STM 252 - E-Saggila

E-Saggila is the main alias of Iraq-born, Toronto-based musician Rita Mikhael. In recent years, Rita’s project has caught the attention of anyone searching for fresh takes on harsh dancefloor music. Her tape releases on Opal Tapes, Summer Isle (which she co-founded), and a few others are remarkable for their variety. They combine techno, rhythmic noise, hardcore, and even drum and bass, but each of these elements is reimagined in E-Saggila’s distinct style. This unique quality seems informed by the darker shades of noise and dark ambient, with rich distorted textures, ice-cold synths, and cavernous echoes. E-Saggila has crafted numerous tracks that are aggressive in the beat section while remaining melodic or even mellow elsewhere—a fascinating blend of comfort amidst carnage. Her latest record, Echo Strip, has just been released and features some of her most intense work to date, including an impressive foray into hardcore with “Through Concrete” and airy IDM with “Vital.”

Just under an hour long, Secret Thirteen Mix 252 by E-Saggila is a dense compilation of some of the freshest and most recent electronic bangers. These tracks are not easy to stumble upon—half of them can only be found in the dark nooks and crannies of SoundCloud or perhaps not even there. This mix is hard-hitting, especially in the first half, which is packed with massive techno beats and ominous melodies, abrasive industrialized hardcore, manic bubblegum gabba, mutated grime, and rap forms injected with a dozen doses of speed straight into the eyeball, and other fascinating post-modern travesties. In the second half, the mix slows its pace, inviting the listener to explore a variety of landscapes—some grim, others inexplicable, most built on full-bodied bassy textures. E-Saggila finally releases us at what feels like the deepest point of the mix, enhancing the impact of every moment leading up to it. This is a heavy and extremely dynamic mix, full of soft curves, sharp angles, and half-shapes with a mind of their own. In that sense, it’s reminiscent of Willem de Kooning’s Asheville. Let this one grip you hard!