• Cover art: Keiku

Like Makyo, Toires is an artist interested in the mix of cultures, Western & Arabic, traditional & Modern. French by nationality, Florian (Toires) is married to a Moroccan, and spends much of his time travelling throughout the Mahgreb. These albums are a kind of diary, containing the sounds & impressions of his journeys mixed in with some deep dub bass and hypnotic drum loops. The music includes everything from a track written in the Sahara desert ("Layoun Lokhdor", which is a remix of an old Moroccan song) to a living room session with Natacha Atlas ("Sanati"). (Toires will be mixing several tracks on Natacha's next album.) "Sanati" is more a collage of arabic sounds --- both played & sampled --- over beats, while "Oued" is more electronic & ambient, a journey into the desert stars. After a number of appearances on compilations on labels like Blue Room Released and Infinium, "Oued-Sanati" is a summation of his work so far, (featuring tracks recorded between 1997-2001) and an album that will certainly appeal to fans of ethno-ambient.

In a time where the divide between the West and Islam grows ever wider, Toires' album bridges that gap, and suggests a future of unity.