Essential debut 12" EP from the staggeringly prolific Mancunican Bryn Jones as his now legendary Muslimgauze alias. Dropped in 1984 (!), Hunting Out With An Aerial Eye was the inaugural outing outing on Jones' self-released Limited Editions imprint and shows the embryonic characteristics of his now revered 'ethno-dub' sound. Essentially more 'primative' that the artist's later, fuller sound - It's really difficult to know where to file this one, because it has equal elements of post-punk, ambient, tribal and experimental flavours but its certainly shot from far left-field and deeply infused with the influence of the middle-east; with the quite harrowing drum-work out of the A-side (which I've only just realised I've been playing at the wrong speed for a while - it chuggs nicely at 33rpm). B-side finds the more meandering snake-charmer 'Empty Quarter', which is much sparser than the previous cuts with bags of space. Getting locked into that hypnotic flute, you could be forgiven for thinking it was late night in Morocco but its pretty mind-blowing to think this was being cooked up in Swinton in '84. The dark, heavily politicised sleeve solidifies the artist's unwavering DIY approach and begins the enigma - highest recommendation. (Vinyl MINT / Sleeve NM - dead stock copy).
