Khamsa Khala is an ethno-industrial musical project that combines our love of middle-eastern music and Moroccan culture with experimental recording methods and deep sound manipulation. We create music that is organic, tangible, visceral and real. Our music embraces the vibrant people, culture and relationships in the mid-east. We are tired of the biased angle that western media shows us, we expose a region that is far more vibrant, magical, and complex than we are led to believe. We are very proud that this music is real - the band crafted the sounds, shot the video and really experienced the Sahara. Plenty of electronic devices are used in addition to authentic middle-eastern instruments, with real tastes and textures in the music. Real location recordings made by the band uncover the actual life, grit and sand. This texture, to us, echoes how we tweaked the knobs on the music to produce our own fractured take on Arabic music.

Neville Harson was a founding member of Mandible Chatter. Don Poe was the noisiest member of Deathpile. Using an experimental approach, they evoke ethnic music that draws from the noisy primitivism of Throbbing Gristle as well as the streets of Morocco.

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خمسة خلا

Five Empty Spaces

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Neville Harson's obsession with Morocco was initially inspired by people like Genesis P-Orridge and Paul Bowles. He was amazed when he discovered the psychoacoustic properties of the Gnawa trance music and from there branched out into listening to other Berber and Arabic music. He has spent considerable time in the deserts of the American west, but dream of someday seeing the Sahara. Playing this music with Don on instruments he brought back from Morocco brings Neville a little closer to realizing that dream.

Khamsa Khala has multiple goals: First conceived as a musical outlet for the creative energies that consume both members, the sound has evolved to the point of obsession. Other albums are in the works, from an album of minimal drone and slow sounds, to a radically different album of propulsive Krautrock-inspired rhythmic songs. One genre does not have to be adhered to, allowing the band to reinvent themselves with every recording session. As the concept of Tabula Rasa allows for a clean start, the Arabic meaning of Khamsa Khala is five empty spaces - allowing the band freedom to explore new sounds continually.

. . Room With No Walls (CD or Digital release) This is the second CD from Khamsa Khala. The world elements are still in the music, but now you will also find a touch more of melody and the damanged animal sounds reduced. Don't you worry, the strange aspects are still embedded in the sound of this music. Released by the excellent Carpe Sonum label.   . .