We and Badawi:

We and Badawi Segment 1 (about 45 min)
We and Badawi Segment 2 (about 45 min)

We and Badawi Asphodel Records

Saturday, March 6th, 1999
presented by Recreational Vinyl

New York designers and ambient sound technicians, We build sounds and rhythms much like a geodesic dome. Strong yet elegant, mysterious yet practical. Their first full length album, As Is, on Asphodel Records (å97) is a continuous mix of Dub, Jungle, Jazz and Ambient with just the right splash of New York grit crossed over into natural beauty. The album has been called one of the most important experimental dance records released during the past two years.

This multi tasking group known as We consist of Lloop (Richard Panciera) , Once11 (Ignasio Platus) and DJ Olive (Gregor Asch). A big, albiet reluctant, part of the New York Illbient scene (a phrase coined by DJ Olive and attributed by the press to label mate Paul Miller a.k.a. DJ Spooky), We was listed by Spin Magazine as one of the Top 30 electronic music acts in 1998.

April of 1999 brought the release of the trio¼s second full length album, The Square Root of -1. We¼s extensive live perfomance history includes opening sets for the ORB and collaborations with Sonic Youth, William Hooker and Bill Laswell. Their discography includes remixes for Bill Laswell¼s Axiom label , Asphodel¼s electro lounge act Tipsy, Medeski, Martin and Wood, Arto Lindsay and original tracks on Crooklyn Dub V.1, Axiom Dub, Valis Assasination of Syntax and Home Entertainment V.2.

Raz Mesinai, better known as Badawi, is a bicultural musician who has the unique ability to weave multiple influences into deep trance inducing groove pools of sound.

Raised in Israel and the U.S. Mesinai absorbed the traditional spiritualism of Hasidic and Middle Eastern music as well as the contemporary styles of New York hip-hop and Jamaican dub. While growing up in Manhattan, Raz returned numerous times to Israel where he studied drumming and dance with dervish Sheik Murshid Hassan. Although heavily influenced by Sufi music and the likes of hip-hop crew Zulu Nation it is in Jamaican dub production that Badawi found himself basing his own original sound.

He formed the group Sub Dub with engineer/partner John Ward and produced several records including Dance Hall Malfunction (Asphodel) and the Sub Dub L.P.(Instinct). Since deciding to go solo Badawi has produced Jerusalem Under Fire(ROIR), Bedouin Sound Clash(ROIR), Final Warning(Asphodel) and the February 1999 release The Heretic of Ether(Asphodel).

Badawi and We arrived in Boulder after returning to the states from a four week tour of Europe. The musicians were accompanied by visual artists; Psico/Tico and MultiPolyOmni. The Fiske Planetarium Scientists and RV production crew collaborated to bring the audience a fully 3 dimensional physical sound, light and inflatable installation. Colorado DJ¼s Ivy and Dr. Decent opened the show.

For more information contact:
Tim Sweet/theRV
303-543-8377
303-589-0243
and check out the Recreational Vinyl website.