Ramallah-based vocalist and producer Julmud has signed to Bilna’es, the label of Muqata’a, Ruanne Abou-Rahme, and Basel Abbas, for his debut album.

Tuqoos is rooted in deconstructed club, glitch, grime, and hip-hop. We’re told that its heavy beats “bend space and time to subvert forms of enclosure,” and that the sounds have an almost “granular detailed texture” while maintaining a “gripping rhythmic flow.” Across 15 tracks, the album blurs the lines between “hanging on a street corner, at a protest, or in a club.” It was entirely produced in Ramallah, Palestine.

Julmud is part of Ramallah collective Saleb Wahad and regularly collaborates with other Ramallah acts like Al Nather and Makimakkuk.

Tuqoos is only the second album to land on Bilna’es, the label Muqata’a co-founded with New York City-based visual artists Ruanne Abou-Rahme and Basel Abbas in late 2020. The platform has, though, launched a project of experimental video games and art, plus a series of posters for New York bookstore Printed Matter.

In April 2020, Palestinian DJ-producer SAMA’ contributed to the XLR8R podcast series. You can stream that here.

Tracklisting

01. Basmala بسملة
02. Kassara كسّارة
03. Haras El Jabal حرس الجبل
04. Marhale A’la مرحلة اعلى
05. Saree’ el thawaban سريع الذوبان
06. Falnukmel فلنكمل
07. Toshkol Asi تشكل آسي
08. Kalma’ كالماء
09. Ishi Hawa’i اشي هوائي
10. Juwway جوّاي
11. Harti حارتي
12. Roh Al Nahrain روح النهرين
13. Mawlana مولانا
14. Taghyeer Thabet تغير ثابت
15. Ur اور

Tuqoos LP is scheduled to land on March 30. Meanwhile, you can stream “Falnukmel” below and pre-order here.