Tag Archives: Maurice Louca

Maurice Louca & Elephantine announce new album, Moonshine, and share lead track ‘Trembler’

25 July 2023

Back Row: Daniel Gahrton, Rasmus Svale Kjærgård Lund, Özün Usta, Isak Hedtjärn, Maurice Louca
Front Row: Tommaso Cappellato, Rosa Brunello, Els Vandeweyer, Piero Bittolo Bon

Maurice Louca is and has been one of our favourite artists for a long time, be it with his solo works or with his many collaborative projects, including his trio The Dwarfs of East Agouza, multicultural collective Alif and bands like Bikya, Lekhfa and Karkhana. Louca’s previous two albums, Saet El Hazz (The Luck Hour) and Elephantine, made it our Album Picks of the Year when they came out in 2021 and 2019 respectively. So we’re truly over the moon to know that the immeasurably talented and adventurous composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer is ready to dazzle us again with a new album. Entitled Moonshine and releasing under his band name Elephantine, the new record brings together a phenomenal cast of musicians including double drummers Tommaso Cappellato and Özün Usta; Piero Bittolo Bon on alto, Daniel Gahrton on baritone and Isak Hedtjärn on clarinet; Rasmus Svale Kjærgård Lund on tuba; Rosa Brunello on bass; Els Vandeweyer on vibraphone and Louca himself on guitar/lap steel/synth.
Transcending the boundaries between various genres and cultures, including jazz, avant-rock, electronics, free improvisation, psychedelic and Middle Eastern influences, Moonshine is a triumphant, compelling, absorbing and sonically stunning record imbued with a touch of melodrama. Asher Gamedze, who penned an essay on Moonshine, describes it as “Abstract territories of freedom, always grounded, expansive, multiple, internally differentiated, and elephantine.”

We’ll have to wait until September 15th for the album to be out through Sub Rosa and Northern Spy Records but we can already get a sublime taste of what’s in store with lead track ‘Trembler’ now streaming. Here it is.

To tide you over until the album’s release, check out the excellent guest mixtape Maurice Louca put together for us back in April 2019.

Listen to Maurice Louca’s new single ‘Higamah (Hirudinea)’

01 September 2021

Photo: Alexander Mahmoud

Maurice Louca had previously shared the transcending lead single ‘Bidayat (Holocene)‘ from his upcoming album Saet El Hazz (The Luck Hour). Now the incredible composer and producer is enticing us again with a magical new track called ‘Higamah (Hirudinea)’. Wrap your ears around it.


Saet El Hazz (The Luck Hour) is out on September 24th through Sub Rosa and Northern Spy

Maurice Louca set to release new album Saet El-Hazz (The Luck Hour) in September

14 August 2021

There’s wonderful news from gifted and adventurous musician Maurice Louca, who has enthralled us long ago with his solo works and many other projects, including his trio The Dwarfs of East Agouza, multicultural collective Alif and bands like Bikya, Lekhfa and Karkhana. Following his magnificent Elephantine, which was one of our Album Picks of 2019, the composer and producer has announced the release of a new album entitled Saet El-Hazz (The Luck Hour). Louca explains the significance of the album title:

“‘The Luck Hour’ is a loose translation of ‘Saet El Hazz’ which is a coded saying we have in Egypt to refer to a good time, which usually includes a good deal of debauchery. When you mention that you have had a Saet Hazz, there are no questions asked; it is what it is and there is something about linking luck to decadence that resonates very much within me regarding the music of this record, and even if I can’t fully articulate it in words, the emotional register and drive behind this record and how it came to be, and the energy between us at the studio rehearsing and recording this record, is in a lot of ways to me a Saet Hazz (A Luck Hour).”

Consisting of six movements, Saet El-Hazz (The Luck Hour) draws on Arabic music, psychedelic folk, and free improv. The seed for the album sprouted from Louca’s wish to collaborate with Lebanese improvisational group “A” Trio. “They create a sonic cosmos of their own, and I had the idea and started composing music”, he explains, “the songs that I wanted to exist in this sonic world–at times harmoniously, other times clashing, and all the emotional and sonic ranges in between.”

Also crucial to the album was a commission from Mophradat Art Organization for Louca to compose and perform a music piece using instruments modified to play microtonally in the Arabic Maqam modes (scales), which led him to Istanbul to custom-make a guitar and to Indonesia. “I also ended up in Indonesia with a Gamelan maker, tuning a Serang (they caIl it the Indonesian Xylophone, a part of the family of Gamelan tuned percussion Instruments),” he comments “Since the Arabic Maqams use a lot of notes from the chromatic scale alongside the quarter tones, I ended up tuning it to a full chromatic scale plus certain quarter tones.”

We’ll have to wait until September 24th for the album to be out through Sub Rosa and Northern Spy but we can already hear the transcending lead single ‘Bidayat (Holocene). Take a listen now.

Mixtape #104

02 April 2019

Maurice Louca, as a solo artist as well as with his numerous and adventurous collaborations, had conquered our ears a long time ago. A stalwart at the forefront of Egypt´s flourishing experimental music scene, Louca is an incredibly talented and prolific composer and producer. Earlier this year he released Elephantine, his magnificent new album, and we simply can´t put it down. So we´re beyond excited he accepted to helm this month´s mixtape! Here's his gem-filled mix that will stimulate and delight your ears!

  1. Albert Ayler – Goin’ Home [Black Lion Records]
  2. Sunil Ganguly – Chupke Chupke Raat Din Aanso
  3. Alexandre St-Onge – Joseph Carey Merrick (Part Two) [Oral]
  4. Jerusalem In My Heart –  Thahab Mish Roujou Thahab [Constellation]
  5. Sote – Breadth Digit (Glass Lung) [Sub Rosa]
  6. Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra – Other Planes Of There (excerpt) [El Saturn Records‎]
  7. Daphne Oram – Pulse Persephone
  8. Umm Kulthum – Ghana El Rabea (excerpt)
  9. Don Ayler – Prophet John (excerpt) [Revenant‎]
  10. Miles Davis – Live Electric and Brutal @Berlin 1973 (Excerpt)
  11. Albert Ayler – Our Prayer [Impulse!]