Desert Dwellers is a longtime collaboration between electronic music pioneers Amani Friend and Treavor Moontribe. It has become a ‘virtual band’, using the internet as a collaborative space in which concept albums are created with cutting edge techniques that blend the modern edge of electronica with ancient sounds.
Based in Santa Fe, Desert Dwellers has grown from its initial duo to include Rara Avis and Craig Kohland of Shaman’s Dream. The talents of these four sound alchemists combine powerfully into genre-bending dance tracks and downtempo grooves. Conceived for tribal dance rituals at magical locations within the vast expanses of the New Mexico, Mojave and Black Rock Deserts, their sound spans centuries and the globe.
Blending deep bass, earthy percussion, etheric vocals and multicultural instrumentation, Desert Dwellers offers a spellbinding hybrid which echoes our tribal past and explores our musical future. Their DownTemple Dub series is a great source of world-inspired ambient and chillout tracks, and the mixes below will give you a taste of what you can expect live.. Can’t wait to catch em at Earthdance in a couple weeks, they seem to have the perfect aesthetic for that gathering.
Here are Amani and Raja throwing down at Earthdance this year:
Jump into their set from this year’s Lightning In A Bottle, containing mostly original material and showing their range of styles and tempos:
Desert Dwellers at LIB 2011
1. Lotus Heart – White Swan Records
2. You Can See Forever (Black Rock Spaces) – White Swan Records
3. More Than Anything – White Swan Records
4. Dragon’s Mist – White Swan Records
5. Pranafestation – White Swan Records
6. New Generation – White Swan Records
7. Bodhi Tree Dub (Desert Freak Mix) – Desert Trax
8. Locks & Herbs – forthcoming on Desert Trax
9. Crossing the Desert (Sattva Ananda Remix) – Desert Trax
10. Spinning out of Nothingness – forthcoming on Desert Trax
11. Snake Charmer (Amani & Sattva Remix) – forthcoming on Desert Trax
12. Snake Charmer (Satori Mix) – White Swan Records
13. Desert Dub (DD Remix) by Adham Shaik – forthcoming on Sonic Turtle
14. Moonlit Horizons (David Starfire Remix) – Desert Trax
15. Moonlit Horizons (Ricardin Unplugged) – White Swan Records
16. Drift by Variant Field – Desert Trax
17. Mindscapes by Variant Field – Desert Trax
18. Fields of Variance by Variant Field – forthcoming on Iboga Records
Amani‘s set at Hookadome was harder dubstep than I’d heard from them before, yet still retained tribal elements that made it soulful and interesting. It reminded me that we hadn’t featured anything from these guys yet, and I discovered the following gold:
Amani on Glitch FM 4.3.11 – Dubstep Mix
Amani – Tribal Progressive Set at Dream Temple 7.3.09
Desert Dwellers at Dream Temple 5.15.09 (3+ Hours)
Original Albums, Compilations, more Mixes and info at:
