MySpace a place for friends

GIRLS ON FIRE VIDEO

SCRAMBLED EGGS NEW SINGLE

Dedicated to foes, celebrating friends

Hot on the heels of the haunted soundtrack they’ve created for the Joreige/Hadjithomas film ‘Je Veux Voir’, Lebanese punk icons Scrambled Eggs end their busy year with this “modest” 2-song release, which does however hold a host of surprises.

The year 2008 saw the Eggs part ways with their guitarist, Marc Codsi, an active contributor to the band’s sound since 2001. Codsi’s tumultuous departure, in addition to the wealth of experience gathered from working with various musicians throughout the year, infiltrate the tracks featured here, and lend them a primal, DIY quality. The sophistication of the ‘Je Veux Voir’ soundtrack is eschewed in favor of a raw, abrasive sound, harking back to the punk aesthetic of the ‘Happy Together Filthy Forever’ EP, released in 2006.

The single was recorded with little budget, in lo-fi conditions that seep through the music and lyrics. The band, reduced to the core trio of Haber on guitar and vocals, Elieh on bass, and Rizkallah on drums, displays a frantic desire to land back on its feet after a period of artistic self-doubt, and succeeds in doing so admirably. Of the six or seven songs that the Eggs wrote and tested on the road in September 2008, 2 were selected for this single release, and a third, a furious cover of Abba’s ‘Lay All Your Love On Me’, is hidden at the far end of the CD. Also hidden away at the far reaches of this release are a selection of musical snippets and oddities, selected by band-leader Charbel Haber with able help from Tunefork Studio’s maestro Fadi Tabbal.

This basic, back-to-the-roots package is a masterful way to end a difficult year, and an able return to form from one of the most revered band on Beirut’s alternative music scene.

Ziad Nawfal

JE VEUX VOIR O.S.T.

Soundtracks | Lebanon | 2008

The Scrambled Eggs are no strangers to movie atmospheres. They contributed several outstanding tracks to filmmakers Joreige and Hadjithomas’ previous outing, ‘A Perfect Day’, and the soundtrack went on to win a prestigious European award. ‘Je Veux Voir’ (Joreige and Hadjithomas’ latest ) is however an altogether different experience, as it sees the Lebanese rock band tackle the movie’s atmosphere on their own, delivering in the process 17 tracks of unbridled intensity and startling restraint.

Tracks 1 to 14 (which are mysteriously untitled) were recorded after watching excerpts from the as-yet-unreleased movie; the band gathered in Beirut’s Tunefork studios, and improvised directly onto tape melodic passages combining ambient soundscapes, ‘guitarified’ meanderings and moody rock drones. These were filtered through 16 ambient microphone inputs disposed haphazardly in the room, not necessarily directed at any particular instrument, and recorded by prolific sound engineer Fadi ‘Fe’ Tabbal. Additional arrangements and mixing were performed at a later stage by ‘Fe’ and Scrambled head-honcho Charbel Haber.

Tracks 15 and 16 feature French/Lebanese experimental musician Joe Ghosn, surrounded by a cast of like-minded friends, operating under the guise of Discipline and the Mainstream Ensemble. Tracks 17 to 19 are further additions by the Scrambled Eggs, consisting of demo tracks remixed by band members Charbel Haber and Marc Codsi, as well as one stellar, unreleased recording, ‘Let it Go’.

Ziad Nawfal

FOR THE SHIPMENT OF OUR ALBUMS:

FOR PURCHASING THIS ALBUM AS A DIGITAL FILE:

ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS:

BABYBOOM SAMPLER 003 IS NOW AVAILABLE: