When collaborative projects don’t click, it’s like looking at a chimeric beast with multiple parts sewn together – the seams are noticeable. Occasionally, however, things get alchemical and unexpected mutations occur in the process. Molten sounds petrify and unfamiliar shapes emerge. If we are being esoteric, it’s only because French producer and DJ Simo Cell and Egyptian vocalist, trumpeter, composer and poet Abdullah Miniawy aim for that Fourth World arcaneness. The language barrier (Miniawy sings in Arabic) adds to the mystique for non-native speakers. But it’s more to do with how songs are constructed, almost in an ad hoc fashion. Instincts seem to precede preconceived forms. There are traces of African and Latin American rhythmic idioms in their grooves, even some similarities with the output of Deena Abdelwahed and ABADIR. Yet the duo’s expression pushes forward into uncharted territory.
Their debut EP from 2020 showed potential, but wasn’t yet a synthesis of their separate sensibilities. Dying Is The Internet is a different breed, boasting fully-fleshed, albeit unorthodox songs that impress with their serpentine arrangements. Playfulness is key, from coughs blending into riddims to “duplicated riddims” sounding like a badly beat-matched mix. It’s a far cry from Cell’s recent French touch 2.0 experiments. Here, odd percussion timbres, cavernous atmospherics and haunting sound design flexes reign supreme. Cell’s artistic choices are more gutsy, a constant barrage of spectral sounds flickering in the background. Miniawy complements the layered production with his trumpet licks and autotuned vocals. His solemn, high priest-like voice and maqam melodies, familiar from his solo material, are radically altered into synthetic timbres. The vocal delivery is fiery, urgent, at times unhinged, as in the impactful overture ‘I See The Stadium’, featuring Lord Spikeheart’s menacing growls and Miniawy’s mantras, shapeshifting between post-traditional singing and more abstract approaches.
In ‘Tear Chime’, the beatless interlude produced by Miniawy, we steer toward Bitches Brew territory, with waves of “digital trumpet” and low frequency pulses that eventually evaporate, leaving a hefty cello motif that spills into ‘The Dala Effect’, the bona fide club banger. ‘Travelling in BCC’, contrarily, conjures a surreal terra incognita. Miniawy’s expressiveness also shines through on ‘Reels in 360’, a head-down trap groover where the sparse trumpet phrases, vocal line and down-pitched vocal harmonies merge into an invocation to the God of Reels. The lyrics are centred on the demise of the “good ol’ internet” and inevitable global revolution(s) to arise from its ashes – making the album even more timely in light of WW3 – though non-Arabic-speaking listeners will have to make do with the evocative English titles.
Dying is the Internet, a dark record for dark times, proposes an enthralling vision of Fourth World bass folk, split between modernist experimentalism and contemporary clubland. The album’s fluid structure might be confusing, even off-putting to some, while others will revel in its peculiar inner logic, requiring up to five rewinds before you can fully absorb it. TLDR: submit or GTFO.
