Mahdyar will release his debut album, Seized, via Kowloon Records later this month.

A vital figure in Iran’s underground music scene, Mahdyar‘s dauntless electronic architecture fuses restless fractal beat structures with warped Persian motifs and instrumentation. The Tehran-born producer made his initial mark as a teenager producing the majority of the newly emerged Persian hip-hop movement at the age of 16, and has produced a number of acclaimed Persian hip-hop albums. However, as the widespread influence of Mahdyar and his contemporaries grew, the Iranian authorities became concerned about their rising power over the nation’s youth. He was blacklisted by the Ministry of Culture and left Tehran for Europe in 2009.

Retaining the grit and urgency of his hip-hop roots, Mahdyar’s sound today is dark and provocative, as showcased on Seized. The album is said to reveal itself “slowly and purposefully,” while “toying with structure form and identity,” painting a tense portrait that “evokes images of abstract forms, twisting, and mutating.”

In support of the album, you can download “Timmy Might Bury Ya’ll” via the WeTransfe button below.

Tracklisting

01. Seize
02. Money Money
03. Timmy Might Bury Y’all
04. Vow
05. Hush
06. Iran Iraq
07. Khakis
08. Running from
09. Lust
10. Glimmer of
11. Twist the Facts

“I made this track in 2011 for an unfinished documentary about Kaveh Golestan, a remarkable Iranian photo-journalist who lost his life in Iraq by stepping on a landmine. The concept behind the track was basically “war in Iraq,” which at the time of the composition was more a reminder of the US-Iraq war to me since that was the most recent one I could remember. To me, it seemed like the US was using its power to bully Iraq and take control of the region which in fact actually led to more instability in the region.” — Mahdyar 

Timmy Might Bury Ya’ll