Back in the mid 80’s, my uncle Mario would take my cousins and I to and from school, and during these car trips is when I got my first taste of so much of the music I still hold near and dear to me to this day. The sounds of rap and freestyle boomed through my uncle’s booming sound system, the bass especially shaking our little frames down to the core. I absolutely loved it. Acts like Newcleus, Kraftwerk, Afrika Bambaataa, Mantronix, Cybotron, and even N.W.A. and 2 Live Crew, fed our ears with that beautiful low end bass. But for me, one track in particular stood out above the rest- “Egypt, Egypt” by Egyptian Lover. This is one of those tracks that molded me and my musical palette. Egyptian lover was an inspiration. When I started DJing and breakdancing in the 90s, “Egypt, Egypt” always had to be in the rotation. Fast forward to the present day, and I still love playing that track out when I spin.

After nearly a decade without a new album, Egyptian Lover returned with his latest album titled “1984” (the year “Egypt, Egypt” came out), and it is nothing but pure, unapologetic vocoder-tinged electro-rap. He uses all analog gear, including the drum machine that changed the game forever, the infamous Roland TR-808. The opening track, “Into The Future”, starts off w/ a snare-kick combo reminiscent of “Egypt, Egypt”. The next track, “Killin’ It”, absolutely does just that. It instantly reminds me of a blend of Hashim’s “Al NaaFiysh (The Soul) and Cybotron’s “Clear”, two other 80’s electro staples. Cuts like “Seduced”, “Bellydance”, and “She’s So Freaky” showcase the infamous synth sounds of “The Nile” for which Egypt is widely known. “Dance To My Beat” sounds a little more new school, like early recordings from Detroit’s electro/techno group Aux88.

All in all, the album, which was recorded in the same group of studios that his breakthrough album “On The Nile” was recorded at over 30 years ago, is nothing but solid bass bangers. It maintains that uptempo party vibe that has made me a fan since I was a kid. Egyptian Lover has managed to create a retro sound that still sounds as fresh as it did so many decades ago.

MB-2017

The Icelandic producer, Felix Leifur returns to Berlin’s prominent Deep House label, Dirt Crew recordings and completely shakes up House Music as we know it with his sophomore EP, “In General”.  Davíð Sveinn Bjarnason, aka Felix Leifur, got his start in the scene with a collaborative project on local label, Lagaffe Tapes, between himself and Hjalti Karl Hafsteinsson, known as Davíð & Hjalti in 2015. The project was a hit locally and in the UK house scene, but it was just a sample of Davíð’s creative potential. Shortly after the duo’s buzz got around Manchester and London, local UK underground producer, “Hidden Spheres” got a hold of Davíð’s music and instantly took it to the hippest House label in Europe, Dirt Crew Recordings. From there, Davíð pivoted toward a solo project as “Felix Leifur” and got his shot with his debut EP , “The Sunday Club”. Leifur immediately proved himself with his debut, among Dirt Crew’s biggest acts and created himself a signature sound and space which would be impossible to replicate.  With “The Sunday Club” bumpin’ across Europe throughout 2016, Dirt Crew needed more from the young Icelandic and returns to 2017 with “In General”.

Leifur humbly states in a Bolting Bits’s interview, “I started playing around with production in 2008-ish, and I didn’t really listen to house that much back then. I started to love it when I moved to Manchester in 2013 to study audio engineering, house was so big there that I couldn’t miss it. What drew me to house was the hip hop and jazz side of it (of course). I used to listen to hip hop and jazz from a young age (as most people my age did) and when I discovered it in it’s house form, I just loved it. I Guess it just happened kind of naturally, I don’t really intend to make a specific type of house, my only requirement is that I have to impress myself, whatever comes out comes out. I’m also just lucky that people like it”. Leifur’s attitude towards his music is accentuated throughout this record. Felix neatly blends a chaos of familiar sampling and sounds we’ve seemed to know about for decades, influenced by Grover Washington Jr. and Ramsey Lewis’s jazz-funk, classical jazz and reinvigorating each track with thick, textured high hats and catchy bass-lines. Not only is Felix funky, his ability to blend tradtional “Boom Bap” hip-hop production to 120 beats per minute and synergizing that with distortions that break up the song structure and then neatly tightening the track right back to the progression on each climax and breakdown.

One of the hardest things to do in Deep House in particular, is to keep the listener attuned and to not zone them out. Felix brings active “lounge house” music and keeps you aroused with what each conventional 4/4 time signature is going to do. You’ll subconsciously bob your head to the high hats in agreement, shake your hips to the melodies and tap your feet to each beat. The record feels like an emotional paradox bouncing between his warm, sunny sampling, morphed with each fractured beat, unsettling tone, and tape hiss. “In General” reminds me of the first time hearing Aphex Twin’s, “Windowlicker”. You have had no idea what sound was going to pop out next. It leaves you almost disturbed, yet you are so entranced and intrigued you don’t want to look away. My best advice is to get rid of any pre-conceived notions you have of house music and let Felix Leifur hold your hand through this formidable storm of music.