Altın Gün
Amsterdam-based Altın Gün are essential interpreters of the Anatolian rock and folk legacy and a leading voice in the emergent global psych-rock scene. They already made a name for themselves, especially in mainland Europe, with their hotly tipped 2018 debut album ‘On’, a hugely popular KEXP performance and hundreds of gigs.
“We do have a weak spot for the music of the late ‘60s and ‘70s,” Altın Gün bass player and founder Jaspar Verhulst admits. “With all the instruments and effects that arrived then, it was an exciting time. Everything was new, and it still feels fresh. We’re not trying to copy it, but these are the sounds we like and we’re trying to make them our own.”
And what they create really is theirs. Altın Gün radically reimagine an entire tradition. The electric saz (a three-string Turkish lute) and voice of Erdinç Ecevit (who has Turkish roots) is urgent and immediately distinctive, while keyboards, guitar, bass, drums, and percussion power the surging rhythms and Merve Daşdemir (born and raised in Istanbul) sings with the mesmerizing power of a young Grace Slick. This isn’t music that seduces the listener: it demands attention. Explosive, funky and transcendent.
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““Catchy tracks such as Kolbasti, with its urgent guitars, or the pounding Yolcu mark them down as contenders … it’s fun.””
Mojo -
““Their second LP draws upon traditional Anatolian folk melodies, particularly those associated with the singer Neset Ertas, but puts them through a psychedelic filter.””
Uncut -
““No-nonsense psychedelic folk-rockers effectively reworking Turkish songs.” ”
The Guardian -
“"Abrupt, sour, reverberant minor-key guitar riffs, galloping tom-toms, electric solos that warp and distort, declamatory vocals: it is clear from the outset that we are in the world of Anatolian rock, the psychedelic stew of folk music and Zeppelin-esque hard rock that lightened up 1970s Istanbul."”
Financial Times
