ALBUM OF THE DAY - BANDCAMP

Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Rami Gabriel has been a motive force in rock n' roll, jazz, Arabic, and experimental music communities across North America for over twenty years. In that time, he has released numerous projects across genres and under many names. On his debut LP for Sooper Records, Rami trips all the breakers. In his own name and voice for the first time, That’s what I been sayin’ is not so much a debut as a conflagration in Rami Gabriel’s worldly underground.

Drawing on Punk, Krautrock, Dub, No Wave, and lo- fi, the territory occupied by That's what I been sayin' is astringent, minimal, and buzzing with the sound of machines dancing in the wind.

“I’m used to putting out records based on genre,” says Rami of his multiple endeavors. “I was listening to one of the ‘70s Brian Eno records where he took his experimental work and his songs and put it all together, and I was thinking, ‘Why don’t I try to put all the different ways I’ve been working for the last couple years onto one record?’” That’s what I been sayin’ ignites this vision with an album that ranges from the motorik-driven krautrock of “Like a monk” to the unexpected trance-like pairing of “Buzuq synth.”

That’s what I been sayin’ is a furnace of Rami’s insuppressible impulses, where he undertakes to ask and answer: what is left of punk but making do with what is at hand? At times direct and scorching, at others meditative and wandering, That’s what I been sayin’ compresses Rami’s understanding as a composer, musician, and singer into a restless, 11-track love letter to the underground.

For Fans of The Fall, Haruomi Hosono, Brian Eno, and Scientist.

Written by Rami Gabriel
Executive Producer Rami Gabriel
Additional Production by Chris Grabowski (tracks 4, 5, 10)
Mixing by Alex Hall
Mixing by Alex Hall & Rami Gabriel (tracks 6, 7, 9, 11)
Mixing by Chris Grabowski (4, 5, 10)
Mastered by Alex Hall
Mastered for Vinyl by Steve Marek
Recorded in Chicago between 2020 and 2023 at Rami four-track cassette home studio (6, 7, 9, 11), padK-rAd studio (4, 5, 10), and Reliable Recorders (1, 2, 3, 8)

Performers:
Rami Gabriel (guitars, vocals, drum machines, keyboards, bass, buzuq, riqq)
Alex Hall (drums on tracks 1, 2, 3, 8, 9)
Chris Grabowski (analog synthesizers on tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10)
Scott Ligon (acoustic guitar on track 2)
Casey McDonough (bass on track 2)

Cover photography by Chris Ligon
Polaroids by Noor Shawaf
Watercolors by Rami Gabriel
Layout and Design by Izzi Vasquez