Cairo-based psych-jazz explorers The Dwarfs Of East Agouza have found a new home on Constellation Records, where they’ have released the 2025’s album Sasquatch Landslide. We will have the pleasure of seeing them on May 31 at Jazz is Dead Festival.
The trio—made up of Maurice Louca, Alan Bishop (Sun City Girls), and Sam Shalabi—have been quietly melting minds for nearly a decade, and this new LP sounds like their most focused trip yet. According to the press release, Following acclaimed releases on Sub Rosa, Akuphone, and Nawa Recordings, Sasquatch Landslide pushes deeper into the band’s heady fusion of North African rhythms, shaabi grit, free jazz chaos, and scorched psychedelic groove. Across seven sprawling tracks, the album offers a tighter, more agitated version of their signature sound—like watching a jam session conducted via ouija board.
Louca’s hypnotic percussion and electronic textures hold the center while Shalabi and Bishop go full signal-destruction mode on guitar and saxophone, warping traditional instrumentation into something feral and otherworldly.
Listen below and check our chat with the Sam Shalabi who shares the details and the story behind the new full-lenght.
Let’s start from your latest album “Sasquatch Landslide ” out now via Constellation Records. What are the first vivid memories of this album and what was the main focus when you started to think to this album?
Our albums are always the result of improvisations- and so alot of the fun of making an album is ‘ reading‘ the resulting music from an improv session like one might read tea leaves or tarot cards or a crime scene. The narrative or arc of an album comes from the material itself and this album makes the sense that it makes; we all knew it had a vibe and we made sure to let that vibe happen – whatever exactly that is.
Your musical language brings together very distinct elements. How does this dialogue between influences take shape today in rehearsal: is it still largely instinctive, or has it become more structured compared to the early days of the project?
Definitely more instinctive. The more we play the more intuitive it gets and often it’s just a question of not getting in its way. I think the music is getting deeper because we are learning more about how to let it happen.
The trio brings together musicians with very different backgrounds rooted in improvisation. How does the balance between you shift in the studio compared to live performance, where the energy feels more immediate and physical? Is there a clear distinction in your approach from this point of view, or is it all interconnected?
I dont draw that distinction; if there is a certain smell in the studio or a weird painting hanging on the wall then it will have an effect. If there is an audience it will too in a sense we play to the room, even when there isn’t a room or anyone in it.
The artwork is powerful. How did you choose it? How important is the visual aspect of your music—from the artwork to the aesthetics of your videos?
We have actually never made a video. As far artwork, it’s a question of what resonates with the music and so, like the music its beyond explanation.
You will play soon a live show in Italy for “Jazz is Dead” Festival. Which live settings do you feel most drawn to, and where are you most at ease—from festivals to small clubs—and why?
Generally its more the feeling in the room, and that could be a room of 10 people or a 1000. Its just about the ability to connect with our immediate environment and if that is made difficult or problematic then it doesn’t matter if it’s a festival or club but in general, we rarely have a problem connecting and being connected to an audience no matter how large or small.
You are from different places of the world: Seattle, Canada, Egypt. I’m really interested in the connection between the places we live over the years, our roots and the art. How do you feel these theme connected to your music, your way to think music? What are your favorite places which inspired the most?
Probably Egypt Cairo is the North Star for our music because it was forged there and we all have a deep connection to the city even if I ( Sam ) don’t live there anymore. But we are very very promiscuous when it comes to influences, every place and the music of that place has an influence on us, as do the people, art and history of that place. But while Cairo n Egypt is really the heart of much of our music, any place I’ve lived has had an influence. I grew up listening to punk, avant garde and jazz music as well as Arabic and ‘ world music ‘ – all of which are in our music too.
Ritual question. Have you seen or heard anything good recently?
Dennis Johnson’s long early minimalist piece November is a recent discovery that is just astounding…
