Kalahari Super Voodoo I The Arabian Dream LP

An unpredictable record from an unpredictable label, Kalahari Super Voodoo have put to vinyl their original soundtrack for Maher Al Sabbagh’s 2007 documentary The Arabian Dream. That’s the what, who, where and when, but the why remains pleasantly out of reach. As far as soundtracks go, this one is more active than passive. Sure, it’s a mostly synth-driven electronic affair, but these tracks make their presence felt, sometimes like a lotioned massage of the neck, sometimes like a pebble in the sock. I’m not sure how the field recordings came into the soundtrack – are they are part of the film themselves? – but there are distinctly human beings operating here alongside outstretched synthesized melodies and churning electronic pulses. There’s even some sort of old-timey recording of a Western ragtime song lifted directly from its source, a jarring dose of antiquated pop alongside Kalahari Super Voodoo’s more subdued exploits. How does this all fit together, many years later, for release on Rotterdam’s Bergpolder label? My English-speaking, Dutch-ignorant mind can’t help but wonder.