About a month ago, Fatima Al Qadiri released an EP on Tri Angle called WARN-U under the name Ayshay, adding another line to her already crowded résumé. The moody tracks centered around the spectral chanting of traditional Islamic songs in Arabic (Al Qadiri was born in Senegal, raised in Kuwait during the Gulf War, and lives in Brooklyn now). Given the content of that EP, it makes sense that she chose to release Genre-Specific Xperience using a different name, and on a different label. GSX harnesses the eerie mysticism of WARN-U that sat nicely under Tri Angle's shrouded, echoey umbrella but channels it into a percussive, neo-global club sound driven by an unexpectedly sinister synthetic steel drum-- and with a more compelling result. It picks up nicely where L.A. mixmasters Nguzunguzu left off when they made a 12-minute "megamix" of WARN-U, pumping the EP's original three cuts full of skittery beats and bass.
This EP could stand on its own as a piece of music suited for dancing under the right combination of fog and lasers, but it remains connected to her aesthetic as a whole. GSX showcases Al Qadiri's ability to evoke, using sound only, the uncanny and seductive themes she dreams up and explores visually. So it makes sense that the release party for the EP took place at New York's New Museum, complete with a screening of corresponding videos created by a horde of collaborators. But you don't need videos to get a grip on Al Qadiri's haunting, pan-cultural visions. Looking at the tracklist before listening to the EP, you might figure the title "Hip Hop Spa" to be just a nifty and offhanded combination of words; listening to the bassy, new age-bending song, though, it's clear that Al Qadiri has thought about exactly what music might be played at a hip-hop spa, if such a thing existed (in fact, she should probably open one). "Vatican Vibes", the EP's centerpiece, is a degree more suggestive still, folding Gregorian chants into a thumping, futuristic synth-and-steel-drum backdrop. All five songs deliver on the slickly gaudy, pillar-laden poolside setup gracing the cover.
GSX can lean toward gimmickry, but Al Qadiri stays on the right side of that line throughout most of the EP's 23 minutes. The only place she misfires is on "Corpcore", a shrill, forgettable closer that was first released over a year ago. Perhaps it was tacked on as an afterthought because its visual counterpart was put together by newly high-profile video-installation artist Ryan Trecartin. Regardless, its predecessors are substantive and strong enough that it doesn't much detract from the project's overarching vision: otherworldly, synthetic amalgams of dance sub-genres that sound like they've been sent from the future. Al Qadiri is a jack-of-all-trades-- she writes a well-informed column on global music, DJs, and exhibits her visual art in galleries around the world-- but GSX gives her original solo music a solid push to the forefront of her broad output.
