Bleep

Henrik Schwarz’s embryonic Between Buttons imprint fronts its second release, though the record is not what one might expect from a label helmed by the house high-flyer. Khaled Kurbeh and Raman Khalaf are two Syrian musicians who have taken up residence in Berlin, and two years of playing together culminates in this richly realised EP. With Kurbeh manning the electronics and contributing piano while Khalaf tackles vocals and oud, the pair and their collaborators create an EP that takes in jazz, contemporary classical music, Middle Eastern traditional styles and much more. Closer ‘Einsamkeit Impromptu’, for example, is a closing-time bass-and-piano lilt that provides both divergence from and confluence with shuffling first track ‘Toska’.