Anatolian Edits

Anatolian Weapons is a prolific producer/ DJ from Athens, Greece whose music is wide and varied with self explanatory such as EPs called Immersive Greek Folk and Yellow Ambient Tracks sitting on his Bandcamp page. In 2022 he released Selected Acid Tracks which was one of my favourite releases of that year, long acid techno tracks to lose oneself in. 

Anatolian Weapons latest release is a four track EP titled Heart Of Asia, four edits that are inventive, engaging and funky as a mosquito's tweeter. The first one is an AW edit of Shamansky Beat's Heart Of Asia, chunky rhythms and Eastern/ Arabic sounds, very much in that early 90s Transglobal Underground vein of global dance/ acid house style and all the better for it. 

It's followed by an edit of Han'nya Shingyo by Japanese artist Soichi Terada, a rumbling, tumbling widescreen acid- global groove with synth stabs and chanted vocals. The AW edit of Rolling With Rai by Axis, a 1989 Ashley Beedle production, Algerian Rai crossed with hip hop beats and late 80s tribal house re- done for 2026.Lovely stuff. 

The fourth track is an edit of Tranquility Bass's ambient house/ downtempo/ trip hop classic They Came In Peace, eight and a half minutes of found sounds (birdsong and cicadas), ambient synths, breathing, blissed out chords, chopped up vocal samples, 'they came in peace for all mankind', and eventually, just prodding away deep in the background, the double bass riff. Perfect. 

Get Heart Of Asia at Bandcamp, free or pay what you want. 

Monday's Long Song Is Going To Greece

We're going on holiday today, away for the next seven days. Our holiday was booked months ago and has been subject to a bit of uncertainty recently- we are due to go to the Greek island of Rhodes. Last week, like much of the Mediterranean, Rhodes had wildfires. While much of Rhodes was unaffected the specific place we are going to- Lindos- was in the path of the wildfires, the beach at Lindos was where holidaymakers were being evacuated from and some of the houses, buildings and hotels in the area had been affected by the fires. Last weekend our holiday company suspended all flights and the thought of going on holiday to an area of a natural disaster was a bit of a concern. They contacted us a few days ago to say the area was safe to travel to, flights were starting up again and the Lindos area was ready to welcome tourists again. The local economy relies on holidaymakers and their spending, and the assessment of the area was that facilities and services were back to normal. While we're still a bit apprehensive about it, we're off today. Hopefully you won't see me on the news sleeping in a local sports centre having been evacuated from a beach with nothing but our swimwear with the flames licking around us. 

Here's some Greek music. Anatolian Weapons is a Greek DJ/ producer, real name Aggelos Bartos, a resident of Athens. Anatolian Weapons is his version of splicing electronic music, krautrock and aspects of Greek folk music. Last year he put out an EP called Selected Acid Tracks, a record I played a lot. It is exactly what the title said it was- strong Greek acid. This one, Acid Research 63, is eleven minutes of dark squelch and thump.

Acid Research 63

This one is no less intense or percussive, taken from the Anatolian Weapons vaults and a release titled The Hyperglow Edits Vol. 2. The title seemed apt. All being well, normal service at Bagging Area will be resumed in a week with more music,  accompanied by photos of Greek towns and villages, the sea, ancient Greek sites and sunsets. Acropolis not apocalypse. 

Traveller

Monday's Long Song

I found this last week, one track from an EP by Anatolian Weapons, a DJ/ production team from Athens, Greece (released on the always worth watching Byrd Out label). Desert Track 66 is eleven minutes of 303 slowed down acid intensity, a trip out to somewhere else. Ticking drums, murky sounds, the acidic squiggle of the 303 burbling away, with the occasional pause as the rhythm track drops out and then back in again. Impossible to click play on and not be drawn in. And there's definitely something of the desert about it- the heat, the vastness and the sense of it going on and on into the distance as night falls. 

The rest of the EP, Selected Acid Tracks, is similarly good and can be bought digitally at Bandcamp. There's a limited vinyl edition too if you want to seriously test your speakers out. All the other tracks hit the spot, Acid Research 20 and Acid Research 63 both driven by higher tempos and equally wigged.