A little over two months after the release of his genre-bending hip-hop/electronic EP, Down with The Tempo, LA-based producer/DJ, Ali Abourehab, has teamed up with visual artist Ali Rabie, and shifted gears towards a firmly more abrasive and left-field direction.
Taking cues from fellow Egyptian experimentalist, ZULI, Plateau is a direct assault on the ears that fills every corner of the sound spectrum with rattling, deconstructed drum breaks, earth-shaking distorted bass-lines, and melancholic harmonies that conjure up images of some far-future dystopian megacity.
Recent times have lent themselves to a change in perspective for Aboulrehab, whose desire to separate this new, “experimental/electronic stuff,” from the hip-hop infused sound of previous projects catalysed the creation of Alternative Matter.
After attending a screening of Anima by Thom Yorke, Abourehab was heavily inspired by “how much visuals can add to a story,” and immediately knew that a visual aspect was what he “needed” for Alternative Matter. Almost coincidentally, around that time he noticed that his childhood friend (Ali Rabie) had begun churning out “sick visuals on Instagram” at an alarming rate. Already familiar with each other as both friends and artists, the two Alis immediately found themselves on the same wavelength; whatever direction Abourehab would go with his music, Rabie would follow with visuals.
To Abourehab, Alternative Matter means having a cause behind the music.“I've always known I wanted the music I make to be a voice that goes against everything f*cked up I see around me, even if that means in an abstract sense.”
Abourehab positions Alternative Matter as the first collaboration of its kind, a real-time symbiosis of audio and video. “Like a band with guitar and drums, they have to go together.”
Described by the duo as the “beginning of a journey,” Plateau serves as an excellent introduction to Alternative Matter’s unique audiovisual aesthetic. “This is some alien sh*t,” says Rabie, who's been teasing the upcoming release via a steady stream of visual content on Instagram.
Keep an ear out for their debut EP, Green Revolution, available later this month.
Follow Alternative Matter on Soundcloud and Instagram.
