Single review: Egyptian Hip Hop – Some Reptiles Grew Wings EP
I seem to have spent an inordinate amount of time recently listening to folk and earnest boys and girls with acoustic guitars crying over lost loves and other such dramas. I’m not complaining, you understand, but sometimes you just need to hear something a bit more fresh and upbeat.
So when I dropped ‘Some Reptiles Grew Wings’, the new EP by young scamps Egyptian Hip Hop into the CD player, it was a pleasant surprise to find it just that – fresh, upbeat and exciting!
The four track EP doesn’t actually contain a song called ‘Some Reptiles Grew Wings’, but then the band aren’t Egyptian and they don’t play hip hop either. What they do play is some rather splendid electro pop with outrageously funky bass lines and a glossy production that gives it a very eighties feel. The four songs here are all very strong, ‘Moon Crooner’ should be a shoo-in for a hit and even ‘Middle Name Period’, an instrumental, has enough going on to keep it interesting despite the lack of vocals. My favourite though is last track, the slower paced ‘Native’ which, with its far east influences and unusual percussion style, the likes of which I’ve not heard since Japan’s Tin Drum, is one of the most engaging songs I’ve heard for a very long time. Superb. 4/5
Mark Cousens
Out now on moshi moshi
www.myspace.com/egyptianhiphop
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