MINASSIAN, HAMLET
ARMENIAN POP MUSIC (NUMERO GROUP)
A winsome and dizzying spin on disco pop, recorded in westernized Iran during last moments before the 1979 revolution.
All but criminalized in the wake of Ayatollah Khomeni's theocratic repression, Hamlet Minassian's solo masterpiece is a testament to the Middle East's forgotten dance music culture.
This six-song, 44-minute LP hybridizes Euro attitude and Armenian traditional songs to create long, hypnotic proto-house, seemingly beamed in from another dimension.