Etnik Sentetik ‎:: Selected Works 1995-2006 (Müstesna)

Selected Works 1995-2006 marks the group’s first vinyl release with four tracks from previous albums with four unreleased pieces. The collection sticks to no one style, instead ideas, sounds and tracks flow with a daring independence. In many respects the collection is like a various artists compilation, after listening it will come as a surprise to many that this was produced by a single group.

Football is said to bring people together. A photograph of three Premiership players, Mesut Özil of Arsenel, Ilkay Gundogan of Manchester City and Cenk Tosun of Everton with Turkey’s premier, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, caused quite a bit of controversy when it was snapped back in May. Erdogan is not a popular figure in the West. His crackdown on freedom of speech and hardline stance has estranged him from Europe and since Instagram oddity the US has enforced stringent sanctions on the nation with quiet crippling results. Despite this atmosphere of conservatism in a land that straddles East and West, despite this lurch back to tradition, there are still musicians and labels exploring electronic music.200

Set up by Ece Özel and Umut Kahya in Istanbul, Müstesna sees the pair make the leap to vinyl. Speaking to Özel, who “makes parties as Özel Zevkler,” the label appears to have grown quite organically with both being music enthusiasts and Kahya being a “a DJ and founder of zattirizat.com—an online music magazine and podcast series” as well as being “music director of the bar “Arkaoda.”

To inaugurate the label a band from Istanbul have been chosen. Etnik Sentetik were active between 1995-2007 with Özel assuring they were quite “infamous.” Selected Works 1995-2006 marks the group’s first vinyl release with four tracks from previous albums with four unreleased pieces. The collection sticks to no one style, instead ideas, sounds and tracks flow with a daring independence. In many respects the collection is like a various artists compilation, after listening it will come as a surprise to many that this was produced by a single group. Genre tags slip and slide to the floor on an ever moving bed of synth noodling and garage experimentation. The opener, “Requem (Bassy Version),” is an eerie soundtrack that morphs into the even more haunting “The Omen.” This pair are rooted in the TV shows and films of the late 1970s. “Dasystem (Clean Version)” adopts these same atmospherics while allowing for elements of a burgeoning techno scene to bloom. 4/4 beats and acid rinses flow over dreamy notes. The influences come thick and fast with Etnik Sentetik and nowhere can they be heard quite as clearly as in the smiley faced raver that is “Acieed (Alpha Verison).” This jack of all trades is swaddled in peak synth stabs, D.I.Y. drum bang and, you guessed it, dripping in acidic attitude. “War” inherits some of the aggression of its predecessor but marches to its own stark beat before the jack-knife that is “Dasystem (Version 2).”

Football might bring people together, but across the world doors seem to be closing. There’s an atmosphere of each “look after their own” and forget about your neighbor. The world appears to be becoming more insular. In a curious twist, the ever open and liberal world of electronic music is, ironically, quite insular. Electro. House. Techno. All have been very focused on the powers of the occident. Navel gazing, small elites and certain cities being the epicenter of entire sounds. Müstesna is turning this idea on its head and showing the quality that lies undiscovered in less likely places. I guess the musical lesson is never close the door—you never know who you’re leaving out in the cold. Maybe it’s not just a musical lesson.

Selected Works 1995-2006 is available on Müstesna.