BaBa ZuLa will release XXX on September 25th via Glitterbeat. Three decades after forming in Istanbul, the band have made a record that runs to a precise 30 minutes and 30 seconds — one of their most focused statements yet, shaped from shapeshifting rhythms, transformed saz textures, analogue electronics and the deep grooves that have run through their work since 1996.
The first single, Kutsal Zeytin Halayı, is out now alongside a visualiser. A sunbaked motorik trance, it folds the band’s Anatolian psych roots into their long experimental streak, with Murat and Esma Ertel’s intertwined vocals carrying the message. The song frames the present as a war between nature and corporate techno-fascism, and it takes nature’s side, celebrating the olive tree as a sacred symbol across ‘civilizations, mythologies, and religions’.
“This time we focused on Mother Nature,” Esma Ertel says. “We see nature under constant pressure. We want to stand on the side of those who defend it.”
XXX moves between instrumental excursions, exploratory taksims and original texts that pull folklore, urban life, ecology and resistance into the band’s own orbit. İklim Tamkan (synthesizer, organ) and Eylül Güntekin (double bass) guest, widening the palette without disturbing the group’s unmistakable language.
BaBa ZuLa have spent thirty years swerving fashion — collaborators have included Mad Professor, Can’s Jaki Liebezeit and Warren Ellis — and still sound restless. “We live in Istanbul and we create music that grows from this place,” Murat Ertel says. “This is what gives it authenticity.”
XXX (September 25th, 2026) Glitterbeat
Pre-order on Bandcamp: https://baba-zula.bandcamp.com/album/xxx
DSPs: https://idol-io.ffm.to/xxx