyamani and percussionist Qasim Naqvi performing their compositions note-for-note without ever appearing the least bit predictable. If anything, Dawn of Midi’s sets are as red-blooded and rhythmic as a seamlessly mixed DJ set, casting spells on crowds in the same way the group’s favorite experimental and electronic acts have for decades.

Which explains why The New Yorker‘s music critic, Sasha Frere-Jones, wrote “an hour flew by in what seems like minutes” after witnessing their high-wire act last year, and Radiolab host Jad Abumrad added “[I've] seriously never seen anything like these guys.”

Belyamani is quick to say that Dawn of Midi have followed their own internal logic since day one, largely thanks to the fact that they were friends first—playing late-night tennis matches in dimly lit parking lots well before they stepped into a studio or rehearsal space. As such, Belyamani admits its taken quite some time to shift from early improv sessions to the well-oiled machine that makes Dysnomia both a dizzying dance record and a deeply immersive living room listen.

“Playing a locked groove like we do on this record involves a lot of discipline and hard work,” he explains. “You don’t start out that way unless you’re a group of folk musicians from the same village.”

Forget being from the same village; Dawn of Midi’s respective families aren’t even from the same country. Belyamani was born in Morocco, where he “grew up in a culture where people do polyrhythms in their sleep.” A stateside move didn’t happen until he turned 18 and decided to study abroad at CalArts. Meanwhile, Israni relocated from India to Southern California when he was just four months old, and Naqvi’s parents left Pakistan before he was born in Connecticut.

“Both my parents are major music fans,” says Naqvi. “They love old Hindi songs from the black and white film era, and different kinds of traditional music from the South Asian subcontinent. So that stuff has definitely filtered through me somehow, but scales and rhythms from that part of the world are not something that are central to my musical thinking. At least not yet.”

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Album Review

Dawn of Midi: Dysnomia

Read "Dysnomia" reviewed by Enrico Bettinello


Clinicamente, la Dysnomia è una sindrome afasica per cui non si riescono a ricordare parole o nomi. Non è difficile credere di esserne affetti quando si tenta di trovare qualche esperienza musicale affine a questo progetto dei Dawn of Midi, e questo è già un ottimo risultato! Perché è un piano trio e suona così lontano da quello che oggi si intende comunemente per piano trio, sia nella sua accezione più tradizionale post-evansiana, sia in ...

6
Album Review

Dawn of Midi: Dysnomia

Read "Dysnomia" reviewed by Mark F. Turner


The script gets flipped in Dysnomia, where calculated syncopations are not generated from laptops or patched-in devices but produced by the post-minimalist acoustic trio Dawn of Midi, paying homage to electronica with 46 minutes of methodically composed music. But then again what is music? As defined by Merriam-Webster: it is a science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity--which is precisely what DOM delivers ...

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Recording

Dawn Of Midi Announces Release Of "Dysnomia" Out August 6th, 2013 On Thirsty Ear Recordings

Dawn Of Midi Announces Release Of "Dysnomia" Out August 6th, 2013 On Thirsty Ear Recordings

Source: Michael Ricci

“Cannot urge you more strongly: go see Dawn of Midi” – Sasha Frere-Jones, The New Yorker “An unplugged translation of contemporary electronica…state-of-the-art.” – Time Out NY “Seriously never seen anything like these guys.” – Jad Abumrad, Radiolab Thirsty Ear Recordings is excited to announce the release of Dawn of Midi‘s sophomore full-length Dysnomia, out August 6th, 2013. In celebration of the announcement, the Brooklyn-based trio has released an album trailer, available for posting HERE, giving a glimpse into their unique ...

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Recording

Dawn of Midi - First (Accretions)

Dawn of Midi - First (Accretions)

Source: Master of a Small House

Acoustic instruments operating under a band name implying electronic elements. Unconventionality existing within a context implying convention. These are just two of the intriguing contradictions that accompany this multi-national piano trio. The packaging of their aptly-titled debut is short on descriptive information- just track titles, personnel, website, and a few other bits and pieces of detail. Pakistani percussionist Qasim Naqvi, Indian bassist Aakaash Israni and Moroccan pianist Amino Belyamani are apparent equals in the endeavor and the music reflects the ...

“Cannot urge you more strongly: go see Dawn of Midi” – Sasha Frere-Jones, The New Yorker

“An unplugged translation of contemporary electronica…state-of-the-art.” – Time Out NY

“Seriously never seen anything like these guys.” – Jad Abumrad, Radiolab

Clemens Rofner
bass, acoustic

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Dysnomia

Thirsty Ear Recordings
2014

buy

Dysnomia

Thirsty Ear Recordings
2013

buy

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