Pyramid Songs

They don’t give a shit about their hometown’s musical heritage and they’re fed up of people talking about how young they are. As Sophie Thomsett discovers, Egyptian Hip Hop truly are a band of the future…

There is no ‘scene’ in Manchester. Yet, flick through the music mag lying on your bedside table, switch on the radio for a couple of minutes, or spend a while browsing your favourite blog and you will be led to believe that any Manc kid who knows how to strum a guitar must have been conceived on the dancefloor of The Hacienda, umbilically tied to Ian Curtis, weaned on Morrissey’s tears and read bedtime stories by the Gallagher brothers. Forget it. Because the only thing that links the current crop of Manchester bands together is not a sense of musical heritage, but a fierce desire to leave the myths and legends
of their home city behind and form something new they can claim as their own. Egyptian Hip Hop are no exception. Softly spoken and shy but alarmingly articulate when he wants to be, singer Alex Hewett has every right to be tentative when answering his phone to a journalist. On their new four-track EP ‘Some Reptiles Grew Wings’, his band have proven themselves to be passionately creative and subversive, bursting with more ideas than their teenage skulls can contain.

Working with musical visionaries Hudson Mohawke and Late Of The Pier’s Sam Eastgate, they have created tracks which offer kaleidoscopic melodies, infectious rhythms and cryptic but intelligent lyricism. And yet, because of their hometown and penchant for brightly coloured clothes, “people are still trying to say that we’re like the Happy Mondays. But I just never wanted that.” And frankly, who the heck would? It’s a lazy, superficial label as empty as Bez’s head. As Alex says, “it’s nice that we had all this music, but it’s time to find new things. It closes people’s minds off. They cling on too much; it doesn’t leave people space to explore.” But the obstacles don’t stop at the edge of the Pennines. Those desperate to pin Egyptian Hip Hop to a heritage they don’t want to
claim are no doubt the same minority of “lazy journalists and promoters” and “stupid bloggers” who have tried to dismiss them based on their age. The band are in their late teens. So what? If it’s a battle between fresh faced adolescents with big ideas and haggard cynics holding onto what might have been, surely the choice is obvious?

Though Egyptian Hip Hop’s youth may seem a hindrance when they play to the large crowds they’ve not yet adjusted to, like at this year’s Glastonbury when they looked distinctly terrified (“I don’t tend to look when we do bigger shows, just because it’s overwhelming”, admits Alex), their age also has its advantages. Egyptian Hip Hop are a product of the era of accessibility, or as they put it, “our generation has the internet coming out of our ears”. Delighted by having “all the music in the world” at their fingertips, they possess an eclecticism rarely seen among their predecessors. Their playlists are broad, their minds are open, and so their sound is ever evolving. In fact, the band are so restless with ideas that that they “don’t know if we’ll ever work it out.” But that’s what keeps it interesting right? “Yeah, and I think that’s how it’s going to be for a while.” In fact, already they are keen to move on. When it comes to an album, “We have ideas, but I think we need to do something fresher and more exciting.” So what next for Egyptian Hip Hop? An extensive tour? Yes. An album channelling “80s horror soundtracks, John Carpenter, Goblin, stuff like that” and whatever else they find in the electrical ether next?
Probably. A photoshoot outside Salford Lads’ club? Fuck no.

‘Some Reptiles Grew Wings’ is released on Moshi Moshi on September 20th.