THE MAGHREBAN

Surrey native Ayman Rostom has always had several strings to his bow. Following a period making jungle under the name Ayman for label Juice, and beats under his Dr Zygote alias as part of the cult hip hop group Strange U, he is best known for his alias The Maghreban, melding anything from Eastern jazz, breakbeat hardcore, acid house, dub and street soul.  Now, he embraces a new sound as Mystery Tiime, grappling with post punk, low fi and odd pop. On the new album Maudlin Tales of Grief and Love he sings about fatherhood, relationships and opiate addiction, whilst doffing his cap to the likes of Tones on Tail, Tuxedomoon, and Jah Wobble. He focuses on this period for his TANK Mix, an alternative 80s compendium of influences, when against grim grey odds, creative outsiders cooked up weirdo funk, metallic dub and alluring dark melodies. Listen to the mix below and read Rostom's inspirations on this project.

THE MAGHREBAN Listening back to my last Maghreban LP, Connection, there was as much grief as I could get in the music without actually adding vocals. Many of the songs were sombre and as “emotional” as I could get them at that point. It felt like a pretty natural progression to then start writing lyrics. There are a few uptempo Mystery Tiime tracks, and those are pretty close to things I would make as Maghreban. And a few dub mixes and instrumentals that are yet to come. It's all the same sounds, really. Perhaps less sample-based with Mystery Time, more pure drum machine sounds and my own bass, but the stuff still sounds chunky in places, like Maghreban stuff, or my hip hop productions under Dr Zygote/Strange U. The mix I've compiled is from songs I have amassed on my travels. It's all a bit DIY – I'm not a virtuoso and neither were some of these artists.

Maudlin Tales of Grief and Love is out now.