The Pop Corporation

Anatolian funk, Turkish psych, whatever you want to call it, has been a super hip and rich seam for record nerds and beat diggers for a little while now, so it was only a matter of time before someone actually Turkish wrestled their music back from the hobbyists and made it for themselves again in modern Europe.

Of course, only to be feverishly bought and enthused about by the kind of people who put the prices up on Turkish beat records from the ’70s, but y’know, that’s how this all works.

And so, to Derya Yildirum and her Grup Simsek. A truly brilliant band of Turkish descent, from Germany. Mixing all that’s good from classic Anatolian records, and also winning friends with listeners of Khruangbin and Nu Genea. Psychedelic funk, cut with irresistible Turkish folk – there’s so much to love about it.

The latest LP – ‘Dost 2’ – switches between seriously grooves and bewitching traditional music. Sometimes, it veers between the two in the same song, with squelchy synths and funny time-signatures – it’s magic stuff. Prog heads, you’ll love it. Tropicalia heads, you’ll love it too. Funk fans, psychedelic overlords, the curious… this is the band for you.

And the best thing about them is that they’re around right now. You don’t have to get a tip-off from a record collector in 30 years’ time and wonder what it was like when they were releasing new albums and touring and all that – they’re right now. We saw them play live – they were amazing.

Go listen to them. Give them your love. Buy a t-shirt. Buy a record. Encourage labels to sign more bands like this. We’re all richer for bands like Derya Yildirim & Grup Simsek, so let’s see who else is hiding in the woodwork.