Gonjasufi - A Sufi and a Killer

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release
Soundclips

4...according to our Phil on Thu 04 Mar, 2010.

For some reason it took me frigging ages to be able to pronounce this fella's name. Now it rolls off the tongue as easy as my own name (which took me a good while to get the hang of). A Sufi And A Killer is his first album out on Warp and indeed his first album ever I think (although he's recorded under a bunch of other guises over the years which escape me right now). The album is instantly likeable and it really doesn't sound like anything else. It comes across as the drunken ramblings of a lunatic.... The rampant insanity-fuelled vocals on 'SuzieQ' over the Stooges riff needs to be heard to be believed. When you're not gonna disbelieve it I suppose. It's only a record. There's elements of lo-fi rock mixed with crate digging sensibilities.... Bits sound a bit like Flying Lotus or Gaslamp Killer (who help produce) and then other bits sound like a fucked blues singer over some crazy beats. It's a difficult one to pigeonhole but it's deffo worth checking out. It almost like a modern day electronic Baby Bird (the earlier experimental Baby Bird) with the plentiful vignettes and sketches on offer here. Excellent!

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A spectacular debut from the depths of the Mojave desert,
moulded by a trio of the West Coast’s finest producers.

If you’re reading this and have yet to hear the strains of Gonjasufi’s music, it’s
best to play ‘A Sufi & A Killer’ now, as nothing written here will sufficiently
communicate the extraordinary depth and strangeness of the man’s music.
However, be warned, hearing it is bound to create just as many questions as
answers about Sumach, the individual behind it.

Backed by a trio of the West Coast’s most renowned producers (Mainframe,
Flying Lotus and The Gaslamp Killer), there’s much to uncover in Gonjasufi’s
songs, and given their very nature, listeners will surely speculate and comment on
both The Sufi and The Killer, but there is still much about Gonjasufi and his music
that has yet to reveal itself.

This spectacular album has already stirred interest in the mainstream and
independent media, with The Guardian Guide calling it “a contender for album of
the year… a cosmic headtrip sounding like Screamin’ Jay Hawkins covering MIA, as
remixed by Portishead. In a good way”. The Wire also had this to say:
“Somewhere between Devendra Banhart without the tweeness and rockstarisms,
Mark E Smith at his most demonically megaphonic, and Ghostface Killah wailing
over ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ on an infamous bootleg… it erupts at you like a
huge mystical guffaw”.

The CD format is packaged in a digipack and the vinyl comes in a deluxe
double gatefold sleeve.