Sabah Fakhri/Tidallal marks Jordanian producer/DJ Toumba’s first solo release of original music, and follows up his debut single ‘Victims Not Martyrs’ and curatorial work on Grief Into Rage, a charity compilation for Beirut that stood out as one of the hardest hitting musical statements of worldwide support for the Lebanese capital’s relief effort.
On Sabah Fakhri/Tidallal, the Radio Flouka & Micro.Radio resident draws upon both Jordanian traditional folkloric music and the contemporary sounds of the UK club scene, lying somewhere between juke/footwork and U.K bass amidst a sea of rapidly chopped Arabic samples.
The two track EP kicks off with ‘Tidallal’, leading in with a deceivingly low-key oud sample before the bass kicks in and abruptly pushes the track into high gear amidst a flurry of classic TR-909 claps, with the heavy wooden clunk of Arabic percussion samples, and swirling atmospheric one shot’s directly aimed at channeling dance-floor ready energy. By the time the vocal chops come in around the 2-minute mark, Toumba’s infectious rhythms are already in full swing.
The title track ‘Sabah Fakhri’ sees Toumba take things in a slightly more melodic direction, bringing in a backdrop of swirling synthesizer chords and sci-fi ray gun bleeps, which fall into hypnotic rhythm like another layer of percussion. Despite the focus on melodics, ‘Sabah Fakhri’ is no less hectic than its predecessor, keeping the tempo high and the thumping kick drum bass licks at maximum impact velocity.
Despite being the first project released under the moniker of Toumba, Sabah Fakhri/Tidallal shows the clear ear of a seasoned producer intuitively honed in to the cutting edge of contemporary club music, hitting with the weight of a freight train barreling down a set of rusty tracks in the middle of the desert.
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