Mansur

Dutch-based trio Mansur blends spectral vocal incantations, oud-driven haunting lines, and abrasive post-industrial electronics into a potent hybrid. Formed in 2019 by ex-members of Phurpa and the Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble, the group has issued four recordings to date, among them the 2022 album Oscuras Flores.

Jason Köhnen has accumulated an extensive catalog of metal, electronic, and experimental work since launching his career in the late 1980s. As Bong-Ra, his principal solo project, he ranks among breakcore’s leading figures and is credited with originating raggacore, an intensified strain of ragga-jungle, near the turn of the century. A broader listenership emerged once he co-founded the Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble and its freer counterpart, the Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation, ensembles that largely overlapped in personnel. Both outfits merged atmospheric jazz, dark ambient, and downtempo textures into cinematic soundscapes that helped codify the Angelo Badalamenti-inspired dark jazz idiom. Cult audiences quickly exhausted limited editions issued on Planet Mu, Ad Noiseam, and Denovali.

By the mid-2010s the two groups had disbanded, prompting their members to pursue separate endeavors. Köhnen explored the intersection of dark jazz and Arabic traditions through his solo outlet the Thing with Five Eyes. Mansur coalesced in 2019 around Köhnen, oudist Dimitry El-Demerdashi (formerly of Phurpa), and Hungarian vocalist Martina Horváth (ex-Niburta and frequent Thy Catafalque collaborator). The trio joined Denovali’s roster and delivered the debut EP Temple together with the first studio album Karma in 2020. An improvised live set, Minotaurus, followed in 2021. Horváth and Köhnen simultaneously launched the post-metal band the Answer Lies in the Black Void, releasing its opening full-length Forlorn, while Köhnen maintained occult-themed dark jazz under the solo alias the Lovecraft Sextet. Mansur’s fourth outing, Oscuras Flores, surfaced in 2022.