Pop-Outsider Salim Nourallah
Elation and Horror

Written by Christoph Dallach http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/musik/0,1518,635288,00.html 
Translated by Sara Hauschildt


His name is Salim Nourallah, he comes from Texas and sounds like a Brit -- now he's released his best album yet. A service from the mini-label Tapete Records, whose program is as obscure as it is high-quality.

Salim Nourallah is forty, his favorite day is Wednesday, his favorite food is pizza, his favorite Beatle is John, his favorite time of day is sunset and his favorite hobby: playing grown-up -- at least according to his website.

The romantic Texan maintains his "professional kid" status with a penchant for smoothly unimposing pop songs. His new album "Constellation" is exquisitely executed and his best work so far. Twelve songs, that sound completely un-Texan and remind one less of the songwriters of his hometown, Dallas, than of Liverpool, Manchester, or London. Music for people who can also warm to Stephen Duffy, Ron Sexsmith, Lloyd Cole and other artists who exist largely beyond the notice of the media.

The Salim Nourallah record is one of those albums that elates other people when you play it for them -- thrilled by the music, yet also horrified that they've never heard of it before.

Nourallah is no newcomer -- quite the opposite. Ten years ago, he made his debut with his brother Farris (who also makes cool records!) under the name Nourallah Brothers. Since then Salim has delivered four cool solo records that somehow haven't reached a larger audience.

Among his fans is the small record label Tapete Records in Hamburg-Ottensen. An idealist's emporium, run by Dirk Darmstaedter, who was himself a pop star with Jeremy Days and in the meantime has released consistently beautiful solo records for handpicked listeners.

Tapete Records is proof that the quality of music hasn't suffered beneath the collapse of the old massive music industry. From an endlessly running tape come exciting CDs by artists like Lacrosse, The Late Call, Maplewood, The Horror The Horror and also from the old master Lloyd Cole.

There's certainly no huge and fast sellers or hit-parade conquests here. And upon releasing his new album, Salim Nourallah has declared that he can't make anything better and actually would like to stop now.

Which was hopefully the joke of a professional kid.

for a swinging good time...

http://wrecklessericofficial.blogspot.com/

May 5
Songtage (at Bürgercafe)
Gera, Germany

May 6
Astra Stube
Hamburg, Germany

May 7
L.U.X.
Berlin, Germany

May 9
Songtage
Magdeburg, Germany

May 11
Kulturrampe
Krefeld, Germany

May 12
Ulenspiegel
Gießen, Germany

May 13
Cafe Nun
Karlsruhe, Germany

May 15
Raststätte
Aachen, Germany

May 16
Le Lawrence d’Arabie
Chalus, France

May 17
Les Toques
Périgueux, France

http://www.nzz.ch/nachrichten/kultur/sounds
29. March 2009, Neue Zürcher Zeitung
Eternal Youth
With songs like this, you'd love to be a teenager again, holding tightly the girl of your choice. You could endlessly praise Salim Nourallah anyway for his penchant for smooth melodies that couples can dance to. His melodies sound very familiar -- in the best possible sense of the word -- and yet are actually new. A sign that the things written by the Texan with Syrian roots are timeless? Two points of reference from recent musical history are immediately evident, namely Beck in his "Mutations" period, as well as the Beatles. Nourallah's voice -- in the foreground, where a songwriter's voice belongs -- comes off as unagitated and only slightly lost in reverie; acoustic guitar dominates the instrumentation, which is joined now and then by a bit of piano and discreetly measured synth effects. Nourallah and partner Billy Harvey played all the instruments themselves. This music is relatively easily digestible, indeed, but executed with such a beautiful basic trust in the healing powers of pop music that it makes one believe in humanity again. The lyrics revolve consistently around growing up, making a line or two bring up a little something bitter. Nourallah still doesn't have the strong eye for his generation that Beck has shown for some time. Instead, Salim Nourallah's music might be addressed to all heads that want to pick up the trail to the formula for eternal youth.
http://www.tba-online.cc/magazin/musik/cd-rezensionen/cd-rezi-detail/article/6160/
Monday, 20. April 2009
// CD Review
Salim Nourallah: Constellation (Tapete)
By: Philip Giokas
Thank God Salim Nourallah doesn't always show off the pop music gene he carries. No one can stop the hundreds of brain-eating hooks following one after the other. Man cannot live on earworms alone. Nourallah knows that and lets up now and then -- a cultivated ennui is also there. Still, he often lets his indiepop songs rise and swell, lets us sing along to simple lines, the Wilco fans singing twice as loud. In doing so, this record should have looked much different: roughly ten years ago Salim was still playing with his brother Faris, and a new approach after all this time was adventurous. In vain. Too bad, but Salim can comfort himself together with Bill Harvey. With "Constellation" the seemingly congenial Texan succeeded in making a family record even without the help of his brother. (7/10)