Egyptian Hip Hop are initially quite a confusing proposition. They don’t come from Egypt or play Hip Hop; they come from Manchester and play sprightly indie music. They’re also obscenely young, with none of the band’s members a day over 18. However, despite their youth the group have already been touted by many as one of the potential breakthrough acts of 2010.
Sounding like a cross between MGMT and an ethereal New Order, Egyptian Hip Hop have already won plaudits from the likes of Radio 1’s Nick Grimshaw and Late Of The Pier’s Sam Eastgate – who even produced the groups new single, ‘Wild Young Child’. The NME seems to be enraptured by the northern group and currently has ‘Wild Young Things’ as its number one track on rotation on their office stereo.
‘Heavenly’, the B side to ‘Wild Young Things’, is a dreamy slice of electronic pop mixing a twinkling synth melody with sweetly fragile vocals. Limited to a run of 300 vinyl copies, the single is sure to be a winner with hip young things the world over.
While 2009 has been fairly quiet for Late Of The Pier, 2010 looks set to bring good things for fans of the Castle Donington four-piece. The band have been locked in the studio with producer Erol Alkan, the man who helped craft their astounding debut album, and the first fruit of their labour comes in the form of the audacious new single, ‘Blueberry’. The track is available now as a download through Alkan’s Phantasy label and will also be released on 12-inch vinyl in February – along with another new track, ‘Best In The Class’. ‘Blueberry’ is a slice of radio friendly cosmicness that again shows the bands penchant for fusing weird and wonderful sounds with their natural pop sensibility.
‘Blueberry’ is available to download through iTunes and Beatport now.
Not content with discovering the likes of Bloc Party, Late of The Pier, Florence and the Machine and Friendly Fires (we could go on), Moshi Moshi Records continue to bring us vital new music in the form of The Drums. Recalling the sun drenched melodies of Brian Wilson accompanied with jangly post punk guitars, the four young men’s debut single ‘Let’s Go Surfing’ is the perfect introduction to their sound.
Taking from the sublime ‘Summertime’ EP, the track will make you clutch at the final remaining hours of summer we have left and has the catchiest whistling riff heard since Peter Bjorn & John’s ‘Young Folks’.
The band head to the UK in October for the following dates:
Tuesday 20th October – In The City Festival @ Night & Day, Manchester
Wednesday 21st October – Deaf Institute, Manchester
Friday 23rd October – Club NME @ Koko, London
Saturday 24th October – SWN Festival @ Dempseys, Cardiff
