Mohammad Reza Mortazavi and Burnt Friedman, as YEK, create a groove-based, trance-like art music, resulting in a consistent mood of intensity. Rhythmically based, the tracks all centre around what feel like pumping electronic rhythms, except that there’s no signs of the regular electronic signposts – 808/909 drum sounds, or 4-to-the-floor pulses or even broken beat loops. The basic building block sounds are a tight mix of synthetic/sampled Middle Eastern/Subcontinental percussion sounds and acoustic versions of the same – in particular, Mortazavi’s tombak, pounding in their bass-weight and spiralling in key signatures. The cross rhythms play a large part of this, with tiny percussive sounds which, again, might be programmed but might be played live, splattering across the dominant beats in variations and counter-rhythms. Thanks to the extreme acoustic range and his art, Mortazavi merges perfectly with Burnt Friedman’s signature sound and repertoire. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.