Audiophiles - Egyptian Hip Hop

Following on from my discovery of Pokey LaFarge a few weeks ago I thought I should share with you another band I stumbled across towards the back end of 2010.

Egyptian Hip Hop


Album: Some Reptiles Grew Wings (EP)
Released: 2010
Discovered At: Spotify
Twitter: @egypitianhiphop
MySpace: Egypitian Hip Hop

This four piece from Manchester have no connection with Egypt nor do they play Hip Hop - but the name was enough to intrigue me when it popped up on my Spotify list. Needless to say it wasn'tt quite what I expected.

The band was formed in 2008 and through playing some small shows across Manchester they started to attract attention from the mainstream music press, especially the music maligned (by me) NME, who gave away a demo version of the track Rad Pitt on a free MP3 mixtape.
I must admit my knowledge of the band is limited to the above facts and releases by the band are a little thin of the ground. So far there has been one single and an EP (which appears to be only available digitally). As yet, as far as I can tell, there is no news about an album. The most recent interview I have found suggested they have not even considered signing a record deal as they completed their college studies.

I'm not sure which out of the usual made up genres of indie music this group would come under. They certainly have an 80's electronic sound and the singer's voice at times is not too dissimilar to Robert Smith.

The available 4 track EP has some really great songs, 2 of which would make any Radio One playlist - which will no doubt mean at some stage I will go off them as the inevitable press coo-ing commences. But for now I am enjoying them for what they are - a good band that write some truly catchy songs

Audiophiles - Pokey LaFarge & The South City Three

28th March 2011

As I discussed on the main part of this site that I, like many audiophiles, love to discover and share new music.

There are not many things in life that can give you as much pleasure and joy than hearing a new piece of music which totally grabs you. The kind of song that makes you immediately hit the online shopping portals in order to make that one amazing purchase.

And with the explosion of the internet over recent years, we are lucky enough to have the opportunity to source music from so many sites. Pandora, Last FM, Spotify, Mflow and many many more bring us music like never before.

So I figured to go alongside Choose My Music I should also set up a page to highlight anything new that I have found recently. Now these might not be brand new artists - just people I have discovered at this moment in time.

Introduction over...lets get cracking.

Pokey LaFarge & The South City Three

Album: Riverboat Soul

Released: 2010

Discovered At: Daytrotter

Twitter: @PokeyLaFarge

Myspace: Pokey LaFarge

I often love to browse the Daytrotter website for bands, usually stopping at the artists with interesting names. This one stood out mainly on the basis that I have a cat called Pokey.

Funny how these things turn out.

What I discovered was a 27 year old with a voice and style that you usually only just make out behind the crackle of an old 1930's 7".

His mix of early jazz, ragtime, country blues and swing shows him as a real American roots purist. But what makes this stand out more is that while many current artists, who wish to recreate the sound of this time period, often use a mix of covers and traditional standards. Not here. Every track is original and brilliant yet keeps in with the not only with the style and delivery but also lyrically.

There does appear to be some buzz around Pokey LaFarge right now, according to his Twitter feed someone just sold one of his limited edition 7" singles for $150 on Ebay. (although the fact it was produced by Jack White might have helped)

I first heard this over 24 hours ago, and thanks to Spotify I have listened to nothing else since.

I ordered my copy of the album last night and, if you want something different in your collection, I strongly suggest you do to.

Scroll down to hear songs from the album. You can buy a digital copy from Mflow for £7.99 or, if you a like me - a hard copy from Amazon here