In May of 2007 I attended the Bottling Smoke Festival here in Los Angeles, and Ilyas Ahmed performed on the festival’s opening evening, and I was instantly taken with his codeine-slow experimental folk compositions. When I had come down from the euphoria of the weekend’s amazing performances, I found myself seeking out many, many recordings from artists I’d just heard for the first time. Century Of Moonlight was the first album I found, and it’s the one I have listened to the most. Especially alone. At night. While out of my head. This is the way that experimental or modern folk should sound. Not that Devendra Banhart “look at my beard I’m caterwauling” bullshit.
“Beautiful dreamstate meditations centered around Ahmed’s hovering spools of finely picked acoustic guitar resonance, muffed half asleep vocal glow and perfectly executed layering of harmonium, bells, gentle fuzz and hazy atmosphere… The incense and hookah smoke is so thick you might think your floating… and the world weary, loner, nocturnal vibes are plain dripping from the ceiling…” – Time-Lag
The Century Of Moonlight CD-r was released by Time-Lag in 2006 in a limited edition pressing of 222 copies. I’ve never seen one available before for sale, so this might be the only opportunity you have to hear it.
Ilyas Ahmed
Century Of Moonlight
MediaFire Download Link
Tracklist:
01. Softly, Tomorrow
02. Red Spring
03. Your One Mind
04. The Gathering
05. Seen Through
06. Kabhi Ma Boley Ashista
