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Time by Monique Barry

Amgad Mahmoud
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Time by Monique Barry

Hearing gunshots, a start of a race. Someone’s having trouble keeping up the pace with time. The time that has forced us into battles, in which we don’t know who is our enemy. 

Stages pass and you must climb up the ladder cause it’s fading upwards and you have to push harder, faster. A dream that you cannot remember anymore, visions are blurry and scenes are faded with time, and soon as you open up your eyes it totally fades away.

From Toronto, Canada Monique Barry releases an 8th single track “Time” that is in the set of singles in Monique‘s 5th album ‘HAAK’; Monique doesn’t release full albums at a time, in fact, she releases the album as single tracks, single by a single on the same order the songs will appear after the album is fully released.

A psychedelic intro interpreting the fierce conflict against time, with a background breathy sighs of someone as if they were running after the goal of reaching a purposeful end. Though it seemed it was out of reach. As background vocal harmonics begin to regretfully sigh and while you’re at it, Monique cast her warm vocals in a sense of calming the exhausted lungs. 

‘Time’ makes you slow down a bit just by playing it. Transfers you all the way to a different mood and state which makes you want to go for a chilling beach hangout.

The track has a calm mono keyboard sound, and I guess there were no other instruments introduced in the track except for a small quiet guitar part, and seemingly Monique delivered the adequate sound through keyboards and background vocal harmonics only.

I believe the track needed a bit of drama into it, or a touch of a change by the outro in order to assure the line that says ‘Time heals all things’ instead of backing down to the same state of the breathing sighs in the intro, which feels like we are still in the loop and running in circles. 

All in all, the track lifts you way up and eases the pressure of time that is always stacking up on us in our daily life. And I would be patiently waiting for the upcoming releases by Monique Barry.

 

Flame Of Truth by The chalice collective/Sedona Swan Soulfire

Moataz Gwaily
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Flame Of Truth by The chalice collective/Sedona Swan Soulfire

The fact is, some roads are bumpier than others. 

The place is Portland, with a collective of visual artists that do film, music, and choreography called The Chalice Collective, fronted by Sedona Swan Soulfire, an American Academy of Dramatic Arts graduate.

She discovered early on her love for movement and dance, and that helped her get into Yoga, Bellydance, and Classical Indian dance. She dances, sings, and produces spoken word that deals, predominantly, with feminist issues.

This project hails itself as a film of mysterious art adventure full of symbols and motion. I personally failed to find most of that. Starting with the positive: The beautiful wooded locations in Portland are beautiful; some of the costume designs blend in very well with the surroundings, and the fire play against dark backdrops lends itself to creating puzzling movements. 

On the other hand, the lengthy ambient intro, full of hums and ritualistic percussion, was the most bearable part, musically. A disappointing mix, an apparent lack of any actual composition to the melodies, and a total lack of any harmonies with a flat vocal delivery.

The last third of the piece sees the whole cast descend from the mystical woods into the city, still clad in their full costumes, which makes for a very confusing blend of mismatched colors, visuals, and timeframes. 

 

A noble message needs a reliable medium to get carried across, and good production value does never equate to expensive production. A very humble budget can create a more-than-adequate vessel to carry words and ideas into the world, provided that talent and actual direction exist and are in the lead. And on this outing from The Chalice Collective, they had an empowerful message to deliver, but somehow it was spilling all over the floor.  

Bag Man by Dani Twice

Sarah Elzanaty
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Bag Man by Dani Twice

Daniel Felipe Fernandez Garcia is a Colombian/American who is now working from Florida. He goes by the stage name, Dani Twice, who is a passionate artist, who works as a 3D artist during the day, and on his music at night, creating awesome VFX visualizer videos of his music.

Dani was fond of music to express his feelings through it. Of course, strong feelings always create great music with beautiful and rhythmic art. The beats and words he creates tell a story, and the music has an effect on the broken-hearted, to become resilient beings. Dani is currently working on his album “9ATO” and releasing his singles. The most recent one is “Bag Man,” which was released on the 20th of May 2022, featuring his friend, Tony Narvaez, adding his talent to this song with his astonishing voice and songwriting.

Dani’s music shows some staggering greatness that made those marvelous beats, adding in his Colombian side to it that recharges and gives aesthetic vibes to modern music that can recharge the brain with the sense and taste of your belonging to our current world. The song is about how people are so invested in the digital world, trapped in their own shells, that it causes a great deal of mental anguish to have everything perfect. Dani’s fascinating skills with VFX and digital art show off his talent for making his animated characters work in his video visualizers and self-portraits. Every single he posts put on a creative self-portrait for his album that is in the making.

I am really looking forward to listening to more of Dani’s work with the artistic videos he makes and the lyrical voice he gives. “CO! CO!,” “Parcera,” and “Jump,” are worth listening to with the words of truth he creates throughout his new album, “9ATO.”

Edited by: Viola Karmy

Running Back by Claire Littley

Norhan El Sebaie
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Running Back by Claire Littley

Claire Littley is back! After taking a long break from the music scene due to a tragic accident and the loss of her partner, she has finally returned with nothing stopping her now. Since August’21 she has released 5 singles with plans for an upcoming album and live performances.

Claire was highly recognized for her voice performance of the “Fly Me To the Moon” cover that was featured on “Neon Genesis Evangelion”, the hit Japanese anime.

 She recently decided to explore songwriting with her new releases and she’s already a natural. Her songs are simply effortless. A smooth ambiance with rich musical elements and wonderful coordination of sound and instrumentation. Her voice is remarkable and has a character of its own with unmeasurable softness.

Littley hits once again with her latest single “Running Back” which is equally interesting as her previous releases. The song takes you back to the 70s disco with its syncopated bass line, synths, and saxophone riffs with musical patterns on loop, a song that will undoubtedly get you moving.

Out of The Darkness by Graham Turner feat Elle Cato

Amgad Mahmoud
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Out of The Darkness by Graham Turner feat Elle Cato

We take everything for granted, in our normal day we tend to feel that losing isn’t an option, and we take what we happily and joyfully own seamlessly for granted.

In the movie “Sound of Metal” when Ruben Stone -Riz Ahmed- loses his hearing and becomes deaf after having been playing drums in his infamous band, and started working hard to afford a surgery that could give him his hearing back.

This story isn’t just a movie anymore, cause ‘Graham Turner’ released “Out of The Darkness” as a feeling of celebration and gratefulness for getting his sigh back after going blind for a year following a rapid deterioration in the eyes’ as Graham stated.

“They still don’t know what caused it, however, I’m glad to say that after two major operations on my right eye, I have been able to get back to some kind of normality. Although I still need to have further surgery on my left eye, I’m feeling a lot more optimistic than I was a few months ago; particularly as the first operation resulted in my lens sack being torn in half during surgery” Graham Turner said.

The track has a summer beach vibe, where you could dance at the sunset after a long tiring day of fighting against the waves. 

The melody is very uplifting and gives a feeling of hope to the listeners, with a nostalgic yet challenging touch to the track musically, it sounds a bit close to the early 2000’s house classics; the likes of “Rise Up” by Yves LaRock and “Shine On” by R.I.O.

The astonishing vocals featured by Ms. ELLE Cato added huge meaning to ‘Out of The Darkness’ with her strong tone and wide-ranged vocals. 

Though I believe the track could’ve been better in terms of quality as some notes were not as clear as others, I think this track is going to be a hit.

One thing that is missing in terms of concept in the track, is that is not in an emotional state considering heartfelt the story behind it. I believe it could’ve had more emotions through melodies and backing vocals and it would’ve flown up the charts.

Listen to ‘Out of The Darkness’ by Graham Turner featuring. Ms. Elle Cato and tell us your rating!

Album: Chasing Light by Voyagers

Amgad Mahmoud
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Album: Chasing Light by Voyagers

A nightlife with your loved ones, sharing good food and fabulous Afro-Jazz music. A soul ignite is what a person might need in some weary times. A bohemian soul through storms, calmly crosses the entire globe, through numerous continents, gathering us around.

Voyagers, or simply as I would like to call them “The Musical United Nations” as Voyagers consist of nearly half of the planet. Three continents formed this band, and there is no way you would feel disconnected or unrelated to their music. They play a wonderful fusion of music, gathering pieces that rarely meet.

The New York-based trio is releasing their debut album ‘Chasing Light’. And just after pushing the ‘play’ button, I didn’t feel bored or less interested, I had that feeling of “And what happened next? Give me more information”. An interesting tone is always up ahead, an unexpected flow of tunes and adjacency of the instruments gave a synced harmony to the record. This also is heavily touched in the diversity of cultures throughout the record, and you could never rest a hand on an unrelated part of a single musical note. The harmony among the trio themselves and their instruments formed a state of unity in sound and sense.

Voyagers are kora maestro Yacouba Sissoko from Mali, American guitarist Banning Eyre, and Austrian saxophonist Edith Lettner, also besides saxophone, Edith Lettner plays alto and duduk in the record.

The whole record is instrumental, except for a couple of tracks that Yacouba Sissoko features in vocals. A thing which breaks the norm of the album and implies a surprising element concept.

The band stated previously that they limited their performances to smaller venues where people usually come for the music, not the hype; with no percussion nor drums, and the cause and effect were ultimately exposed.

As mentioned before, the record is a fusion of multiple cultures given the background of each artist contributing their own local folk music. “On ‘Danama’ a West African song from the Jeli (Mande griot) tradition, Yacouba sings about confidence and trust, noting that just because someone talks beautifully and dresses perfectly does not mean they are a good person. ‘Danama’ is someone you can trust.” – Voyagers stated.

Also, other tracks were of other members’ contributions, “Waiting for Spring” is a track Banning had been playing as a solo piece for a year or so before introducing it to Voyagers. Edith and Yacouba instantly found their places in it and it added a new dimension to the group’s repertoire. And ‘Today is a New Day’ is a song composed by Edith before COVID descended yet perfectly captures the optimistic mood the album aims to convey as we move beyond the pandemic. Banning’s guitar gives the song a Congolese flavor in a tight lock with Yacouba’s shimmering kora.” The band stated.

The album is smooth and seamlessly peaceful, with saxophones putting the special emotional touch to the record. It’s like you are attending a live gig for the band and you just can’t take your eyes off the stage. 

If you are a jazz addict, you will surely find peace in this record.

Take a listen and tell us what you think!

Summertime Compass by Alexander Joseph

Nadine El Khatib
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Summertime Compass by Alexander Joseph

Set to release on the 3rd of June on all platforms, alexander joseph has done it again with ‘Summer Compass’! With hits such as “Invincible” and “Broken”, it’s no wonder Alexander will release yet another banger.

Firstly, let’s talk about the cover art, which exudes positive energy with the calming yellow colors and the palm trees that make you want to curl up with a coconut on a beach in California. 

Next, let’s talk about the dazzling acoustic guitars, and the euphonic vocals of Alexander himself, which can’t help but remind me of young John Mayer when he was starting out!

Finally, let’s talk about the uplifting lyrics, which encourage you to just take it easy and take life as it comes, and look ahead to the endless variety that life has to offer.

All in all, I’m not surprised that Alexander Joseph has garnered more than 2000 followers on Spotify, seeing as he’s releasing banger after banger!

Call You Out by Jaayns

Norhan El Sebaie
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Call You Out by Jaayns

Jaayns is a varied artist, singer, and songwriter who is based in Leeds, UK. The artist’s music is mainly within the alt-indie genre, yet she enjoys collaborating with various artists in different genres of music. She is influenced by the likes of Bjork, Grimes, Caroline Polachek, and Banks.

Aside from working on her own music, she contributes to the music scene in Leeds and across the UK. In 2019 she started “LNPL” Live Now Play Later, which was all about supporting and promoting the underground musicians and songwriters. A year later the lockdown and limitations didn’t stop her, so she shifted her project to podcasts, online performances, and interviews with other artists and posted them on her YouTube channel. She is currently back to live shows and releasing her music. 

Her latest single release “Call You Out” is a pop/indie song with chill vibes yet the loops and repetition leave you in a hypnotized mood. The musical theme is focused on synths and soft vocals with some bass layers, and a consistent yet unusual beat. This is the second single released with independent alternative Northern Label No Such Thing Records. The song was all written and recorded in a single day in the artist’s home studio with the songwriter and producer Ben Matravers.

 

Soul by Vince Way

Norhan El Sebaie
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Soul by Vince Way

It’s not every day you get across an artist who is “Outside of the box”, Vince Way is a not-so-typical musician who is based in Taiwan. The artist’s story is dark yet inspirational; he describes it in a very unusual way, he calls it “The 3-part music story formula” which he simplifies as Struggle + Catalyst + Ascension = Music story.

The struggle is how he went through emotional struggles by always being torn between two opposite sides, whether complying with society or leading a cause, being extremely optimistic or pessimistic, or feeling like an outsider. This brings us to the catalyst, where he rediscovers his childhood joy of creating music and sharing it when he dug through an old song from “Dancing Queen”. Then last the Ascension in which he accepts his calling and fate as a musician which he strongly believes is his purpose in life. 

His song: “Soul” is not one you can categorize within a specific genre because of its varied elements and sounds yet the chilled, indie vibe with a hint of blues is dominating the overall ambiance. Between the blues, and tunes played with synths to the ongoing sound effects underneath it, the track has lots of sounds and layers that you feel there are two different lines of music paned and coming out from different sides overlapping each other. 

 على كنبة أنغامي.. الوجه الآخر لأحمد سعد الذي نحبه

شيماء عطية
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 على كنبة أنغامي.. الوجه الآخر لأحمد سعد الذي نحبه

ضحك هستيري غير مفهموم مع هاني شاكر، رقصات غريبة مضحكة، حياة خاصة على الملأ، زواج وطلاق من ريم البارودي وسمية الخشاب، التسبب في فقدان الأخيرة لطحالها، شد وجذب في برامج التوك شو، كلها أمور أثرت على مشوار المطرب أحمد سعد بالسلب وتقبل الجمهور لشخصيته رغم أنه لا يزال يحصد نجاحات فنية متعددة بفضل موهبته الفنية.

ذكاء أحمد سعد جعله يدرك أنه مادة ثرية للسخرية والسف على منصات السوشيال ميديا، وبعفوية شديدة تمكن من مسايرة التيار الساخر منه، وعمل بمقولة أحمد حلمي في فيلم “جعلتني مجرمًا” “كُل نفسك قبل ما حد ياكلك”.

في رمضان الماضي، شارك أحمد سعد في الحلقة التاسعة والعشرين من مسلسل “الكبير أوي ٦”، ظهر بشخصيته الحقيقية على السجادة الحمراء في مهرجان المزاريطة السينمائي الدولي، سخر من نفسه ومن الترندات التي تصدرها مثل: طريقة ضحكه مع هاني شاكر، ورقصته الشهيرة على أغنية “سايرينا يا دنيا”، ثم أدى رقصة مضحكة من تصميم حزلقوم لأغنية “بحبك يا صاحبي” جعلت الجمهور يعيد النظر في علاقته مع أحمد سعد المطرب والإنسان ويتمنى لو يرى مزيدًا من هذا الجانب العفوي في شخصيته.

“الناس بتسف عليا ٣ أيام في الأسبوع زي المضاد الحيوي كده، بصحى أنا تلات وأربع بتسف عليا، فتمام خلاص أنا عندي يقين إن أنا اليومين دول أجازة أنا في حالة سف عام”، يفتتح أحمد سعد حديثة على كنبة أنغامي، يسلط الضوء على بُعد مختلف في شخصيته، شخص عفوي عاشق للألش والسف وليس كما يعتقد البعض أنه باحث عن التريند، يستكمل ما مهد له ظهوره في “الكبير أوي”.

يفتح أحمد سعد قلبه وكأنه وسط مجموعة من أصدقائه وليس في حوار مسجل، يتحدث عن موقف محرج مع أحد المعجبين الذي أخبره أنه لا يحب من الفنانين سوى عمرو دياب ومحمد فؤاد، يجاوب على أسئلة عادية تكشف عن الشبه الذي يجمعه بالجمهور الذي يعشق صوته والآن بات يعده أحد أصدقائه فهو مثل الأغلبية منا يجد صعوبة في الالتزام بالدايت، يضيع أمواله عليه دون استفادة حقيقية، يغش ويأكل ما لذ وطاب ثم ينهي وجبته بأكل الدايت حتى لا يشعر بالذنب ويسامح نفسه على ما فعله.

لا يشعر أحمد سعد بالحقد على زملائه من الفنانين، فقط غيرة فنية تجعله يعيد التفكير في اختياراته، لا يتحجج بأنه لا يحفظ الأغنيات الناجحة، يغني لشيرين عبد الوهاب وبهاء سلطان وتامر عاشور، يستشير زوجته علياء وأخيه الفنان عمرو سعد في أغانيه، يُسمعها لعدد من الناس، لا يدع الغرور يتملكه، يثق في آرائهم ويعتمد عليهم في اختبار ردود أفعال الجمهور قبل طرح أي أغنية، يرى أنه الطرف المخطئ في أي علاقة لأنها الطريقة الوحيدة التي تجعله ينضج ويطور من نفسه.

زواجه الأخير من علياء بسيوني واستقباله مولودة جديدة كان لهما أثرًا مهمًا في الانطلاق والنجاحات التي يشهدها أحمد سعد الآن، شعوره بالاستقرار وأنه ربما وجد أخيرًا الشريك الذي يفهمه ويتقبله كما هو بعيوبه دون أحكام، ينسى تاريخه المضطرب في علاقاته السابقة، يعطيه فرصة ثانية، يستمع إلى جانبه الآخر من القصة، يساعده على تنظيم حياته وتغيير صورته، يظهر فارق كبير علي حياته قبل وبعد دخولها، وهو ما يمكن ملاحظة أثره في تقبل الجمهور له أكثر بعد ارتباطه بعلياء.

حديث كنبة أنغامي لاقى نجاجًا كبيرًا لأنه كشف الجانب الآخر في شخصية أحمد سعد، أعطاه الفرصة للتعبير عن شخصيته العفوية بعيدًا عن أغلب البرامج التي تحرص على وضعه خلف القضبان بانتظار إصدار حكم بإعدام مشواره الفني أو تشويه صورته، ما جعله يحزن على نهاية الحوار الذي كان فيه على طبيعته “بجد ليه كده يا جماعة ما أحنا قاعدين”.شاهد هنا

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