Simo Seal and Abdullah Al-Minyawi: Death is the Internet review – a talented voice that breaks through the digital noise | music

eEgyptian singer Abdullah El-Minyawi has spent the past decade lending his melodious voice and classical Arabic Maqam melodies to an impressive body of experimental music, and. Along with French horn player Eric Tervaz, he released the jazz-inspired 2023 album Le Cri du Caire; In his ongoing collaboration with German trio Karl Garri, his vocals are coupled with a sparse electronic atmosphere. His trio features two trombones playing through Baroque-inspired compositions.

Since 2020, El Miniawy has been working on a heavier, dancefloor-focused collaboration with French producer Simo Cell. Their debut EP, Kill Me Or Negotiate, employed sudden electronic percussion, thunderous bass and whispers of jazz horns, and the duo now delve into the dark corners of digital production.

Featuring eight tracks about artificial intelligence and the bot-related corruption of our online lives, the album is a masterclass in dismantling the rigidity of web-like electronic production. Pixelated and The Dala Effect are driven by offbeat swinging drums distorted by steady, wavy synth shards, while Easing the Hearts evokes the frenetic feeling of a footwork rhythm but never settles into a groove, and Traveling in BCC pairs a soaring jazz horn line with a constant menacing barrage of kick drums.

Rather than overwhelming the listener with this battery of unpredictable electronics, it is El-Minyawy’s talented voice that provides shape and structure. On Pixelated, for example, he carries a soft, auto-tuned melody that rides lightly over undulating kicks, while his soaring, bare vocals on The Dala Effect provide a welcome counterpoint to the track’s low-frequency intensity. Miniawy may bring humanity to the lurid heaviness of Simo Cell’s productions, but Dying Is the Internet ultimately plays out as a disturbing mess of digital destruction. It only holds together if you surrender to the sound.

Also out this month

Canadian throat singer Enoch Tanya Tajjak She has released an interesting new record, Saputjiji (Six Shooter), where she combines her guttural vocals with industrial electronic production to stunning effect on tracks like Fuck War and Ikualajut. French group EricAyô Dele’s sophomore album (Underdog Records) is a lively mix of psychedelic guitar lines, Afrobeat beats, and Yoruba and Spanish lyrics anchored by the interwoven vocals of dual vocalists Agnès Hélène and Olivya. Puerto Rican guitarist Gabriel VicensNiebla’s fifth album (Vicéns Music) is an exhilarating journey through the Latin bomba rhythm and complex collective sound of his six-piece group, culminating in the commercial, soulful solos of the title track.