Premiere: Azemad – Berwaz

Music

The Berlin-based Egyptian producer lands on Awkwardly Social with a melodic, percussion-heavy EP.

The room was cold and damp, only a few slivers of sun lit the space through the thick barred windows. He studied the mould on the ceiling, wondering how long it had been left to rot away. Like the rest of the room it was unkempt and ignored; a place intended to induce suffering. The circumstances that led him here were still unclear; just like that he’d been plucked from his life and plunged into darkness, with no answers to his never-ending circle of questions. What had he done to deserve this? Was it a case of mistaken identity? Would these four walls be the only thing he’d ever see again? Silence… All he could do was wait.

Two years on from his debut release for Milan’s Kaleido imprint, Berlin-based Egyptian producer and vocalist tips his hat to the traditional sounds of his homeland with a six-track EP for Awkwardly Social. Afriki may draw from Arabian melodies and sounds but Azemad approaches these through a contemporary lens, blending them with crisp breaks, frenetic drum workouts, dub-wise atmospheres and his moody verses. You can hear a heap of different influences across the LP, from breakbeat, DnB and jungle to electro, IDM and dub, which help fashion a release that truly sounds like no other.