A unique dialogue between the electronic textures of Saint Abdullah with the live drums of Jason Nazary (Anteloper).
Saint Abdullah consists of Tehran-born brothers Mohammad and Mehdi Mehrabani-Yeganeh, who have been exploring a diverse palette of sounds over their releases to date, including collaborations with Eomac on Nicolas Jaar’s Other People label, and Model Home on Purple Tape Pedigree, as well as their own duo album on Important Records.
Jason Nazary is a drummer and composer from Atlanta and based in Brooklyn. Fascinated by the intersection of acoustic and electronic music, Jason has been a force in New York's creative music scene for over a decade. As well as his own solo work he also co-leads a number of ensembles, among them the dystopian electro noise duo Clebs with singer Emilie Weibel, and until recently Anteloper (International Anthem), an improvising modular beat shredding duo with the much-missed Jaimie Branch.
A wave of blistering noise washes over a barrage of unrelenting percussion. These are the chaotic free jazz sounds of Saint Abdullah – Tehran-born brothers Mohammad and Mehdi Mehrabani-Yeganeh – and Jason Nazary – Brooklyn-based drummer and composer. This noisy and evolving collaboration began when Nazary and the Mehrabani-Yeganeh brothers realised that they all lived in the same neighbourhood of Brooklyn and admired each other’s music. Their first release together Evicted In The Morning (2023) had tender, glitchy, ambient currents coursing through it. It focussed around synthesised, reverie-inducing melodies and sparse pulmonary drum tracks, streaming through the compositions’ veins. Their follow-up, Looking Through Us (2023) took a turn towards montaged samples, muddy modular synthesis, and free jazz disarray, with a grimy quality to its sampling that recalls the hip hop tradition of the East Coast of the US while also summoning the traditional folk music sounds of the North Coast of Iran.
Saint Abdullah & Jason Nazary bring their distorted, improvised strain of jazz electronics to Cafe Oto, performing a special live set based around Looking Through Us’ eviscerating drums, veering tempos, and gnarled feedback.
