rhlt jdi by Elkotsh

Co-released by Cairo's HIZZ imprint and Heat Crimes, Egyptian producer Elkotsh's debut album skirts the experimental edge of mahraganat, disrupting electroid rhythms and dextrous live percussive workouts with acidic synth improvisations and warped instrumental vamps. Elkotsh's kaleidoscopic, forward-thinking productions are representative of a vital new wave of Egyptian electronic music, alloying sounds that vibrate through the country's street festivals and cafés with clubwise mutations from across the wider world.

Born and raised in Shubra El-Kheima, a bustling Nile metropolis on the edge of Cairo, Elkotsh got his first taste of shaabi music at local wedding parties, where he'd take charge of the mic, performing with a team of dancers. The genre emerged in the 1920s in Cairo, where it quickly became the soundtrack to working class life, a way for urban Egyptians to vent their frustrations or sardonically deconstruct day-to-day realities. And when electro-shaabi, or mahraganat (an Arabic word meaning celebrations), materialized in the early '00s, fusing classic shaabi elements with ideas gleaned from reggaetón, hip-hop, techno and grime, Elkostsh knew immediately that he'd found his niche.

Spurred on by the early pioneers like Figo, DJ El Soweisy and Amr Haha, Elkotsh wanted to try his hand at production, but the process isn't easy when you're strapped for cash. So, accompanied by his childhood friend Mahmoud Samka, Elkotsh would regularly walk 10 kilometers to Cairo's El Matareya district to watch recording sessions unfold in real time, studying the process and making mental notes. The studio was generous enough to pass the two green-gilled beatmakers a copy of Fruity Loops and a handful of sample packs, and they began to develop their own sound in private, recording and experimenting with nothing but a computer and a trashy dollar bin microphone.

Even when family commitments forced Elkotsh into temporary retirement for a decade, he refused to lose his passion, spending his valuable free time poring over YouTube production tutorials and studying the Egyptian music scene as it steadily evolved. And when he was ready to make his return, it was these years of research and development that allowed Elkosht to shift the direction of mahraganat. The result is 'rhlt jdi', nine loose-limbed shaabi hybridizations that manifest Elkotsh's dedication, struggle and relentless reinvention.

Elkotsh's musical roots are baked into opener 'Mwlid Elgorn', but it's never that simple - processed hand drums are chopped into footwork-style polyrhythms alongside a slow-motion dembow thud, while the top end is dominated by electrified maqam melodies, curvaceous flute solos and reverb-drenched vocal snippets. It's mahraganat sprayed with ChromaFlair paint - each different angle reveals a different color. On '150 Leila', Elkotsh disrupts a whirlpool of HudMo-inspired brass fanfares with caustic keyboard runs, screams and 808s, and he wanders closer to the stage on 'Da'a Adeema', tying dizzy rhythmic scrapes and knocks around cartoonish hits and orchestral blasts.

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