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Music

Square Wave - The Right Race At The Right Time

Being the "right race" gets bands love in odd pockets of the world, often far from their homebase.

Being the right race at the right time gets bands love in odd pockets of the world, often far from their homebase.

I'm a drummer and a Pakistani and a Muslim. I'm in a punk band of Pakistani Muslims called the Kominas. We've got notoriety for the sole reason that it is what it is.

London has a strong Southeast Asian community, and recently Bobby Friction (a host and DJ on BBC Asian Network) asked my band to contribute a mix for broadcast online. Being the only DJ in the band, the execution of this mix sort of fell into my lap, but we made sure all members of the band contributed tracks.

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I generally mix beats made on a grid, made using a metronome - my bandmates' picks for the mix were an eclectic blend of really just crazy shit from all over the place, with drum beats played by real drummers (as opposed to machines) that shift in speed ever so slightly, making them a bitch to mix. There's classic Bollywood funk, Syrian dance techno, Mexican rockabilly, and then there are all my picks too.

What I ended up putting together was one of the most schizophrenic mixes I've ever made in my life. It's an hour-long when they asked for 20 to 30 minutes - I hope that illustrates the disregard this mix has for any standard the world's collective listening tolerance has for mixes. We had to bring in a professional, our buddy Spills, to clean up what I barfed onto that Ableton session. By the time he got done with it, it was a neat, nasty half hour of amazing blends and transformational sample work--absolutely nothing about it was the same, save for a couple of track picks.

The final mix will air on BBC Asian Network soon, but right now I want you to hear the rejected, uncut, disfigured, ostracized hour long original. The best/worst mix I've ever put together, and one of my favorites to date. Tracks on this mix were selected by The Kominas--myself and my bandmates Hassan Ali Malik, Basim Usmani, and Imran Ali Malik.

The Kominas for _ _ _ by Abdullah Saeed on Mixcloud

Tracklisting

1. JJ Cale - "Cajun Moon"

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2. Na Na Na - "Yeh Kya Karne Lage Ho"

3. Los Saicos - "Demolicion"

4. Gonjasufi - "Kowboyz&Indians"

5. Omar Souleyman - "Ala Il Hanash Madgouga"

6. Professor Pyarelal - "Title Song"

7. Bappi Lahiri - "Music"

8. mu-ziq - "World of Leather"

9. Bappi Lahiri - Urban Flesh Market

10 Fun-Da-Mental - Ja Sha Taan (Joo Ley Lal Mustt Qalander)

11. Bappi Lahiri - Mausam Hai Gaane Ka

12. The Panthers - "Malkaus" Kominas remix

13. IAM - "bitch"

14. Antibalas - "NESTA"

15. Death Grips - "Spread Eagle Across the Block"

16. Dibia$e - "Circuit Breakin"

Follow Abdullah at @ImYourKid

Previously - A Love Mix For Mr. Dibia$e