What to expect from a name like ‘Egyptian Hip-Hop’? Hip-hop is all about the rhythm and lyrics, and you feel the groove, with its fantastic jazzy chords supporting the rap.
However, this album is the antithesis of hip-hop. It is indie music, and some of the most “un-groovy” I have listened to. Most of the music does not move anywhere: it stays on a single chord for most of the piece with a monotonous broken chord played by a muted guitar synth sound. I wanted to reach through the recording and shout ‘Get going!’
As for the word ‘Egyptian’ in the name, the idea behind it is difficult to work out; perhaps they were trying to achieve a typically off-kilter name like ‘Bombay Bicycle Club’, which they certainly achieved, but they also left me at a loose end after I had listened to the album.
It certainly isn’t hip-hop. It has a pleasantly echoey, ethereal vibe, but this is the kind of music you don’t have to listen to in order to know what’s happened by the end of the track.
Having said this, there are three songs that are not bad at all. It’s a shame that they are the final three on the album (‘SYH’, ‘One Eyed King’ and ‘Iltoise’) because looking at the Soundcloud play counter, listeners have got to the seventh track and decided that the music is too dull and switched it off. ‘One Eyed King’ is my favourite because it actually progresses through sections and the music develops. The bassline in particular is key in delineating the difference between intro, chorus and verse.
‘Iltoise’ is my second preference and third ‘SYH’, supposedly the track of the album.
As an album it is depressingly boring. It is lacking melodic, harmonic, rhythmic and lyrical interest and varied musical ideas. But that means it is perfect music for chilling out to. It is not what I would choose to listen to, but the three tracks mentioned are worth a listen.