Palestinian producer MC Muqata’a will release his fifth album on Simone Trabucchi’s Hundebiss Records in February.

Kamil Manqus combines sounds from local radio, drum machines, synths, and field recordings into harsh beats and abstract tones. Muqata’a drew upon an ancient Arabic science of combining numbers and alphabets to communicate with the unseen. “Samples of memories are being fragmented and restitched through each track,” he tells XLR8R.

Kamil Manqus, meaning “whole imperfect” or “perfect imperfect,” references Muqata’a’s way of working that sees errors not as mistakes, but as possible breaks in an otherwise closed system.

The artwork was made by Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme.

Muqata’a is an electronic musician and MC based in Ramallah, Palestine, and a co-founder of the Ramallah Underground collective. He’s known locally as the “godfather” of Ramallah’s hip-hop scene. His last solo album, Inkanakuntu, landed in 2017, and he also composes film scores and has worked on several compositions for dance performances.

Tracklisting

01. Quboor Mamila قُبور مَاميلا
02. Shay’an Fa Shay’an شَيئاً فشَيئاً
03. Simya’ سِيميَاء
04. Bilharf Alwahad بالحَرف الواحَد
05. Ma Wara’ مَا وَراء
06. Dirasat ‘Ulya دِراسات عُليا 03:12
07. Tanqeeb تَنقيب
08. Ikmal إِكمَال

Kamil Manqus LP is scheduled for February 5 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Dirasat ‘Ulya دِراسات عُليا” in full below, and pre-order here.